TheartandthecourtofPedroII

Occurring basically within the scope of the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts, artistic life during the reign of Dom Pedro II gained major importance in the artistic everyday life of Rio de Janeiro. Since the 1830s, painting, sculpture, and the other crafts linked to the traditional universe of the arts had been coexisting in the city with constant visits from European artists – both amateurs and professionals – who recorded, in great volume, watercolors and canvases depicting the landscape and customs of Carioca society. They also came to coexist with the invention of the daguerreotype, the first photography technology up to that point. With the enthusiasm of Pedro II, who acquired his first device at just fourteen years old, Germans, French, and North Americans began opening studios with the new machine-based form of image-making – as was the case with F. N. Bautz and the duo Augustus Morand and Smith.

Another important moment that further opened up the circulation of novelties in our artistic milieu was the creation, by the then director of the Academia Imperial de Belas Artes, Félix-Emilie Taunay, of the prize for a trip to Europe. Holding the Exposição Geral de Belas Artes annually since 1841, Taunay included as of 1845, as part of the prize, a trip that was initially three years long in France. Later, the period would be extended by another two years of residence in Italy. This long stay, however, was rigidly controlled by a series of protocols, academic obligations on the part of the painters, and frequent letters to the Academy's directors reporting on their stay and studies. Historical paintings, such as “A Primeira Missa” (1859-1861), by Victor Meirelles, are the fruits of these prizes.

In February 1849, a still young and unknown aspiring painter, Edouard Manet, spent three months in Rio de Janeiro, arriving in the city as a sailor's apprentice on the training ship Havre e Guadaloupe. Manet, who would go on to become one of the greatest names in modern art of all time, did not paint the city, but recorded in letters and later writings the impact he felt from the light of Guanabara Bay and the social types he saw – as well as developing a repulsion toward the slave system.

This period Manet spent in Rio de Janeiro as a still complete unknown (he hadn't even begun his painting studies) is, in a way, an irony given what was happening in the city: turned toward France, it sent there, year after year, a series of artists whose goal was to perfect the copying of the classics and deepen academic methods. Only ten years after his visit to Brazil and his impact with our light, Manet begins his trajectory as a painter, one that would precisely seek to overcome the idea of art that Brazilians were forced to reproduce.

The power of the court also shaped the painters and sculptors who worked around official commissions or painted themes related to the interest of a nation-building project that was developed during the height of the Second Reign. As capital of the Empire, Rio de Janeiro was the main breeding ground for such official careers. The main moment when this occurs is when, in 1872, João Alfredo Correia de Oliveira, minister of the Empire, hired two of the most promising Brazilian painters – Vitor Meirelles and Pedro Américo – to produce a series of historical paintings with battles that marked the official history of the Empire. Meirelles was responsible for the paintings "Combate Naval no Riachuelo" and "Passagem do Humaitá", while Américo painted "Batalha de Campo Grande".

Image description: This is a painting that depicts a coastal scene under a dramatic sky. On the left side, we see rocks and dense vegetation. In the center, there is a ship sailing on the calm sea. On the right, there is a small island with trees and smoke rising from a fire. The sky is filled with dense, gray clouds, with a few rays of light breaking through them.

After receiving the imperial commendation of the Order of the Rose for their first paintings, they are once again summoned for two more works. Pedro Américo is invited to paint the Battle of Guararapes, but prefers another, the Battle of Avaí. Thus, Meirelles takes on the Pernambuco theme. Both take great pains with their works – the former carrying it out in a studio in Florence, and the latter making constant visits to the depicted region – and display their majestic results (Pedro Américo's canvas is the largest ever made in the country up to that point) at the Exposição Geral de Belas Artes in 1879. With an audience of nearly thirty thousand people coming to see the works, the paintings sparked much controversy in newspapers and on the streets of the city, in what became known as the questão artística.

Image description: This is a painting depicting a battle scene. The image is divided into three main parts: the sky, the horizon, and the battlefield. In the sky, we see dense clouds and a partially visible sun, suggesting tension and confusion. On the horizon, there is a line of trees and flat terrain. The battlefield is filled with soldiers in motion, with some figures standing out. On the left, we see mounted riders in the foreground, while on the right, foot soldiers advance with flags. The center of the painting shows intense chaos, with fallen soldiers and others engaged in combat. The colors are predominantly somber, with tones of gray, brown, and red, reflecting the intensity of the battle.

Another point to highlight in the city's artistic life is the emergence of a new professional field for draftsmen and graphic artists through the first illustrated magazines. In 1860 Henrique Fluss began publishing Semana Ilustrada, whose drawn characters marked an era in the Empire. In 1868, the Italian draftsman Angelo Agostini founded A Vida Fluminense, where he would exercise his talent as the most famous caricaturist of that period and pioneer of comic strips in the country. He also collaborated on other illustrated publications that were emerging in the city, such as O Mosquito and Comédia Social (both from 1870), as well as Revista Ilustrada, which he helped found in 1876.

Image description: This is a black-and-white engraving. In the image, we see a man seated on a classical-style throne, with a large leather covering behind him. He is wearing a black suit and has a long, gray beard. In his lap, he holds an open newspaper, while before him lie other stacked newspapers. In the background, there are heavy curtains and a window through which an outdoor landscape can be seen. At the top of the image, there is text in large, ornate lettering, and below, smaller text providing information about the periodical.