The illustrations created for this edition were based on iconography that originated from the facts and key characters of the Independence of Brazil, as well as other \u201cportrayals\u201d of the country produced during almost seven decades of its imperial rule.<\/p>\n
\u201cPortrayals\u201d is in quotation marks because as has been described, these images are more like well-engineered symbolic constructions than depictions of reality. Not only do they reveal more about the observer than the scene being observed, but above all they underline the role of iconography in the creation of a Brazilian history desired and imposed as official by some.<\/p>\n
The aim of the visual narrative therefore does not fulfill the traditional role of illustrations\u2014to support their corresponding texts\u2014instead seeking to discuss the general objective of the introductory text through images: to illuminate lesser-known perspectives and provide a better understanding of the independence process and its consequences.<\/p>\n
Peripheral scenes from original compositions are thus brought into focus, like the astonished cattle drover passively observing the \u201ccry of independence\u201d in the bottom left corner of Pedro Am\u00e9rico\u2019s painting. Or the wet nurse kneeling by the side of Dom Pedro, who extends his hand to protect her, but without touching her. Then there are the indigenous people painted by Debret, invariably archetypal\u2014almost caricatures, if they were not so tragic\u2014sometimes displaying a bottle of cacha\u00e7a, sometimes carrying a white man on their shoulders, two scenes hidden in the corners of well-known etchings. Stripped of his kingly attire, Dom Pedro I\u2019s expression exudes the air of someone more fond of the pleasures of the glass than the duties of the throne. On the other hand, his royal apparatus\u2014cloak, scepter, and sword\u2014emanates self-sufficiency and stands alone, seeming to dispense with the need for a human body. Meanwhile, young ladies smile angelically with their pets, as if taken from a Swedish or Danish album to be part of the cast officially designated to symbolize Brazil.<\/p>\n
Apart from the cover, only two of the images are not taken from a single original. In the first, Empress Leopoldina’s blue eyes are complemented by a smile-shaped hammock carried by slaves. In the other, a man and boy hold out their hats in an attempt to catch the royal crown falling from the sky\u2014in reality, the pair were celebrating Brazil\u2019s independence with Dom Pedro in a painting by Moreaux, while the crown rests peacefully on the head of the emperor in a painting by Debret. Beyond the comedic aspect, the freedom of expression in both montages aims to highlight the process of appropriating preexisting figurative content to construct a new narrative, regardless of the original contexts from which they are sourced.<\/p>\n<\/div>