Manuel de Araújo Porto-Alegre and the institutional origins of art criticism in Brazil

Marcos Florence Martins Santos

SANTOS, Marcos Florence Martins. Manuel de Araújo Porto-Alegre and the institutional origins of art criticism in Brazil. 19&20, Rio de Janeiro, v. X, n. 2, jul./dez. 2015. https://www.doi.org/10.52913/19e20.X2.12b [Português]

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1.      Created amid the dispute between the lessons learned from 1827 to 1831 with Jean-Baptiste Debret (1768-1848) at the Imperial Academy of Rio de Janeiro (AIBA) and his artistic and intellectual life experiences in Europe, the pioneering synthesis of the Brazilian artistic development elaborated by Manuel de Araújo Porto-Alegre started in 1834, as part of discussions in the newly inaugurated Historical Institute of Paris (IHP).

2.      Following the French historical painter in his return to France, Porto-Alegre moved to Paris in 1831 and enrolled in classes taught by the painter Antoine-Jean Gros (1771-1835).[1] With a markedly neoclassical training guided by Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825), Gros showed a strong colorist inclination during his youth, stimulated by the approximation of his works to the baroque tradition of the seventeenth century.

3.      However, interacting with the artist in the last years of his life, which were marked by the denial of these experiences, Porto-Alegre watches the fading of the "pre-Romantic" impetuosity that had characterized the series of battle paintings made during the Napoleonic period when, acting as the curator of works of art confiscated during the campaigns in Italy, Gros travelled throughout the country as the official painter of the Emperor, registering the advances of the French army.

4.      Therefore, moving away from the polarization that characterized the French art scene in the mid-1830s, derived from the dispute between neoclassicist supporters of Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1780-1867) and enthusiasts of Romanticism of Eugène Delacroix (1798 -1863), Porto-Alegre accepted the invitation from Eugène de Monglave (1796-1873)[2] and joined the newly founded Historical Institute of Paris in 1834, thereby interacting with the poets Domingos José Gonçalves de Magalhães (1811-1882) and Francisco Salles Torres Homem (1812-1876), as well as with other great exponents of the French intelligentsia and art who were connected to these and other aesthetic, political and philosophical trends.

5.      Childhood friends since they had lived in Rio de Janeiro, the three young artists were responsible for writing Resumo da história da literatura, das ciências e das artes no Brasil (Summary of the history of literature, sciences and arts in Brazil), read in the first sessions of the IHP and published in the second issue of the newspaper printed by the institution. Leaving aside the writings of Magalhães and Torres Homem that commented on the status of literature and sciences in Brazil, the present paper takes as its starting point a text by Porto-Alegre that is exclusively dedicated to fine arts.

6.      Referring to the elaboration process and the acceptance of this text among French intellectuals in a letter to Friar Francisco do Monte Alverne (1783-1858),[3] the author provides some important aspects of his understanding of the artistic phenomenon:

7.                                    I do not see arts as a treat, but as something necessary. Art is the ideal, the ideal is the sublime of thought and it must represent the image of the prevailing idea, or the side to which philosophy tends. [...] Nothing noble and grand was produced when the philosophy of Condillac and Helvetius predominated; there were Venuses, Marses, Cupids, a few sacred productions: it is clear that sensuality had invaded society, and artists had to follow its taste, presenting a mockery of their ideas. [...] In the French Revolution, it was Greece and Rome, and today, as ideas oscillate, each one tends to his own side; it is true that in the midst of this whirlwind where intelligence spins, common sense, strengthened by the lights emanated from the shock of these intellectual masses, will follow its way, side by side, with the progress of mankind; this is, my dear Friar, my view on the arts scenario [...][4]

8.      Disregarding the sensualist orientation proposed by Éttiene Bonnot de Condillac (1715-1780), the Brazilian painter reveals his predilection for the idealist trend, which, supported by the spiritualism of Monte'Alverne, found an echo in the postulates of eclecticism proclaimed by Victor Cousin (1792 -1867),[5] the French philosopher who had had great prestige in France in the years of the July Monarchy (1830-1848) and had influenced the philosophical orientations of the main religious speaker of the Brazilian Court since the reign of Dom João VI.

9.      Therefore, based on aesthetic ideals that ennobled neoclassicism, learnt from Debret at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rio de Janeiro and later refined in Gros' studio, Porto-Alegre appropriated the historicist method suggested by eclecticism and adopted by the founders of the IHP, embracing thus the moderate conservatism that characterized the work of most members of the Parisian Institute.

10.    Thus, in his speech, the author demonstrated his utter contempt for the exotic nativism that had been propagated by French authors such as Ferdinand Denis (1798-1890) and Chateaubriand (17681-848), and, moving away from these idyllic interpretations, cautiously endorsed by Gonçalves de Magalhães in his Resumo (Summary) on the “state” of national literature, he avoided the utilitarian and ritual representations produced by fellow countrymen, stating that this production showed "some resemblance to the Egyptian shadows from the infancy of art",[6] stating that the genesis of the arts in Brazil would be found in the activities of Portuguese settlers and Jesuit priests interested in meeting their Christian need for catechesis, worship and prayer.

