When you think of Baroque, you probably remember the curvy, exaggerated, passionate form of art that blossomed in Europe since the 17th century. You may think of Caravaggio and Bernini in Italy, or the rococo in France, or Bach and Handel in Germany. Less known but equally important was the Brazilian Baroque, that dominated the art scene in the country between the end of the 17th and the 19th centuries.
Although both literature and music incorporated baroque elements, it is in architecture that Baroque really excelled.
Most baroque churches have sober exteriors that contrast with very ornate interior decoration, including chubby angels, birds, vines and a profusion of color. Cities that were rich at the time, thanks to diamonds, gold or sugar trade, such as Salvador, in Bahia, or Ouro Preto, in Minas Gerais, could afford to use gold leaves and noble materials and to hire the best artists of the time. Among them, Antônio Francisco Lisboa, known as Aleijadinho (The Crippled, a nickname given in less politically correct times), and Manoel da Costa Athaide (or Mestre Athaide).
Aleijadinho, the son of a Portuguese with a slave, lived in the state of Minas Gerais from 1730 until 1814. His amazing work as an architect, decorator and sculptor has a unique, dramatic style. The details and the realism of his statues, sculpted in wood or soap stone, are particularly impressive when you think of how the Aleijadinho worked: he had to attach his tools to his hands, after he lost his fingers to leprosy. Mestre Athaide was a very influential painter, known for the use of perspective and for the African traits of his angels and saints.
You can see good examples of Baroque in these cities:
- Rio de Janeiro – Mosteiro de São Bento and Igreja da Ordem Terceira de São Francisco da Penitência
- Salvador – Catedral Basílica and Igreja da Ordem Terceira de São Francisco
- Recife – Matriz de Santo Antônio and Basílica de Nossa Senhora do Carmo
- Ouro Preto – Igreja de São Francisco de Assis (the combined work of Aleijadinho and Mestre Athaide gave the church the title of “One of the Seven Wonders of the World of Portuguese Influence”, in 2009)
- Congonhas do Campo – Santuário do Bom Jesus dos Matozinhos. The church’s front area hosts the famous 12 Prophets, sculpted by Aleijadinho in soapstone.
- Mariana – Igreja de São Francisco
Check also this amazing video, that shows one of the main Brazilian Baroque expositions ever, organized in 1998 by the Federation of Industries of the State of São Paulo.