Mirando más allá al héroe de la república y al fotógrafo del imperio. Porfirio Díaz y la fotografía

Abstract

After just over five years of fighting the French Intervention, the Habsburg Emperor Maximilian was finally defeated and shot in the medians of Cerro de las Campanas in Queretaro in 1867. The Republic returned triumphant, and its architects began to glimpse new positions of power, such was the case of General Porfirio Diaz, who feeling worthy of the triumph, more than President Benito Juarez, saw in the photograph the possibility of spreading his image among the people, and thus gaining followers in the future electoral contest. The Oaxacan general resorted to the services of the most famous photographers of the moment, such as Frenchman Francois Aubert, who gladly responded to the request. Then, the present work has the purpose of analyzing the historical context in which Diaz went to the studios to have his portrait taken. It also explores Aubert's activity as a photographer in Mexico, his time at the court of Maximiliano, his trip to Queretaro to document the fall of the empire and his return to the capital to witness the entry of Juarez and put himself at the service of Porfirio Diaz.