Simón Bolívar

This watercolor by Fernandez Luis Cancino celebrates Bolívar’s promise to abolish slavery in territories he freed from Spanish rule. Although Bolívar liberated his own slaves in 1820, he was unable to persuade the legislators of the newly independent countries to act immediately. They insisted on gradual emancipation. (Watercolor on paper by Luis Fernandez Cancino [19th century], Casa-Museo 20 de Julio de 1810, Bogotá, Colombia / Giraudon / Bridgeman Images.)