Landscape in Brazil

Frans Jansz Post (mentioned on object), 1652

The Dutch West India Company seized the lucrative sugar industry from the Portuguese. Sugar cane was cultivated on plantations like the one depicted in this painting. A sugar mill can be seen in the centre, under the canopy. Violence was used to force people in slavery to do the work. What is portrayed as an idyll for the Dutch viewers was a gruesome reality for them.

  • Artwork typepainting
  • Object numberSK-A-3224
  • Dimensionsheight 282.5 cm x width 210.5 cm
  • Physical characteristicsoil on canvas

Identification

  • Title(s)

    • Landscape in Brazil
    • Landscape in Dutch Brazil
  • Object type

  • Object number

    SK-A-3224

  • Description

    Landschap in Nederlands-Brazilië. Doorkijk tussen planten naar een rivierlandschap met in de verte een plantage. Op de voorgrond tropische planten (ananas, kalebas, cactus) en dieren (vogel, sprinkhaan).

  • Inscriptions / marks

    signature and date: ‘F. Post 1652 12/22’


Creation

  • Creation

    painter: Frans Jansz Post (mentioned on object)

  • Dating

    1652

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Material and technique

  • Physical description

    oil on canvas

  • Dimensions

    height 282.5 cm x width 210.5 cm


This work is about

  • Subject

  • Place


Acquisition and rights

  • Credit line

    Purchased with the support of the Stichting tot Bevordering van de Belangen van het Rijksmuseum

  • Acquisition

    purchase 1934-02-19

  • Copyright

  • Provenance

    ? Commissioned by Pieter van der Hagen (Cologne 1598-Leiden 1668), counsellor of Brazil; ? by descent to his grandson Johannes van der Hagen (1665-1739); ? his daughter Maria Clara (1703-65) and her husband Cornelis Backer (1693-1775), Huis Backershagen, Wassenaar; ? their daughter, Clara Elisabeth (1746-1818), with Huis Backershagen; ? purchased by Henricus Gelissen and Jan Harmen van Wensen, with Huis Backershagen, 7 June 1819; ? purchased by Christiaan Paul van Beresteyn, with Huis Backershagen, 20 November 1820; ? purchased by Jan de la Bassecour (1786-1842), with Huis Backershagen, 1837; ? purchased by Frederik Hendrik (1820-79), Prince of the Netherlands, with Huis Backershagen, 2 February 1846; ? purchased by a consortium of estate agents, with Huis Backershagen, 1910; ? purchased by Allart Gerard Nicolaas Swart, with Huis Backershagen;{See Hoek 1985 for a detailed history of the Backershagen estate.} from whom on loan to the museum, 1932; from whom, fl. 850, to the museum, as a gift from the Fotocommissie, February 1935{Provenance reconstructed in Uitenhage de Mist-Verspyck 1964.}

  • Remarks

    Please note that this provenance was formulated with a special focus on provenance research for the years 1933-45 and could therefore be incomplete. There may be more (mostly earlier) provenance information known in the museum. In case this item has an uncertain or incomplete provenance for the years 1933-45, the Rijksmuseum welcomes information and assistance in the investigation and clarification of the provenance of all works during that era.


Documentation


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