11.    Starting this first draft of a chronology of Brazilian art, the author identifies the influences of the Renaissance architecture on colonial temples. However, when commenting on the consequences of the appropriation of these references in Portuguese religious architecture that had influenced the construction of churches in Brazil, Porto-Alegre emphasized the baroque features of our buildings, stating that "there is not a single Gothic building of that time; everywhere, the Jesuits adopted in their monuments an intermediate style between the Roman and the Gothic."[7]

12.    Making clear his dissatisfaction with the aesthetic option employed by the Jesuits in the construction of national churches, Porto-Alegre revealed his admiration for the Gothic style, which he considered the most appropriate for meditation and spiritual elevation. Thus, condemning the configuration of the Jesuit churches – which, according to him, had removed from the colonial architecture the features of the pre-Renaissance model that was spread throughout Europe between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries – the author sought to approximate these colonial architectural examples to the austerity of medieval architecture. He associated them to the timeline established by European commentators, who, since the eighteenth century, had identified the Gothic style as a precursor to the rationalism of the neoclassical compositional synthesis explored by Dominique Ingres as opposed to the romantic sensuality of Delacroix's paintings during the years of the French Monarchist Restoration.

13.    Identifying this aesthetic-temporal vacuum in the chronology of national artistic development and aiming to create the composition of a Brazilian art history linked to the development of European debates, Porto-Alegre circumvents the unavoidable lack of parallels between the chronology of European arts and the national artistic production by dignifying some works done by black and mulatto slaves.

14.    In his view, these artisans had been benefited by the needs of luxury and refined goods brought about by the enrichment of the settlers, who, averse to manual work, would have instigated some talented slaves from their senzalas (slave quarters) to develop their artistic skills in Europe. Among these artists, Porto-Alegre mentions a certain Sebastião as being responsible for the decoration of the Church of São Francisco of Rio de Janeiro, identifying in its dome a "distant resemblance to the Vatican frescos".[8]

15.    In another section of the text, the author reaffirms this idea and, revealing his opinion about the condition of Brazilian art during the colonial period, he once again mentions the use of slave labor in artistic activities:

16.                                  The convents also had their slave artists; and the free population which gathers today in its peristyles does not even imagine that they were built by chained hands. [...] The most inspired artist was nothing more than a more well-organized machine than other machines; it was used with disrespect, while the most ignoble dealer received all the honors; it was honorable to receive the result of the vile trade, but the value of the most sublime work was considered less than alms. [...] However, despite the efforts of the Portuguese, the light began to dissipate darkness. Brazilians came to Lisbon to organize the best Portuguese language dictionary; the best professors from the University of Coimbra were Brazilian; and, at the Tejo riverbank, the iron jewels the mulatto Manuel Joao (? -?) manufactured within the confines of the province of Minas Gerais were much sought after.[9]

17.    Later on, analyzing the artistic production of the eighteenth century, Porto-Alegre praised the sculptural groups made by the mulatto Valentim da Fonseca e Silva (c.1745-1813), called Master Valentim, who was hired by the Viceroy Don Luis de Vasconcelos e Sousa, and who made sculptural and architectural works for the ornamentation of the Public Promenade in Rio de Janeiro. Praising this collection of works, the author stated that:

18.                                  Nothing is mediocre; everything reveals the artist's hand. [...] These works and many others gave impetus to the national genius; despite the government, the arts did not fall asleep and were ready for the congress when D. João VI landed on the shores of Brazil. This was the reflection of the French Revolution in this part of America: the ports were finally opened for other countries, and with the foreigners the country regained its individual freedom; second period of the history of arts in Brazil.[10]

19.    Highlighting the dichotomy between the innate talent of Brazilian artists and the interference of the metropolitan censorship in the development of these skills in the country, the author celebrates the arrival of the French Artistic Mission to Rio de Janeiro and, establishing this fact as the inaugural landmark of the "second period of the history of arts in Brazil", he approached the Hegelian aesthetic, which identifies the symbolic, classical and romantic phases as factors for defining the level of artistic development of societies.

20.    In this context, the author praised the political and administrative changes introduced in the country after the settlement of the Portuguese Court in Rio de Janeiro and the consequences that these changes brought to the national art scene. Highlighting the commitment of the French artists in the civilizing "task" of initiating academic art education in the country, Porto-Alegre seemed to identify this moment as the beginning of the "classical period" of national arts.

