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The Face of Bolívar (1982)

Alfredo Boulton: The Face of Bolívar. Caracas, Macanao Editions, 1982, 144 illustrated pages.

Many written portraits of Bolívar have been made; we could mention quite a few, but we have chosen the description given by General Daniel Florencio O’Leary (…) “General Bolívar had a very large but not very wide forehead. His skin was very wrinkled. His eyebrows were thick but well shaped; his eyes were dark and he had a piercing glance; his nose was rather large but straight (…) protruding cheekbones and hollow cheeks ever since I met him in May, 1818. His mouth was ugly because his lips were fleshy and besides, the upper one was longer. His teeth were even, white and pretty. He took very much care of them. His lower jaw and chin were prominent. He had big ears. His hair was very black and curly and he wore it long during 1818-19-20-21, until 1822, when he began to go gray. His sideburns and moustache were lighter. He shaved his moustache in Potosí in 1825; he was my size (I believe around 5’6 or 5’7), narrow chested and his whole figure was thin, particularly his legs. His skin was dark and harsh and his feet and hands remarkably small and pretty.”
Alfredo Boulton

Simón Bolívar, José Gil de Castro 1825 Simón Bolívar, Anonymous, 1831 Simón Bolívar,
Pedro José Figueroa, 1820

Alfredo Boulton Collection

The Face of Bolívar (1982)