# Old Mesilla Plaza

**Leon Trousset** (born France 1838-died Juarez, Mexico 1917)  
ca. 1885-1886  
oil on canvas  
29 9/16 x 48 1/2 in. (75.1 x 123.2 cm.)

Courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, 1951.13. [The museum's record](https://americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artwork/?id=25003).

## About this work

Leon Trousset's painting of Mesilla, near Las Cruces, New Mexico, takes us far into the past. Spain's King Philip II mandated the appearance of his colonial cities, where priests, tradesmen, and the king's army competed for influence. Priests often intervened between the soldiers and native peoples, and the church at left reflects their spiritual authority. Across the plaza lies a low-roofed building that likely housed the military commanders. A dirt road leading into the distance marks the town’s position on El Camino Real, the King's Highway connecting trade centers from Santa Fe to Mexico and beyond. Trousset painted this village after the territory had been ceded to the United States, but he included Mexico’s tricolored flags flying in the garrison courtyard. Mesilla’s plaza carried the history of two cultures—Spain and Mexico—even as a third power claimed the unassuming adobe settlement as its own.Exhibition Label, Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2006

_Text from the Smithsonian American Art Museum._

Leon Trousset painted this in about 1885-1886, aged about 47. It is now at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC.

### How it was made

- **Oil paint.** Pigment ground in a drying oil, usually linseed. It dries slowly, so painters could blend on the canvas, build up thin translucent glazes, and rework a picture over weeks. Canvas replaced wooden panels in the 1500s because it is lighter and can be rolled.

### [Leon Trousset](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/leon-trousset)

born France 1838-died Juarez, Mexico 1917

## Facts

- Type: Painting
- The artist was about 47
- Real size: about 30 × 49 in (75 × 123 cm). The original is larger than our largest print, 16 × 20 in, so every print is a reduction.
- Century: 19th century
- Subjects: Architecture, Religion, Cities and towns, Cityscapes, Bird's eye view, Wagon, Mesilla, Church buildings
- Colour: olive
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/1899.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/1899/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/old-mesilla-plaza-si-saam-1951-13).