Baroque in Brazil

The European model and its Brazilianization

Main article: Baroque

The Baroque was born in Italy in the turn of the 16th to the 17th century, in the midst of one of the greatest spiritual crises Europe had ever faced: the Protestant Reformation, which split the continent's ancient religious unity and sparked an international political rearrangement in which the once almighty Catholic Church has lost strength and space. It was a style of reaction against Classicism of the Renaissance, whose foundations revolved around symmetry, proportionality, economics, rationality, and formal equilibrium. Thus, Baroque aesthetics prevailed by asymmetry, excess, expressive and irregular, so much so that the term "Baroque", which named the style, designated a bizarre and irregular shaped pearl. In addition to an aesthetic tendency, these traits constituted a true way of life and set the tone for the entire culture of the period, a culture that emphasized contrast, conflict, dynamic, dramatic, grandiloquent, dissolution of boundaries, along with an accentuated taste for the opulence of shapes and materials, making it a perfect vehicle for the Counter-Reformation Catholic Church and the rising absolutist monarchies to visibly express their ideals of glory and pomp. The monumental structures erected during the Baroque, such as the palaces and the great theaters and churches, sought to create a spectacular and exuberant nature impact, proposing an integration between the various artistic languages and trapping the viewer in a cathartic, apotheotic, engaging and passionate atmosphere. This aesthetic had wide acceptance in the Iberian Peninsula, especially in Portugal, whose culture, besides being essentially Catholic and monarchical, in which officially united Church and State and delimited loose and indistinct boundaries between public and private, was impregnated with millennialism and mysticism, favoring an ubiquitous and superstitious religiosity characterized by emotional intensity. And from Portugal the movement moved to its colony in South America, where the cultural context of the indigenous peoples, marked by ritualism and festivity, provided a receptive background.

The Baroque appeared in Brazil about one hundred years after the Portuguese colonization of Brazil. The population had grown beyond the first villages of the 16th century, and some local culture was taking root. The Portuguese, however, struggled to establish an essential economic infrastructure: they encountered a hostile climate and terrain, as well as resistance by indigenous peoples. Despite these conditions, the Portuguese heavily exploited the colony for crops and minerals. Slavery was a fundamental aspect of colonial Brazilian society, and was the basis of its workforce.

The Baroque in Brazil was born, therefore, in an environment of struggle and conquest. The colonizers were, at the same time, in awe of the magnificent landscape of the new colony, a feeling they held from the beginning. The Baroque flourished for several centuries in the new and immense country, its aesthetic and essence reflected in the contrast, drama, excess, and wonder, of daily life. It was perhaps able to mirror the continental magnitude of the colonizing enterprise, leaving a set of equally grandiose masterpieces in the Baroque style. More than merely an aesthetic movement, the Baroque was a cultural movement that penetrated all spheres and social strata. The Baroque, then, merges with, and shapes, a large portion of the Brazilian national identity and its concept of the past. According to Benedito Lima de Toledo, "a fundamental fact remains: for more than three centuries the Baroque has translated the aspirations and contradictions of Brazilian society, one that was eager to find its own path. It is art that expresses the yearnings of a nation in its long quest for self-affirmation." It is not by chance that Affonso Romano de Sant'Anna called the Baroque "the soul of Brazil". A significant part of this artistic heritage is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and a large number of Brazilian Baroque buildings are protected by the federal National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage (IPHAN) as well as state and municipal governments.

The Baroque in Brazil was formed by a complex web of European influences and local adaptations, generally colored by the Portuguese interpretation of the style. It is necessary to remember, however, that the context in which the Baroque developed in the colony was completely different from the one that gave rise to the movement in Europe.

That is why the Brazilian Baroque, despite all the gold in the national churches, has already been accused of a poverty of style and naivety when compared to the European Baroque, with its erudite, courtly, and sophisticated character. It was created by white European colonizers, and the production carried out in a rudimentary technique by artisans with little education. The artisans included enslaved people of African descent; freed people of mixed race; or pardos, and indigenous peoples. This hybrid, with its naive and uncultured features, is one of the elements that lends the Brazilian baroque its originality and distinctiveness. Lucio Costa observed that:

::"It should be recognized from the outset that it is not always academically perfect works [...] that, in fact, have the greatest plastic value. Works with a popular taste, disfiguring in their own way the modular relationships of erudite standards, often create new and unforeseen plastic relations, full of spontaneity and a spirit of invention, which eventually places them in an artistically superior plane to that of well-behaved works, within the rules of style and good taste, but empty of creative juices and real meaning real."