21.    Later, referring to the first three exhibitions held at AIBA, the author points out the growing interest of the public and the press in the three events and, after superficially mentioning a few works presented by amateurs and students of the Military Academy, he highlights, among the paintings produced at the Academy, those made by Debret's pupils. Therefore, praising the success of the 1830 exhibition, and particularly the participation of this group, Porto-Alegre writes:

22.                                  finally history has been translated into silent poetry by the students of Mr. Debret. Those who showed the greatest possibilities of success were Francisco Pedro do Amaral, painter and architect, who decorated the imperial palaces and made the beautiful frescoes of the philosophers’ room at the National Library and the arabesques of D. Maria’s palace; Cristo Moreira, seascapes painter and shipbuilding teacher; Simplício, teacher of the princes, great portraitist; José dos Reis Carvalho, landscaper and drawing teacher at the military school; and José Arruda dos Reis, secretary of the Fine Arts Academy. And perhaps I might be allowed to place myself among my fellow disciples, since I came to Paris to improve my skills.[11]

23.    In this comment, Porto-Alegre indissolubly articulates the development of the arts in Brazil to the pedagogical action performed by the French group of teachers and, by inserting the results of their teachings in the chronology of the history of national art, he strengthened the personalist promise of continuity and multiplication of the aesthetic and civilatory results derived from this learning.

24.    Further emphasizing the benefits raised by Brazil through the involvement with the French culture, the author of Summary closes his speech with the following words:

25.                                  In short, gentlemen, I can tell you with pride that the fine arts have found a fertile ground in Brazil; the School of Rio de Janeiro, legitimate child of the school of Paris, will very soon have children worthy of their mother. There is a thirst for education everywhere that can only be relieved in the fountains of science. That is why we see the youth running towards the ocean, requesting the aid as a favor, facing the storms to reach the soil of France, and, resuming work with new zeal, enjoying day and night the precious treasures that your hospitality offers to all nations of the globe.[12]

26.    The origin of a new argumentative conception dedicated to the national artistic production, the author, relying on the alleged document analysis, sought to determine the origins of these activities in Brazil by building a chronological narrative that could justify the autonomous development of these areas in opposition to the interpretations that had been dominant, which added this process to the exclusivism of the Portuguese cultural matrix.

27.    It should be noted that, opening the series of articles related to fine arts, the text originally published in the IHP newspaper was reproduced a few months later in the Correio Oficial newspaper, edited in Rio de Janeiro, which was favorable to the regency government and against the politic trends sympathetic to the Return[13]. Once the "returnist" threat had been defeated, the three texts of the Summary were published in this newspaper in 1835, fragmented and unsigned, showing little change compared to the article published under the auspices of IHP. Some words that did not appear in the version translated into that was included, showing a clear editorial intention to expand the nationalist and moderate potential inferred from the texts that had been presented in Paris.

28.    Also in 1835, another text written by Porto-Alegre, published in the Aurora Fluminense newspaper entitled Carta de um jovem brasileiro sobre a cidade de Roma (Letter from a young Brazilian about the city of Rome) brings new information on the aesthetic conception that guided the observations of the first historian of national art. Mentioned by Gonçalves de Magalhães in one of the letters sent to Monte Alverne, the text, written during the period when the two of them undertook a trip to Italy, it reaffirmed the author's predilection for the Gothic style, indicated as the most appropriate architectural expression to the high Christian ideals.

29.    Demonstrating his admiration when observing the ancient ruins of Rome, in this text Porto-Alegre praised the austerity of the medieval conceptions over the characteristic splendor of the Roman temples. On the architecture and ornamentation of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, he made the following comment:

30.                                  Each separate part could give it length, but together they destroy each other in their effect; gold on gold does not stand out, and moreover, architecture is not Christianity’s daughter; It is like a pagan deity sung by the power of the severe religion. The Church of Our Lady of Milan is more beautiful, the Gothic style, son of the Middle Ages, is quintessentially the style of the Christian buildings and inspires religious feelings. In Milan or Paris I wanted to pray; and in Rome, it seems I felt like dancing.[14]

31.    After the circulation of these texts in Rio’s intellectual milieu and the appointment of Porto-Alegre for the Chair of Historical Painting at AIBA in 1837 (formerly occupied by Debret), a letter sent by the French master demonstrated his clear intention to continue the joint project of historicizing the development of arts in Brazil:

32.                                  I always kept the fixed idea of becoming the historian of Brazil! It’s an unusual honor which befalls your assignments; and which associates the artist to the hero he represents, reproducing intelligibly to the world’s eyes a national biography located in a museum which is open to the admiration of foreigners, who, so far, had only been attracted to the treasures of Brazil’s natural history or bizarre wild ornaments. [...] This century, blessed, as you must know, by historical research, what precious news for the European traveler! Unquestionably, it will be successful; make your students work on it, if necessary.[15]

33.    Knowing the complimentary comments by the French master on the support provided by Porto-Alegre in locating and obtaining relevant documents to prepare the album Viagem Pitoresca e Histórica ao Brasil (Picturesque and Historical Travel to Brazil), published between 1834 and 1839, in the context of that statement, the aforementioned correspondence foreshadows parallels between the investigation into the Brazilian past by the IHP and the Brazilian Historical and Geographical Institute (IHGB), founded in Rio de Janeiro in 1838.

