In Argentina, the art of decorative painting of walls and ceilings developed late, becoming widespread from the last two decades of the XIX century.

      The principal themes were allegorical, derived from the repertoire established by academic teaching, with the shifts in meaning of the allegories that took place in the course of the XIX century. The paintings naturally displayed the ornamental repertoire that originated in the Vatican Raphaelite loggias, established through the circulation of handbooks and catalogues during the XIX century.

     The principal physical base of the allegorical decorative programmes were government residences, temples, theatres and private residences, especially palaces, “petit hotels” (a specific type of urban residence of wealthy families), and to a lesser degree, patio houses. Very often these paintings were oil paintings on canvas, mounted on ceilings or walls, without the use of techniques of mural painting.
 
      In this case it is of general interest to consider the fate of the painted ceilings located in private residences. In terms of their conservation they have experienced widely varying fortunes: we may have sustained the loss of the majority of the paintings, except those in buildings used at present as embassies, museums or Ministries. As for those in “patio houses” and “petit hotels”, a survey has yet to be made to determine their number and quality. To this must be added the difficulty due to the complete absence of any documentary record. Most of the painters who dedicated themselves to mural painting and the painting of ceilings were foreigners, and they repeated the illusionistic subjects common in Europe. Foremost among these painters, Francesco Parisi deserves to be mentioned.

     The paintings in the house at Carlos Calvo 1440 are of extraordinary importance, being, from the artistic point of view, valuable examples of ceiling paintings based on national themes. They depict landscapes and scenes typical of the plains of Buenos Aires. Thus they leave aside the allegorical programmes stemming from Renaissance painting, embracing instead the ideas of a national art based on the representation of historical and traditional subjects.

    The first outstanding example of ceiling paintings with national motifs was the work of Miguel Pallejá in the country residence belonging to Lezama in 1887, sadly lost to us today. Coincidentally, this is also the period in which the house at Carlos Calvo 1440 was finished. We may surmise that the paintings in this house were carried out towards the end of the century by the atelier of Reinaldo Giudici and his brother.

     The ceiling paintings in the Carlos Calvo house are of enormous importance, both from the artistic point of view and as a historical testimony of the circulation of aesthetic views whose presence was strong during the process of nation-building.  They allow us to understand how the representation of the idea of a nation also belongs to the area of domestic, everyday life.

     Furthermore, the paintings in the house at Carlos Calvo 1440 are the only ones whose state of conservation allows them to be recorded, whereas neglect has passed the sentence, condemning to destruction, our heritage of domestic architecture ceiling painting.