The Railroad as Emblem of Progress: The Metlac Bridge

Abstract

The railroad was one of the most significant means of communication in the nineteenth century. Art works and prints were the means through which Mexico’s technological progress was depicted during this period. The erection of bridges for railroad tracks signified the imposition of progress over nature. The Metlac Bridge served as a model for the representation of this idea in different media: easel paintings, photographs, chromolithographs, lithographs and engravings. The goal was to demonstrate Mexico’s potential and economic prosperity, as well as to act as a legitimizing and legalizing instrument of concessions granted to foreigners by Porfirio Díaz.