34.    Exhibiting this coincidence and succeeding the publication of the Summary (1834) and the Nitheroy magazine (1836) – in which Porto-Alegre does not address fine arts if not for a short complimentary note on the appointment of Félix-Émile Taunay (1795-1881) for the position of director of AIBA and a commentary on a small painting of his own – the aforementioned letter is even more important because it precedes, by a few years, the essay Memória sobre a Antiga Escola Fluminense de Pintura (Memory of the Old Fluminense School of Painting), published in 1841 in the IHGB Magazine.

35.    Preparing himself for the writing of this new essay at the end of the 1830s, Porto-Alegre seemed to accept Debret's suggestion and started the inventory of the files of Rio de Janeiro’s churches,  searching for documents that could illustrate the definitive synthesis of the Brazilian artistic development during the colonial period. Far more robust than the text of 1834, the paper published in 1841 proposed a new redemption of Rio de Janeiro’s artists. Thanks to their biographical singularities and their outstanding works of art, these artists allowed for the creation of a chronological timeline in support of the "progressive development" of these activities in the country.

36.    In this new article, after stressing the importance of art in representing the level of societal development, as well as of historical and archaeological research methods in identifying the landmarks of evolution or involution of this process, the author generically mentioned the level of maturity of the national arts:

37.                                  What Europe and the East show us in a wide panorama, America and our Brazil also manifest in their short periods. [...] The Colony, the Kingdom and the Empire form three different divisions of our progressive stages; it is from the first one, gentlemen, that I save from oblivion some illustrious names in the arts, artists’ names who honor the land in which they were born, and who founded the original Fluminense School, which somehow deserves an honorable mention in our annals, not only for being the first ones on this land, but also for the boldness of their works.[16]

38.    In the same excerpt, endorsing once again the timeline established by the Hegelian aesthetics, Porto-Alegre turns back to the colonial production and proposes the redemption of works made by Rio de Janeiro's artists. Thanks to their biographical singularities and their outstanding works of art, thse artists would allow for the creation of a chronological line in support of the progressive development of these activities in the country, thus linking the process of political independence and the institutional and constitutional consolidation of the Brazilian monarchical state.

39.    With notes starting with the religious paintings by Ricardo do Pilar (c.1635-1700) in the Mosteiro de São Bento (St. Benedict Monastery) in Rio de Janeiro, Porto-Alegre sought a new genesis for the arts in Brazil, deliberately linking it to the stages of development of Western art.

40.    In this context, the religious artist of German origin – appointed by Porto-Alegre as the "precursor of the national school" – was to fulfill a dual role in the articulation of the historical narrative of the national arts. Endorsing the arguments related to the indigenous genesis of the national artistic genius, defended in the text of 1834, the new "source" established by Memórias proposed closer links between the work carried out in the country during the colonial period and the tradition established by the European artistic historiography.

41.    Therefore, exaggerating the superiority of the works by the Friar and comparing them to Giotto’s (1266-1337) and Cimabue's paintings (c.1240-1302), Porto-Alegre chose the Senhor dos Martírios (Lord of Martyrs) [Figure 1], which decorates the altar of the sacristy of the convent of the monastery, as the main religious work by the Friar, who, having done some work on the Iberian Peninsula, employed baroque artifices, such as the drama and luminosity characteristic of the "Spanish School". However, by omitting these closer chronological references, Porto-Alegre exalted the humanization of the scourged Christ figure and, attributing these features exclusively to the pre-Renaissance pictorial vocabulary, he identified the Lord of the Martyrs [Figure 1] with the works carried out by the two main names from that period.

42.    By identifying in the Friar’s works the austerity and meditative character suggested by the works done by the Florentine artists and taking the former as omens of the aesthetic rationalism attributed to the  Renaissance art, Porto-Alegre relies on the theoretical framework proposed by philosophical eclecticism, which, tending to "fair means" and moderation, allowed for the reconciliation of different references, such as the humanized drama of Spanish representations, the rigidity of pre-Renaissance compositions, and the ideal theatricality that characterized neoclassical scenes.

43.    Thus, by demonstrating the structure of the historicist logic underlying his observations concerning Brazilian arts, Porto-Alegre identifies some positive aspects of the Baroque aesthetic that, as mentioned, had been criticized in his Summary. Approaching this framework once more, the author initially pointed to the Italian schools as original references for the colonial production. Furthermore, he placed this influence as the predecessor of the "Fluminense School," reassessing the aesthetic and methodological role assigned to the French teachers, indicating that their teachings represented an enhanced continuity of that first naive appropriation of classic references by the Brazilian art.

