He is considered a forerunner of "Indianism" in Brazilian literature, with his epic poem Caramuru.

José de Santa Rita Durão was born in Mariana, in what is now the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, in 1722.

After the Pombaline government fell, he returned to Portugal, and delivered the opening address at the university of Coimbra for the year 1777.

[1] There he wrote his masterpiece and only known work: the Camões-influenced epic poem Caramuru, published in 1781 and based on the life of the famous Portuguese sailor Diogo Álvares Correia (a.k.a.

However, Caramuru received lackluster reviews by the intellectuals of the time, and Durão, heart-broken, destroyed all his poems and other literary works.