Musical iconography by travel artists in nineteenth century Brazil

Abstract

This article examines musical scenes with plucked chordophones in the works of the two most important travel artists in nineteenth century Brazil, the French painter Jean-Baptiste Debret, and the German artist Johann Moritz Rugendas. Differently from expected, their illustrations do not register any figure eight-shaped chordophone as the traditional viola and violão. Rather, one finds unknown, oval and piriform, instruments. However, beyond classificatory organology interests, this article points out the multidimensionality of the visual mediation of musical phenomena by such artists, indicating the need for cultural, political, and social contextualization, including the artistic conventions, as a condition for a better use of those images as musical evidence of the past.

Keywords

• Musical iconography in Brazil
• Debret and Rugendas
• Brazilian chordophones