"La vuelta del malón" by Ángel Della Valle On the walls of the national fine arts museum in Buenos Aires hangs the masterpiece painted by Ángel Della Valle. The blunt title "Return of the raiders" is appropriate for the blunt message. It was painted to be exhibited in Chicago in 1892 during the 400-year anniversary celebrations of the arrival of Columbus in the Americas. It won an award at the exhibition and was hailed as the "first truly national work of art" upon its return to Buenos Aires. The first shock is the immense size of the canvas on which the painting is rendered. Everything that follows is also acutely honed to inspire shock and emotion. It is dawn and the raiders are returning from their hunt. The sky occupies almost half the canvas, punctuated only by the demonic countenance of the raiders and the religious artifacts they have plundered. On the lap of one of the raiders is slumped a comically comely maiden, so out