拍品專文
When Johan Maurits van Nassau Siegen became Governor General of Dutch Brasil in 1637, he took with him a group of scientists and artists who in the years until 1644 would explore this South American country and study its culture. P.J.P. Whitehead and M. Boeseman, the authors of A Portrait of Dutch 17th century Brasil, Animals, Plants and People by the Artists of Johan Maurits of Nassau, 1989, state that "it is generally acknowledged that the information brought together in this period not only served for more than a century as a basis of knowledge of Brasil, but largely determined in European minds the essential image of this part of the world". The most important persons among this group of scientists and artists were Georg Markgraf, who researched the fauna and flora, published as Historia Naturalis Brasiliae in 1648 and whose map of Brasil was published in the same year (Whitehead and Boeseman, op. cit., p. 157, plate 81), and Albert Eeckhout and Frans Post.
The terms of employment of both these painters are not known. Post may have been required to document civil and military buildings and sites, while Eeckhout's task may have been to focus on the flora and fauna. Only about six paintings by Post painted during his Brazilian stay are known. After his return in 1643 he continued to paint Brazilian landscapes, probably working from sketches, circa 130 paintings are recorded, dated from 1647-1669. This group is characterised by an abundance of zoological and botanical details brought together in a 'repoussoir' of finely depicted plants and perched birds. In these 'repoussoirs' Post worked on a miniaturist's scale with a mastering of detail. For the identification of these zoological, botanical and ethnological details, see Whitehead and Boeseman, op. cit., pp. 187-191. E. Larssen, Frans Post, Interprète du Bresil, 1962, has suggested that the artist might have worked with an inverted lens as used by Galileo and which came into use in Holland through the experiments of Constantijn Huygens. This hypothesis was denied by J. de Sousa Leao, op. cit., p. 24, who suggested that Post would rather have used the camera obscura developed in 1622, which enabled the creation of a flat image of a subject set in receding space.
The Indians in the centre occur in a comparable group in the picture by Post (Sousa Leao, op. cit., pp.90-91, no. 49, with ill.) They can be identified as Tapuyas and are to be seen in the Markgraf map of 1648, for which Post designed the illustrations. (Whitehead and Boeseman, p. 191, no. K).
See colour illustration
The terms of employment of both these painters are not known. Post may have been required to document civil and military buildings and sites, while Eeckhout's task may have been to focus on the flora and fauna. Only about six paintings by Post painted during his Brazilian stay are known. After his return in 1643 he continued to paint Brazilian landscapes, probably working from sketches, circa 130 paintings are recorded, dated from 1647-1669. This group is characterised by an abundance of zoological and botanical details brought together in a 'repoussoir' of finely depicted plants and perched birds. In these 'repoussoirs' Post worked on a miniaturist's scale with a mastering of detail. For the identification of these zoological, botanical and ethnological details, see Whitehead and Boeseman, op. cit., pp. 187-191. E. Larssen, Frans Post, Interprète du Bresil, 1962, has suggested that the artist might have worked with an inverted lens as used by Galileo and which came into use in Holland through the experiments of Constantijn Huygens. This hypothesis was denied by J. de Sousa Leao, op. cit., p. 24, who suggested that Post would rather have used the camera obscura developed in 1622, which enabled the creation of a flat image of a subject set in receding space.
The Indians in the centre occur in a comparable group in the picture by Post (Sousa Leao, op. cit., pp.90-91, no. 49, with ill.) They can be identified as Tapuyas and are to be seen in the Markgraf map of 1648, for which Post designed the illustrations. (Whitehead and Boeseman, p. 191, no. K).
See colour illustration