How does this artwork elucidate its Description?
Batalha dos Guararapes, oil on canvas full-color work, is kept in the collection of the Museu Nacional de Belas Artes, in Rio de Janeiro, and measures 500 cm by 925 cm. It depicts one of the battles between the Portuguese and the Dutch that took place on the Guararapes Hill, on Brazilian soil, during Brazil's colonial period.The painting follows a movement belonging to a period of construction of visual molds of Brazil's national identity, related to novelistic aesthetics, making the battles a new source of evocative images of Brazil. The title of the painting refers to the name given to the battle, relating it to the name of the place where it took place: Morro dos Guararapes.
Centrally and prominently, there is André Vidal de Negreiros, field master of the Portuguese Army, brandishing his sword, mounted on a brown and white horse that prances at the moment captured by the artist, making his image taller than any other. At the same time, the master strikes a blow with his sword against the Dutch colonel Keeweer, who looks at him stunned, lying on the ground. This is the nerve center of the scene. Around the central content, many warriors with various spears, flags and swords face each other, having a concentration of men around the confrontation of the two chiefs. The battle is being won by the Portuguese army that is arranged on the left side of the picture, and on the right side, several Dutch dead, wounded on the ground and others still in the middle of the duel, with their bodies leaning forward, which directs the viewer's gaze. Next to the battered colonel, there are warriors protecting him from the Portuguese master, covering him like in a barricade and pointing their weapons at the enemy. The Dutch colonel's white horse is lying wounded on the ground. Meirelles also depicts the military strategies used and, in this way, exposes the Dutch warriors, who were arranged in several human bands, creating army phases.Right behind André Vidal, there is the commander of the troop, Barreto de Menezes, also mounted on horseback, showing his sword and going to capture the governor of the Dutch, Sigismund von Schkopp. On the right side, some warriors further away from the chaos of the battle in the center, observe and comment on the scene. The Dutch, as well as the Portuguese, all white-skinned, wear colorful clothes, in various shades: red, green, yellow, blue, orange, brown, gray, black, and white, colors that call attention in their clothes of thick fabrics, showy, detailed, with feathers, belts, trim, leather boots. They also wear iron armor and have numerous pieces of equipment such as shields, spears, and swords, the latter aimed at the enemy. The Portuguese army is composed of white-skinned Portuguese and some indigenous and black men who are poorly represented, wear simple clothes, some are even unarmored. The white men have horses, and the dark-skinned fight all on the ground.To the left, towards the land of the scenery, there are a group of Portuguese soldiers on horseback in the background, ferociously approaching the combat zone. These are depicted with more muted colors that blend with the vegetation and a surrounding dust. On the lower side of the canvas, on the dirt floor with some bloodstains, are several wounded men, dead, lying among some dry branches, abandoned weapons and pieces of clothing. Others, also on the ground, are watching and protecting themselves from the battle, helpless. All the chaos and movement of the scene raises a dust produced by the earthen floor, which involves the whole picture, causing a frame effect of penumbra. Filipe Camarão and Henrique Dias occupy the sides of the canvas, right and left respectively. The groups of warriors slowly disappear into the open space in the background. They are represented in a smaller size and with neutral colors which generates a visual effect of depth and grandeur of the battle, as if it were not possible to portray the size of the battle itself, but a specific cut: the Portuguese Vidal de Negreiros' blow against the Dutch Keeweer.The meeting of the armies takes place in the foreground, on the Guararapes Hill, a place with tall trees, an earthy, wide flat ground. The landscape occupies the upper left corner of the screen with an immense blue sky that carries clouds and composes together with the gray dust. Meirelles composes the topography of the region and inserts in the background, in the third plane, Cabo de Santo Agostinho, the place that represents the reason for the confrontation between the two groups. In this more distant plane, a technique of depth is used with the use of a palette of dull colors, white and little sharpness, unlike the center and foregrounds where there is more sharpness and bright colors. One notices a nature composed of various species of trees, and the flow of the sea toward the mountainous horizon.The language used by Meirelles is clear and seeks to be faithful to the event and the place, with the intention of rescuing the spirit of an era from its vestiges, since the paintings of battles became, at that time, ways of documenting real exploits, and recording them as an eyewitness account. Artistic realism from the 19th century onward becomes a fundamental characteristic in works, notably in historical painting. The ability to capture the "real" takes precedence over the didactic function, although not completely. Themes focused on national history became a constant, gradually replacing the interest in religious themes, and there was a greater need to consult sources that would help compose the painting as faithfully as possible, within its historical context.
center Museu Nacional de Belas Artes André Vidal de Negreiros oil on canvas historical painting Cabo de Santo Agostinho topography Rio de Janeiro Barreto de Menezes artist Filipe Camarão Portuguese Brazil's colonial period paintings of battles 19th century Portuguese Army field master Henrique Dias