La captura de Atahualpa

Lepiani employs a palette of muted earth tones punctuated by the bright red of the rider’s cape, creating visual contrast that draws the eye to the central figure. The cloudy sky and distant mountains are rendered with soft gradations, while the foreground figures are modeled with chiaroscuro, giving the scene a sense of depth and kinetic energy.

Created around 1908, the canvas entered the Lima Art Museum’s holdings during the mid‑20th century, where it has remained on public display. Lepiani’s reputation for historic and patriotic subjects, especially those linked to the War of the Pacific, positioned this work within his broader oeuvre of nationalistic visual storytelling.

The capture of Atahualpa in 1532 marked the decisive collapse of the Inca Empire and the onset of Spanish colonial rule in South America. By portraying this episode, Lepiani engages with a pivotal episode of Peruvian history, reflecting early 20th‑century interests in defining national identity through visual reinterpretations of colonial encounters.