PARIS, FRACE.-The Louvre presents Frans Post (1612–1680) Brazil at the court of Louis XIV, on view through January 2, 2006. A unique moment in the history of art: the Louvre presents the works presently known of Frans Post, the first European artist to paint the New World, offered to Louis XIV in 1679. This exhibition follows the fabulous adventure of a series of landscapes by Dutch artist Frans Post, the first European to paint the New World, done in Brazil between 1637 and 1640, completed in the Netherlands and offered to Louis XIV some forty years later. Pedro and Bia Corrêa do Lago, who have been working on Post over the last ten years, have helped the Louvre bring together all the works in this series that have so far been rediscovered, 31 paintings and engravings presently dispersed in various parts of the world.This exceptional presentation is a first in the history of art. Topography and decoration - When Johan Maurits of Nassau-Siegen (1604–1679) was named governor-general of the Dutch territories in Brazil in 1636 he travelled to northeastern Brazil, accompanied by soldiers, officers, scientists and artists, including the painter Frans Post. The latter’s duty was to paint landscapes documenting Dutch possessions, as well as their chief stronghold of Recife, its main buildings, and certain battles. These canvases were intended to provide a topographical record, but also to serve as decoration for the governor-general’s residence in Pernambuco. Post completed eighteen paintings in Brazil, which were brought back to the Netherlands upon his return, and which he used as inspiration for engravings illustrating a book on Johan Maurits of Nassau’s tenure as governor-general in Brazil, written by Caspar Barlaeus. These paintings and the book were part of a magnificent group of Brazilian objects offered in 1679 to Louis XIV by Maurits of Nassau shortly before his death.
The first landscapes of the New World painted by a European artist. Eight of these paintings are in the Louvre’s permanent collection and form the core of the exhibition. Although only four other canvases from this series are as yet identified, we are aware of additional works executed by Frans Post through engravings and gouaches, which are presented here alongside the large landscapes. These paintings evoke the region of Pernambuco at the northeastern tip of Brazil, under Dutch control until 1654.
Unidentified works. This exhibition includes forty works: the seven rediscovered landscapes painted in Brazil, four of which are in the Louvre’s permanent collections, a fifth belonging to the Mauritshuis in The Hague, and two others in private collections; eighteen engravings completed in 1645 by Frans Post after his own paintings, as illustrations for a book published in 1647, and six paintings from the group executed upon the artist’s return to the Netherlands, four of which are in the Louvre’s permanent collections and the remainder in private hands. Nine gouaches by Thiéry, an amateur 18 th century painter who copied the paintings given to Louis XIV, and preserved today in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France have been added. The corresponding originals are probably still in existence and the presentation of their copies might help collectors and art dealers trace hitherto unidentified works.
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