Adela Breton

• Name — Adela Catherine Breton • Born — 31 December 1849 • Birthplace — London, United Kingdom • Died — 13 June 1923 • Place of death — Barbados • Field — Painting, Archeology

Breton was born in London on 31 December 1849, to parents who were widely travelled. Her English father served in the Royal Navy and met Adela's mother (who was born in Somerset, England) while in Tasmania. They moved to Bath, Somerset, a few months after Adela's birth and she grew up there. During her childhood the family spent time travelling through Europe, visiting France, Switzerland and Italy. Adela probably studied art while staying in Florence. With much of her time spent in Bath, with its Roman remains, the Bretons took a keen interest in the archaeology. She stayed in Bath to look after her parents in their old age but, after her father died in 1887, she decided to travel. She made a conscious decision not to marry, so she could remain independent and satisfy her wanderlust. She initially headed for Canada (and the United States) where she painted the landscape, before returning to Bath to hold an exhibition of her paintings. In 1892 she made her first visit to Mexico. She hired a local guide, Pablo Solario. Her time in Mexico was spent travelling on horseback across the country, using her artistic skills to record the friezes, carvings and other archaeological treasures that were being unearthed in the Yucatán. Her first trip lasted 18 months, when she travelled continually making notes and sketches. As the 1890s passed, Breton spent less time on return visits to England and more time on her travels in Mexico. Her observations became more scientific and broadened to include the geology, the canyons and volcanoes. However, she is particularly known for her colour paintings of the frescos discovered at Teotihuacan in 1894, at a site that became known as Teopancaxco. In 1908, she spent four months in Mexico studying the Maguey Plan (a pre-Columbian map of a part of the ancient City of Mexico believed to be done on maguey paper) at the National Museum of Anthropology in order to create a facsimile at the request of British archaeologist Alfred Maudslay. Breton's travels in Mexico were eventually curtailed by the Mexican Revolution in 1910. She was recognised internationally in her lifetime for her valuable contribution to Mesoamerican archaeology. She died in Barbados on 13 June 1923 aged 73.