Baroque in Brazil
It made its appearance in the country at the beginning of the 17th century, introduced by Catholic missionaries, especially Jesuits, who went there in order to catechize and acculturate the native indigenous peoples and assist the Portuguese in the colonizing process.
The most typical characteristics of the Baroque, usually described as a dynamic, narrative, ornamental, dramatic style, cultivating contrasts and a seductive plasticity, convey a programmatic content articulated with exquisite rhetoric and great pragmatism.
In literature, Bento Teixeira's epic poem "Prosopopeia" (1601) is regarded as the initial landmark, reaching its zenith with the poet Gregório de Matos and the sacred orator Priest António Vieira.
In the field of architecture this school took root mainly in the Northeast and in Minas Gerais, but left large and numerous examples throughout almost the rest of the country, from Rio Grande do Sul to Pará.
Baroque Historic Centers such as those of the cities of Ouro Preto, Olinda and Salvador and artistic ensembles such as the Sanctuary of the Bom Jesus de Matosinhos were granted the status of World Heritage Sites by the UNESCO seal.
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.
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.
[4][8][9] 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.
At the beginning of the 18th century, with better internal communication and better working conditions, European theoretical treatises and practical manuals on art began to circulate in the studios of Brazil.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
"[29][12][9] 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.
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.
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.
[31][30][32][9] Alfredo Bosi explained: In addition to the beauty of the forms and the richness of the materials, the Catholic Church emphatically made use of the emotional aspect of the Baroque movement.
[13] The intensity of these events was recorded in many accounts of the time, such as that of Father Antônio Gonçalves, who participated in a Holy Week procession in Porto Seguro: This was not an isolated example.
Luiz Mott stated, "despite the concern of the Inquisition and Royal legislation itself prohibiting the practice of sorcery and superstition, in colonial Brazil, in every street, village, rural neighborhood or parish, there were the rezadeiras (women who offered prayers), faith healers, and diviners providing much valued services in their vicinity".
But that same mystical and passionate devotion, which so often adored the tragic and the bizarre and came dangerously close to heresy and irreverence, also shaped countless scenes of ecstasy and celestial visions, Madonnas of naive and youthful grace and perennial charm, and images of Jesus as an infant who appealed to the simple hearts of the people was immediate and supremely effective.
[35][37][38] Many Catholic church buildings were destroyed during Dutch occupation of northeast Brazil from 1630 to 1654; the colonia administrative center of Salvador was largely ruined, and occupied areas ranged from the present-day states of Sergipe to Maranhão.
[39] Over time, the facades acquired more verticality and movement, with openings in unusual shapes—pear, diamond, star, oval, or circle; the pediments, more curved; and reliefs in stone and statuary.
John Bury stated: Projects of poorer communities, in parish churches and small chapels that dot the arid interior of the Brazilian sertão, contributed to the diversity of the style and the simplication of proportions, ornaments, techniques, and materials, often in creative solutions, of great plasticity.
On the other hand, the historic centers of Brazilian some cities (Salvador, Ouro Preto, Olinda, Diamantina, São Luís, and Goiás) have been declared UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
