Libri Principis e as Ilustrações de Fauna e de Flora do Brasil Holandês

Abstract

Este artigo aborda um conjunto de ilustrações de flora e de fauna realizadas durante o governo de Maurício de Nassau no Brasil Holandês, no séc. 17, conhecido como Libri Principis: dois volumes encadernados com desenhos e pinturas realizadas entre os anos de 1637 e 1644 no Brasil, por artistas e cientistas de sua comitiva. Apesar de existirem por quase quatro séculos, os Libri Principis têm recebido pouca atenção, sobretudo de historiadores da arte, tendo sido considerados desaparecidos desde a Segunda Guerra Mundial até 1977, quando foram encontrados na Biblioteca Jaguelônica da Universidade de Cracóvia, na Polônia. O objetivo principal da pesquisa foi o de estudar esse material buscando conhecer sua trajetória histórica e investigar como, por que e por quem foi produzido. Para isso foi realizada uma revisão bibliográfica extensa e pesquisa sobre as técnicas pictóricas utilizadas pelos artistas viajantes da época. Entre as conclusões, se destacam o interesse e a estreita relação de Maurício de Nassau com o desenvolvimento da História Natural europeia e a inserção dos Libri Principis no amplo contexto do desenvolvimento artístico, científico e tecnológico do séc. 17.

Nature portrayed in images in Dutch Brazil: Tracing the sources of the plant woodcuts in theHistoria Naturalis Brasiliae(1648)

“…The majority of the woodcuts were based on other sources, most likely on the drawings made by Marcgrave in Brazil. The naturalist and his assistants could be acknowledged as the author(s) of most of the flora woodcuts, instead of Eckhout (15). Despite a few drawings embedded in De Laet’s manuscript, whose authorship has been attributed to Marcgrave (4,11), there are no other records of the naturalist’s original drawings made in Brazil, and even so, this authorship cannot be fully attributed to Marcgrave because some bear a strong resemblance to the Theatrum ’s illustrations.…”

“…Apart from some of the drawings glued in the verso , several entries (27 species) in De Laet’s manuscript with the word Icon correspond to the oil paintings images. These could correspond to previous drawings of the oil paintings included in a numbered notebook created in Brazil (15). As happened with the animal woodcuts and the Libri Principis , some plant woodcuts show greater details than their corresponding images in the Theatrum .…”

“…Due to its undeniable historical value, several studies on the Brazilian images in the Libri Picturati have been conducted, focusing on its content, composition, and authorship (4,20,21,11,(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19). Scholars have argued that the Libri Picturati images served as models for the woodcuts of the HNB (4,24,25,11,12,(14)(15)(16)18,22,23). Correlations between the Theatrum illustrations and the woodcuts had been established for the birds (26) and the animals in general -also including the Libri Principis (15,25).…”

Looking into the flora of Dutch Brazil: botanical identifications of seventeenth century plant illustrations in the Libri Picturati

“…Ferrão and Soares [16] [17] historically contextualized and reproduced the images of the Libri Picturati, while commenting on some of the illustrations. Recently, Scharf [18] analyzed the different pictorial techniques behind the composition of the LP. The illustrations were clearly made by different artists, with a variety of techniques, but the authorship is still uncertain.…”

“…Others suggested that they were made by Marcgrave, who had taken artistic training and produced several drawings that served as the basis for some woodcuts in the HNB [3]. Scharf [18] suggested Count Johan Maurits as the artistic hand behind some of the watercolors. Hence, these illustrations have been mostly looked at from an (art) historic approach.…”