44.    The author appoints as the "Head of the School" the painter José de Oliveira Rosa (c.1690-1769), who was responsible for the paintings that decorated the armory of the Conceição Fortress, the ceiling of the main chapel of the Carmelite Church, transformed into the Imperial Chapel, and the ceiling of the courtroom of the of the Imperial Palace which, in the 1840s, according to a report by Porto-Alegre, had already been whitewashed or replaced with decorative prints performed by other artists. Referring to the destroyed works of Oliveira Rosa and certifying the mastery of this artist, the author recalls his association with Debret and says:

45.                                  When in my youth, inspired by the enthusiasm of the arts, I imagined these Elysian dreams and asked my master about the works of our countrymen; the distinguished elderly man took me to the Terceiros de São Francisco Church, to admire that work with him, which he believed hade been made by an Italian.[17]

46.    As the third exponent of the Fluminense School, Porto-Alegre chose João Francisco Muzzi (16?? - 1702), painter of Italian origin who, after emigrating to Brazil, would have had painting lessons with Oliveira Rosa. Rosa taught him the art of scenography following the compositional traditions derived from baroque perspectivism of the Italian Andrea Pozzo (1642-1709) which, according to Porto-Alegre, had guided the scenographic work carried out by Oliveira Rosa for the Manuel Luiz Theatre.

47.    This feature identified in this artist's works becomes evident in the paintings that record the fire and the rebuilding of the Recolhimento de Nossa Senhora do Parto (Retreat of Nossa Senhora do Parto) [Figure 2a and Figure 2b]. In these two works, Muzzi was an eyewitness of the two events, demonstrating expertise in recording, in the first one, the features of the main façade and the side of the large building that was tragically engulfed by flames, and in the second one, a representation of its reconstruction.

48.    It is important to point out the correlation Porto-Alegre establishes between Oliveira Rosa and Muzzi, highlighting the fact that the exalted Perspectivism inferred from the works of the Italian artist resulted from lessons learned with the "Head of the Brazilian School". In this case, the lack of material records of the work done by Oliveira Rosa does not allow any more speculation about this possible relationship. However, it can be inferred, albeit speculatively, that the historian, anxious to assert the bonds that colonial art had established with classical antiquity and neoclassical academicism, invokes the memory of the speculations made by Debret to reaffirm the ties between colonial and Italian arts.

49.    Once again justifying the preponderance of the Italian influence on the arts practiced in the colony, the fourth name to join the School is the painter Joao de Sousa (? -?), author of several paintings that decorate the cloisters of the Carmelite Convent. Appointed as an artist "belonging to the class of colorists", he is remembered as the master of other artists from Rio de Janeiro, such as the mulatto Manuel da Cunha (1737-1809), a former slave of Januário da Cunha Barbosa (1780-1846). Noticing the talent of his servant, Januário da Cunha Barbosa, who was the Perpetual Secretary of IHGB, financed his artistic training in Portugal.

50.    According to Porto-Alegre, Manuel da Cunha was the author of the ceiling paintings in the Senhor dos Passos Chapel, in the Imperial Chapel; the painting of St. Andre Avelino, which ornamented the Castelo Church; and a portrait of the Count of Bobadella [Figure 3].

51.    As the sixth member of the group, the painter Leandro Joaquim (c.1738-c.1798), who had worked in the decorating the Public Promenade together with Master Valentim, is appointed by Porto-Alegre as having a "soft brushstroke", taught by Manuel da Cunha, with whom he probably worked on religious paintings. Named as one of those in charge of the reconstruction of the Retreat of Nossa Senhora do Parto, Leandro Joaquim is the author of the portrait of Viceroy Dom Luis de Vasconcellos [Figure 4] and the oval panels [Figure 5] representing scenes of Rio's landscape and the daily life of the city.

52.    Proceeding with the chronology of the arts in the country, Porto-Alegre again mentions the name of José Leandro de Carvalho, who had previously been remembered in the Summary of 1834. In the context of the essay written for IHGB, however, the author seems to give less consideration to the religious work of the painter when he says the artist "was the best historical painter and the most faithful portraitist of the time."[18]

53.    Closing the list of names that make up the Fluminense Painting School, Porto-Alegre mentions the painter Manuel Dias de Oliveira (1764-1837), also known by the nickname of Romano, who had studied in Portugal and later at the Academy of San Lucca, where he supposedly attended the classes of Pompeu Battoni (1708-1787). Battoni was a painter initially identified with the Rococo style who, having studied in Rome, later adopted neoclassicism, becoming one of the great representatives of this style in the realm of English collectionism.

54.    Returning to Rio de Janeiro in 1800, Manuel Dias de Oliveira assumes the head of the newly inaugurated Royal Class of Design, remaining in that position until 1822, the year in which Dom Pedro I signs a decree closing the institution. During this period, he teaches live model classes in his studio and is responsible for the decoration of the city during the festivities for the reception of the Portuguese Court in 1808. Working in Brazil in the period preceding the arrival of the French Mission and the founding of AIBA, Manuel Dias Oliveira was responsible for introducing artistic education in academic standards in Brazil. He was the teacher of Francisco Pedro do Amaral (1790-1831), who, together with Porto-Alegre, had attended the historic painting classes taught by Debret.

