A Favourite Sketching Spot Opens Again

One of my favourite places to sketch is a cemetery! Not any old cemetery mind you, but Recoleta Cemetery, where the rich and famous of Buenos Aires have been buried for centuries. There are no flat graves here, just mausoleums and tombs (maybe they’re the same thing, I don’t know). They are laid out in streets just like a little town—except all the residents are dead!

It has been closed since before the pandemia, and I just recently heard it had reopened, so I wandered up there after my morning coffee today. My sketchbook was itching to come out! Here’s what I did.

It belongs to one Brigadier General Tomas Guido, who died in 1888. The one to the right belongs to a famous character in Argentine History called Admiral Brown. I’ll go back and do his monument one of these days and tell you his story when I post the sketch.

Who Lies Here?

This afternoon I went to the Recoleta Cemetery, which I haven’t visited since I came down in November. It’s a popular tourist spot and only five minutes from me, but the thing that always brings me back is the sketching opportunities. That’s why I went today.

It’s a huge place, and I don’t think I’ve ever been in this spot before, but I was attracted by the angel. Most of them are up high — which I guess is where angels are supposed to be — but it’s hard to draw them up there, so I was happy to find this lovely lady almost at eye level.

I spent an hour or so drawing. Then I went over to see who the tomb belonged to, and I couldn’t find a name! I searched every available surface, and all I could find were the initials JV and the year 1908 almost lost in the wrought iron of the door. Isn’t that strange? This large, very ornate and expensive monument, and nothing to say who’s inside! There must be a story there. Maybe I’ll try to find out.