Communication between the first population centers on the coast in Brazil was not easy, it was often more practical to go directly to Lisbon for all matters. Naturally, until the 17th century, Brazilian artistic works were often carried out in precarious conditions where improvisation and amateurism prevailed, and much without the knowledge of what was happening in other parts of the colony. This gave rise to idiosyncratic interpretations of the Baroque.Frequent contact with the metropolis, or Lisbon, enabled colonial art to have access to an uninterrupted source of new information, though this did not prevent local variations and interpretations. There were many erudite masters in their fields, who became heads of schools, initially Portuguese and later many Brazilians as well; the richest and most sophisticated examples of Baroque production are attributed to them. The religious figures active in Brazil came from different countries, and many of them were literati, architects, painters, and sculptors. They were, in general, well-educated and talented, and contributed decisively to the complex cultural situation in Brazil, bringing a variety of training. They were trained in countries such as Spain, Italy, and France, in addition to Portugal itself, and served as disseminators of European artistic currents. Contact with Asia via maritime trading companies also left its mark, with some Asian influence found in paintings, lacquers, porcelain, and ivory figurines. At the beginning of the 18th century, with better internal communication and working conditions, European theoretical treatises and practical manuals on art began to circulate in the studios of Brazil. Local artists avidly sought reproductions in engraving of European works, ancient and current, which presented them with a heterogeneous iconography to use as a formal model and adapt on a large scale in works across Brazil. The penetration of French influence can be observed from 1760 onwards in Brazil. It gave rise to another, more elegant, varied, and light movement, the so-called Rococo, which flourished most expressively in the churches of Minas Gerais. Even elements of already-obsolete styles such as Gothic and Renaissance were found in this environment of varying influences. It is as a result of these interwoven influences the original, eclectic, and sometimes contradictory Brazilian Baroque was born, which today can be seen across practically the entire coast of the country and in a large part of its interior. The Amazon region was the least affected, as it was the last to be populated. The south of Brazil, conquered from the mid-18th century onwards, also has relatively little Baroque heritage.

The Baroque was integrated in the Brazilian national context by the end of the 18th century, having produced innumerable works of high value. Two famous figures appeared at the culmination of the Baroque in Brazil, both in the cultural and economic center of Minas Gerais: Aleijadinho (Antônio Francisco Lisboa) in architecture and sculpture, and Master Ataíde (Manoel da Costa Ataíde) in painting. They epitomized an art movement that had managed to mature and adapt to the environment of a tropical country still dependent on Portugal, linking itself to regional resources and values, and constituting one of the first great moments of native originality, of genuine Brazilianness. The so-called Mineiro Baroque, or Baroque of Minas Gerais, represented by Aleijadinho and Master Ataíde, for many scholars is no longer Baroque but Rococo; this reflects the controversies that still exist regarding the identification of the Rococo as an independent style. The recent trend is to give autonomy to Rococo as a movement. But, until the mid-19th century, overlapping influences archaisms persisted, making characterization often impossible in the analysis of individual cases.

The great artistic cycle from which Aleijadinho and Master Ataíde emerged was abruptly interrupted with the official imposition of the neoclassical. It began with the arrival of the Portuguese court to Brazil in 1808 and the activity of the French Artistic Mission (Missão Artística Frances). From then on, losing official and elite favor, the Baroque gradually dissolved. But it is proof of the vigor of the Baroque in that its echoes were heard across Brazil, especially in provincial centers, and practiced by popular artisans until contemporary times. In fact, several writers have stated that the Baroque never died and is still very much alive in the national culture of Brazil, being constantly reinvented and reinvented.