55.    In the context of this new study, Porto-Alegre partially moves away from some of the ideas he defended in his 1834 text. There, as we have mentioned, he identified some distorted reflections of Renaissance art, which, weakened by the Portuguese appropriation, would have given rise to the religious temples of baroque inspiration. In the IHGB text, Porto-Alegre presents a chronology that follows more closely the different stages of 'evolution' of European art and praises the influence of Italian art on the colonial painters. Also, giving minor importance to the work of the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts, he celebrated the contributions of the Monarchy to the development of national arts. As he pointed out, the State was responsible for hiring the artists who, once having arrived in Brazil in 1816 as members of the French Artistic Mission, took up the responsibility for the effective introduction of the compositional methods of neoclassical academicism in Brazil.

56.    Thus, if in the Summary read at the IHP Porto-Alegre tries to associate the works of his contemporaries with the French academic references connected to the classical tradition, giving minor importance to the Italian inspiration, in IHGB’s Memórias, acting professedly as an historian, the author discreetly identifies the baroque genesis of colonial art and, going deeper in the references to the Italian influence on the works of this period, he establishes a new chronological milestone through a more detailed analysis on the production and biographies of artists such as Ricardo do Pillar, Muzzi, and Manuel Dias de Oliveira.

57.    With this new perspective, without forgetting the importance of academic learning for the development of the arts in Brazil, Porto-Alegre tries to relate this process to the history of European art. He primarily endorses the talent and the production of some artists, who, having supposedly trained in schools the of the old world, would have contributed in an heroic and solitary way to the improvement of Brazilian art until the establishment of the Academy.

58.    Once the institution was inaugurated, the author highlighted the work of the French teachers who, through their efforts towards the implementation of academic education in Brazil, strengthened the relationship between Brazilian colonial art and the old aesthetic tradition. Such relationship was represented in his text by the influences of the Iberian baroque and the Italian Renaissance which, in contemporary times, would have allowed the incorporation of pictorial and compositional features connected to the French neoclassical production, more conservative and rational, which was considered by Porto-Alegre as more suited to the representation needs of the Monarchy, the mother land and the civilizing virtuosity that should characterize the national arts.

59.    The publication of Memórias in the pages of the IHGB magazine emphasizes the historicist intentions of the author. Since his return to the country, Araújo Porto-Alegre had been involved with the process of foundation of the Brazilian Historical and Geographical Institute, and seemed more dedicated to the study of particularities that, similar to the references of the European high culture, could reveal the talent of Brazilian artists and the independence of the arts development process in the country, replacing the "pernicious" Lusitanian influence that had been detected by him in the paper read to the members of the Historical Institute of Paris.

60.    Therefore, given the interests of the members of the national counterpart institution in 1841, Porto-Alegre temporarily abandons the routine debates related to the Academy and, adopting a similar posture of the literati and statesmen who made up the staff of IHGB, he devoted himself to being a historian, taking a deeper look at issues related to the national culture and the exaltation of the great achievements of distinguished personalities from the country’s political and economic history.

61.    In this context, adapting to the ideological purpose of the Institute, he avoided the timeline proposed in the Summary of 1834 and proposed a reordering of the national artistic history guided by the search for indigenous elements, which, once again ignoring the indigenous point of view, could approximate the Brazilian colonial production to the classic references that had guided European arts.

62.    Interestingly, trying to equate the problem of different ethnic groups that make up the Brazilian population (one of the preferred topics of members of IHGB), Porto-Alegre sought, in both texts, to exclude the barbarism associated with the indigenous individuals of our cultural genesis, praising the work done by blacks and mulattos who, thanks to the benevolence of some savvy masters, were able to develop their innate talent through the contact with the work of European artists. Thus, the comparison of the colonial craftsmen to imperial artists is more a rhetorical device for drafting a chronology of the arts developed in Brazil than an attempt to rehabilitate the importance of the African matrix in the genesis of our culture.

63.    Thus, the comparison of these "artisans" with the great masters of European art allows for the construction of a diffuse temporality, in which the evolutionary stages of Brazilian art can be framed in the historiographical models proposed by Hegel and reinterpreted by the eclectic philosophy of Cousin. Using them as a theoretical reference, Porto-Alegre is able to structure both narratives, "scientifically" framing the presence of cultural references associated with barbarism (black and indigenous individuals), restricting them to a sort of preparatory limbo (or the childhood of the Hegelian art), which, contemplating this "naive" production, could settle the effective future assertion of the "national genius".

64.    Summarizing the structure of the aesthetic conceptions of Porto-Alegre, the proposals of Victor Cousin offer the key to the construction of the biographical, aesthetic and chronological amalgams present in the structuring of both the Summary of the arts in Brazil and Memoria, dedicated to the Fluminense School. Thus, presenting a methodological bias in favor of the construction of the texts submitted by Porto-Alegre in IHP and IHGB, Victor Cousin defines his aesthetic postulates as follows:

65.                                  It could be said that the Eclecticism is quintessentially the French flag in the arts of drawing and music. In their arts, Germany and Italy have developed remarkable qualities that are often antagonistic: the French seem to have been fighting since immemorial times to reconcile these extremes, attenuating everything which seemed disharmonious to them.[19]

