Between 1806 and 1807, the “Río de la Plata” was the scene of the so-called English Invasions. These military operations generated in Europe a considerable flow of news and images, among them, a set of engravings produced in Spain and England during the first decades of the 19 th century. These pieces, relatively small, multiple and mobile, today make up collections on both sides of the Atlantic, and were frequently reproduced in pedagogical contexts and historical dissemination.
The question running through this book is in what ways the images tell the story. The engravings analyzed by Florencia Baliña responded to different uses and functions, and for that they put into play specific visual and enunciative strategies. They combine description and narration, landscape and scene, image and text. The author examines the tensions that these graphic pieces pose between truth and fiction, their inscription in a specific cultural framework and their link with the construction of a collective memory.