The role of the Catholic Church

The Catholic Church was, alongside the royal courts, the greatest patron of art in Europe in this period. There was no court in the immense colony of Brazil, and local administration was confusing and inefficient. A vast societal space remained vacant for the Church and its missionary entrepreneurs, among them the Jesuits. They administered, in addition to the divine offices, a series of civil services such as birth and death registrations. They were at the forefront of the conquest of the interior of the territory, and organized a good part of the urban space on the coast; they additionally led in teaching and social assistance; and maintaining schools, orphanages, hospitals, and asylums. The Jesuits and other brotherhoods built large religious structures decorated with luxury, commissioned musical pieces for worship, and immensely stimulated the cultural environment as a whole. They dictated rules in terms of themes and in the representation of Christian figures; the Church thus centralized Brazilian colonial art, with rare examples conspicuous profane expression. In Brazil, therefore, almost all Baroque art is sacred art. This is seen in the profusion of churches in the colony and the scarcity of Baroque palaces and other civil structures. Catholic churches were not just a place of worship, but the most important space for people to fraternize, a center for the transmission of basic social values, and often the only safe place in the turbulent and violent life of the population. There was a shift towards secularization in the arts, but not during the Baroque period in Brazil. Lay institutions increased in influence in the 18th century due to the multiplication of demands and administrative bodies in the developing colony, but they did not come to constitute a large market for artists. A civil administration was formed with the help of the Portuguese cooperation in 1808, which fundamentally transformed the governing infrastructure of Brazil.

As well as the other parts of the world where it flourished, the Brazil Baroque was a style moved largely by religious inspiration. At the same time is had an enormous emphasis on the senses and the richness of material and form, in a tacit and ambiguous agreement between spiritual glory and sensual pleasure. This agreement, when conditions allowed, created some works of art of enormous richness and formal complexity. Just entering one of the main temples of the Brazilian Baroque period is enough for the eyes to be immediately lost in an explosion of shapes and colors. Images of the saints were framed in radiant splendor, with caryatids, angels, garlands, columns and carvings in such a volume that in some cases they do not leave a square foot of space in view without decorative intervention. Walls and alters were completely covered with gold. The art historian Germain Bazin said "for the people of this period, all was a spectacle."

In the perspective of the time, this decorative profusion was justified: religious figures educated the population towards the appreciation of abstract virtues, seeking to seduce them first through the corporeal senses, especially through the beauty of form. Such wealth was also considered a tribute due to God, for his own glory. Despite the Protestant denunciation of the excessive luxury of Catholic art and architecture, and the Council of Trent's recommendation of austerity, in practice Catholics ignored the restrictions. In fact, the Council itself essentially convened to plan the fight against the advance of Protestantism. It orchestrated, mainly through the Jesuits, an aggressive proselytizing campaign via the arts, making Catholicism more attractive to popular taste by satisfying the need of lay people through its comprehensibility, touching on basic passions, hopes, and fears. It also added a systematic doctrinal character, introducing new themes, new modes of representation, and a whole new style. These factors created a cultural project that, in addition to pedagogical refinements, was a watershed in the various arts and promoted the emergence of a cornucopia of masterpieces. It provided the audience with an immersive environment in which they would receive a massive bombardment of varied sensory, intellectual, and emotional stimuli. Among the works of art were sacred narratives painted on canvas, grandiose and poignant music, the flickering of the candles placing mystical reflections from the gold in the rich carvings, and the pious staging of sacred mysteries. It included "miraculous" statues promising happiness to the believers and intimidating the sinners, a smell of incense creating a suggestive atmosphere, a chorus of litanies, festive processions with fireworks and the sumptuous ceremonies, and rhetorical sermons. In total, it can be seen that art "can seduce the soul, disturb it and enchant it in depths not perceived by reason; let this be done for the benefit of faith."

Unlike Europe of the period, the threat of Protestantism did not exist in colonial Brazil. The majority of its population, however, were non-Christians: indigenous Brazilians and enslaved people of African origin. The model of the Baroque, therefore, remained valid: it utilized seductive and didactic art that attempted to attract and convert non-Christian populations, as well as uneducated Portuguese colonists and their children. Baroque art and architecture served as a means of education for everyone, imposing on them beliefs, traditions, and models of virtue and conduct. It also aimed to strengthen the faith of Catholic believers, and encourage a deepening of their faith. There were insurmountable chasms between the social classes in colonial Brazilian society, where slavery prevailed. Indigenous and enslaved people, in practice and with rare exception, were not even considered human beings. They were mere private property in the view of Portuguese colonialists, an instrument of exploitation and a source of profit. A unified Catholic religion served as a way of cushioning serious inequalities and tensions. It additionally enabled the colonizing power to control all elements of society, and even justify slavery and exploitation, in the perspective of the formal union between Church and State. The Church contributed much to the colonial cause with its doctrine and art to maintain the social and political status quo. Alfredo Bosi explained: