A long-time resident of Mexico, Pedro Gualdi considered this square in Mexico City the seat of national power, politics, and identity. Painted in the months following the capture of the capital during the 1846–1848 Mexican-U.S. War, this scene references Mexico’s grand colonial past through the Spanish architecture of the national palace. The stars and stripes of the U.S. flag waving above the Grand Plaza mark this space as contested, yet Gualdi also asserts a sense of romantic nationalism in the face of defeat.