66.    Once the influence of this aesthetic conception on the two historical narratives proposed by Porto-Alegre is noted, and his efforts to promote the adequacy of these postulates to converging colonial production to the classical tradition established by European art history, it should be noted that both the aesthetic and the methodology of analysis proposed by Cousin allow for the development of the hybrid structure that characterizes Porto-Alegre’s aesthetic thought. However, relativizing the importance and originality of these postulates, it should be noted that the French philosopher repeated the classical idealization of beauty, previously explored by referential theorists, such as the German Johann Joachim Winckelmann (1717-1768), author of History of Art at Antiquity (1764) and the Italian Luigi Lanzi (1732-1810),[20] author of the Storia pittorica dell’Italia. The latter, published between 1772 and 1796, was responsible for the legitimacy of the term "school of painting", which, as we have seen, had been used by Porto-Alegre when structuring his ideas about the existence and the composition of a "national style" which could allow for the identification and differentiation of the Brazilian artistic genius in its relation with the works produced by the great leaders of the European "Schools".

67.    Another probable source of eclectic matrix used by Porto-Alegre in the preparation of the articles devoted to the history of the fine arts in Brazil can be detected, albeit speculatively, in his interaction in France with Alexader Lenoir (1761-1839),[21] an architect and intellectual who, based on the evolutionary theories proposed by Winckelmann and Lanzi, had been responsible for the idealization and administration of the Museum of French Monuments, opened in 1796. In the 1830s (during the Brazilian's stay in Paris), Lenoir took on a nationalist posture as the administrator of the French monuments and the Saint-Denis Abbey and the president of the general history group of the IHP.

68.    It should be noted that the administrator of the abbey was also a great Gothic enthusiast, who, as we have seen, was appointed several times by Araújo Porto-Alegre as an ideal counterpoint to the Baroque style represented by the Brazilian religious architecture.

Bibliographic references

CARRARO, Elaine Cristina. O Instituto Histórico de Paris e a regeneração moral da sociedade. Master Thesis presented to the Department of Sociology, Institute of Philosophy and Human Sciences at the State University of Campinas, under the guidance of Professor Dr. Elide Rugai Bastos. Campinas, 2002.

DEBRET, Jean Baptiste. Viagem Pitoresca e Histórica ao Brasil. São Paulo: Livraria Martins Editora, 1965. Coleção Biblioteca Histórica Brasileira. Vol. I and II.

FRIEDLANDER, Walter. De David a Delacroix. São Paulo: Cosac & Naify Edições, 2001.

GALVÃO, Alfredo. Manuel de Araújo Porto-Alegre: sua influência na Academia Imperial de Belas-Artes e no meio artístico do Rio de Janeiro. Addendum to the Revista do Patrimônio Histórico e Artístico Nacional. Rio de Janeiro, v. 14, 1959.

GALVÃO, Alfredo. Subsídios para a história da Academia Imperial de Belas-Artes e da Escola Nacional de Belas-Artes. Rio de Janeiro: Universidade do Brasil, 1854.

DUQUE-ESTRADA, Luís Gonzaga. Arte brasileira: pintura e escultura. Campinas: Mercado das Letras, 1995.

KOVENSKI, Julia; SQUEFF, Leticia (Org.). Porto-Alegre: singular & plural. Catalogue. São Paulo: Instituto Moreira Salles, 2014.

LEMOS, Delba Guarini de. O Pensamento eclético na província do Rio de Janeiro. Niterói: Federal Fluminense University , 1996.

LIMA, Valéria. J. B. Debret, historiador e pintor: uma viagem pitoresca e histórica ao Brasil (1816-1839). Campinas: Unicamp, 2007.

NAVES, Rodrigo. A forma difícil: ensaios sobre a arte brasileira. São Paulo: Editora Ática, 2001. 2. ed.

PINASSI, Maria Orlanda. Três devotos, uma fé e nenhum milagre – a study of the Nitheroy magazine, 1836. Ph. D. Thesis submitted to the Department of Sociology at the Institute of Philosophy and Human Sciences at the State University of Campinas, under the guidance of Professor. Dr. Élide Rugai Bastos.

PORTO-ALEGRE, Manuel de Araújo. Résumé de l’histoire de littérature, des sciences et des arts au Brésil pour trois brésiliens, membres de l’Institut Historique. Journal de l’Institut Historique. Paris: P. Baudolin, imprimeur-librarie de l’Institut Historique, rue Mignon, n. 1. Vol. I, p. 47-53, 1834.

PORTO-ALEGRE. Manuel de Araújo. Memórias sobre a Antiga Escola Fluminense de Pintura. In: Revista do Instituto Histórico e Geográfico Brasileiro. Rio de Janeiro, Tipografia D. L. dos Santos, Rua Nova do ouvidor, nº 20. Tomo III, 1841. p. 547-557.

SCHWARCZ, Lilia Moritz. As barbas do Imperador: D. Pedro II, um monarca nos trópicos. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 1998.

