Taken from the sea, this lithograph was made by Jean-Baptiste Debret in 1830. Debret, French, travelled to Brazil in March 1816 as a member of the so-called French Artistic Mission, a group of bonapartist French artists and artisans bound to creating in Rio de Janeiro an arts and crafts lyceum (Escola Real de Artes e Ofícios) under the auspices of King D. João VI and the Conde da Barca, which later became the Academia Imperial de Belas Artes (Imperial Academy of Fine Arts) under Emperor Dom Pedro I. The school was eventually absorbed by the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in 1931.
Debret established his atelier at the Imperial Academy in December 1822 and became a teacher in 1826. In 1829 Debret organized the first arts exhibition ever to take place in Brazil, in which he presented many of his works as well as of his disciples. Debret was also involved in the drawing of ornaments for many of public ceremonies and official festivities of the court and even some of the courtier’s uniforms are credited to him.
He returned to France in 1831 and died a pauper in 1848.
Take a picture in the very same place!
Largo do Paço
The square itself, for a long time, was the natural centre of the city. In 1808, the Portuguese royal family arrived in Brazil right here, the port only losing its importance after the construction of the Cais do Valongo in the north of the centre. The former Imperial Palace still stands, on the left in the drawing, but now is a combination of cultural centre and arts and craft market.
In the foreground, you can see the fountain of Mestre (Master) Valentim, Valentim da Fonseca e Silva, who lived from 1745 to 1813 and was one of the leading artists of colonial Brazil, having worked as a sculptor, engraver and urban planner in Rio de Janeiro.
Valentim was half black and might have learned sculpture in Portugal, where he might have been taken by his Portuguese father. Back in Brazil in 1770, he established a workshop in the center of Rio de Janeiro and joined the Brotherhood of Our Lady of the Rosary of Black Men, through which he created several pieces Rio churches until his death.
During the rule of the viceroy Don Luis de Vasconcelos e Sousa (1779-1790) Valentim was in charge of public works in the city, designing many fountains and the Praça Passeio Publico, just south of metro station Cinelândia, the first public park in the Americas.