In Latin America, the bourgeois portrait arises from Independence, when this class, being in power, starts to play a crucial role. It is important to specify that it is only since the Republic that trustees' wives start to be portrayed in order to establish their socioeconomic and sometimes political status. Studying this type of portrait in detail leads to seeing art history from an unexplored angle: art, power and gender. The following article addresses two female portraits located in national museums: Argentina and Mexico. They portray Manuelita Rosas and Dolores Tosta; the former, daughter, and the latter, wife, of questioned presidents, whose political lives occurred between 1830 and 1850. The signifi cance of this study consists in demonstrating that this pictorial activity, apart from its esthetic value, enables the analysis of art as an advertising element.

An urgency to be depícted is observed at the interior of the upper class when they startto get power and involve themselves in politics and economics.Especially the women of the heads of government get theír portraits painted in orderto establísh their socioecomic status. Studying feminine portraits from this perspectiveenables us to see history of art through an unseen angle: art, power and genre.Through a study of her portraits, Empress Carlota Amalia, involved in política! powerduring the second mexican Empire is rescued to art.

Artículo realizado a través de un trabajo de campo durante cuatro meses. Trata la problemática de la pintura mural peruana contemporánea realizada entre 1970 a 1997: temas, técnicas, autores, espacios y conservación.