SQUEFF, Letícia. O Brasil nas letras de um pintor: Manuel de Araújo Porto-Alegre (1806-1879). Campinas: Unicamp, 2004.

SQUEFF, Leticia. Uma Galeria no Império: a coleção da escola brasileira e as origens do Museu Nacional de Belas-Artes. Sao Paulo: University of Sao Paulo /Fapesp, 2012.

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[1]Like Debret, Gros had been a student of Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825), famous neoclassical painter who participated in the Revolution of 1789 and worked for the court of Napoleon Bonaparte, taking responsibility for the execution of the most significant paintings of this style.

[2] Living in Brazil between 1820 and 1823, Eugène de Monglave interacted with some great national policymakers, such as Evaristo and Veiga and Jose Bonifacio, having followed the first political movement that would later culminate in the independence of Brazil. A great admirer of native geography and culture, he contributed significantly to the promotion of Brazilian literature in Europe by publishing in 1827 a collection of letters exchanged between Dom Joao VI and Dom Pedro I in 1821 and 1822, and in the translation of Marilia de Dirceu, in 1825, written by Tomas Antonio Gonzaga, and the epic poem Caramuru by Santa Rita Durão, published in French in 1829. In 1834, along with the historian Joseph Michaud, he conducted the meetings that would result in founding the Paris Institute of History.

[3] Pointed out by several scholars of Brazilian literary history as the great transmitter of eclectic postulates to the generation that, in the 1830s, would carry out the modernization project of national culture, Monte Alverne boosted first-hand discussions to this issue through his sermons. Actively engaged as a man of letters and getting huge attention as a speaker, he engaged various Brazilian intellectuals to the cause of civilization, and, reaffirming his belief in the eclectic spiritual postulates, he elected virtue as a the promoter of Christian religiosity for the moral, intellectual and material development of the Nation.

[4] PORTO-ALEGRE, M. de Araújo. Letters to La Verna. Sixth letter, 25.7.1835, p. 8.

[5] Working in Germany in 1817 and 1818, Cousin approaches Hegel who, during that period, was a professor of philosophy at the Universities of Heidelberg and Berlin, where, between 1820 and 1829, the year he became president of the latter, he gave lessons on the history of philosophy, philosophy of religion, philosophy of history as well as lectures that made up his course of aesthetics. Dismissed from his duties as a teacher in France because of his liberal leanings, Cousin traveled back to Germany, where he got involved with movements that conspired in favor of the monarchical restoration in France and Prussia. Arrested in the city of Dresden in 1824, he remained imprisoned until the following year, during which he received great support from Hegel, who interfered with the German authorities, calling for his release. Appropriating mainly Hegelian historicism and using it as an analytical methodology for the preparation of his arguments, Cousin proposes a new structure for the history of philosophy, in which the analysis in perspective of the human thought should be guided by the study of the different stages of the formation of the spirit of people.

[6] DEBRET, Jean-Baptiste. Viagem Pitoresca e Histórica ao Brasil. São Paulo: Livraria Martins Editora. 1965. Biblioteca Histórica Brasileira Collection. Vol. II. 1965, p. 440.

[7] Ibidem, p. 441.

[8] Idem.

[9] Idem

[10] Ibidem, p. 442.

[11] Ibidem, p. 444

[12] Ibidem, p. 445

[13] The full text was published in the Official Gazette on 12.29.1834 under the title Literature and Arts in Brazil. In 1835, the original article excerpts were published in 04/23 and 08/06.

[14] PORTO-ALEGRE, Manuel de Araújo. Carta de um jovem brasileiro sobre a cidade de Roma. Aurora Fluminense, Rio de Janeiro, n. 1068, 07/13/1835.

[15] LIMA, Valéria. J. B. Debret, historiador e pintor: uma viagem pitoresca e histórica ao Brasil (1816-1839). Campinas: Unicamp, 2007, p. 277 (Manuscripts session, FBN).

[16] Porto-Alegre, M. de A. Memórias sobre a Antiga Escola Fluminense de Pintura. Magazine of the History and Geographic Institute. Rio de Janeiro. Vol. III, 1841, p. 549.

[17] Ibidem, p. 552

[18] Ibidem, p. 554

[19] Cousin, Victor. Apud MATTOS, Claudia Valadão de. O Panteão e a Mata: estética e política na formação e atuação de Manuel de Araújo Porto-Alegre. In: KOVENSKY, Julia, SQUEFF, Leticia (Org.). Porto Alegre: singular e plural. São Paulo: IMS, 2014,p. 129.

[20] Mattos (Op. cit., p.139) mentions in a note the donation of a French translation of this book, made by Porto-Alegre to the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts Library.

[21] As administrator of the Saint-Denis Abbey, Lenoir was responsible for hiring François Debret, architect and brother of the first professor of historical painting of AIBA, who coordinated the restoration of the stained glass windows of the Gothic temple between 1830 and 1840. In addition to the IHP, the abbey may also have served as the venue for the meeting of the young Brazilian artist and supervisor of the important works of his tutor.