Ciccarelli’s View of Santiago from Peñalolén is often considered one of the best known works of nineteenth-century Chilean art. A native of Naples, Ciccarelli was the first director of Chile’s Academia de Pintura, which was founded in 1849. In the painting Ciccarelli renders a view of Santiago from Peñalolén, an area of the capital located on a mountainside of the Andes. From this position the whole city is visible, located in a vast valley dotted with hills and surrounded by mountains, with the Andes to the east and the Cordillera de la Costa to the west. In the center of the painting is Ciccarelli himself, seated before an easel facing Santiago.