Everything the Eye can See: Views of Rio de Janeiro and its Hills

Panorama da cidade do Rio de Janeiro. Capital do Brazil (1837) by Guilherme BriggsMuseu Nacional de Belas Artes

Everything the Eye can See: Views of Rio de Janeiro and its Hills

The selection presents a sample of the artistic creation based on an appreciation of Rio de Janeiro's hills. They are panoramic views that seek to encompass all the eye can see...

View of entrada da baía do Rio de Janeiro tomada da Praia de Icaraí em Niterói, RJ (1872) by Henri Nicolas VinetMuseu Nacional de Belas Artes

Henri Nicolas Vinet

Born in Paris, he studied painting in his hometown with the famous master in the landscape genre Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot. Coming to Brazil, he settled in Rio de Janeiro in 1856. He achieved a position as a landscapist, receiving, in 1865, from the Emperor Dom Pedro II, the title of Knight of the Imperial Order of the Rose.

In the center, the hill of the Sugar Loaf and to the right,

The Corcovado hill.

Arrows Beach, Niterói, RJ (1896) by Henrique TriboletMuseu Nacional de Belas Artes

Henrique Tribolet

Tribolet was a landscapist and a marinist. He was a student of the Italian landscaper Nicola Facchinetti.

Entrance to the bay and the city of Rio, from St. Anthony´s convent terrace in 1816 (1816) by Nicolas Antoine TaunayMuseu Nacional de Belas Artes

Nicolas Antoine Taunay

He was born in Paris. At the age of thirteen, he entered the studio of Lepicié and then of Brenet. Soon after, he studied with Casanova, painter of battles and landscapes, whom he considered his master. In 1784. He obtained a pension to study at the French Academy in Rome. He came to Brazil in 1816, part of the so-called French Mission, which would provide the neoclassical outbreak in our father and promote the founding of the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts. Here, he was one of the setters of the urban landscape of Rio during the five years that lived in that city.

In the right, the terrace of the convent of Santo Antônio

the Sugarloaf Mountain.

Panorama da cidade do Rio de Janeiro. Capital do Brazil (1837) by Guilherme BriggsMuseu Nacional de Belas Artes

William Briggs

He attended the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts during the years 1829 and 1830 as a volunteer student of the Architecture and Landscape classes. In 1836, Briggs left to London and took drawings he made of the panorama of Rio de Janeiro which was printed there the following year.

the top of the hill, to the left, we see the artist who portrayed himself drawing, the streets of Riachuelo, Invalides, the Senate, and the Carioca mountain range.

Panorama da cidade do Rio de Janeiro. Capital do Brazil (1837) by Guilherme BriggsMuseu Nacional de Belas Artes

The city unfolds in the details of its landscape and architecture. To the left,

To the left of the image stands the Campo de Santana and within it, in the background

the church of Santana (where the Central do Brasil station is now located).

In the center, theTeatro de São Pedro de Alcântara and, to the left, behind the large house,

we see part of the portico of the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts.

Panorama da cidade do Rio de Janeiro. Capital do Brazil (1837) by Guilherme BriggsMuseu Nacional de Belas Artes

In the foreground, the foundations of the convent

and the church of Santo Antônio,

in front of the Isla das Cobras (Island of Snakes), the towers of the church of the Candelaria and the Monastery of São Bento. On the other side of the bay are the city of Niterói and the profile of the Serra dos Órgãos.

To the left, Monastery of São Bento

In the center, the town house. To the left, on the Castle hill,

the Astronomical Observatory, and the semaphore telegraph station.

the church of São Sebastião, which was the first Cathedral of the city, the college and the Church of the Jesuits,

In the center,

In the center, the town house and in it we highlight the Imperial Palace, the Carmo Convent, the bell tower, and the Imperial Chapel, as well as the Our Lady of Carmo church.

Panorama da cidade do Rio de Janeiro. Capital do Brazil (1837) by Guilherme BriggsMuseu Nacional de Belas Artes

In the center is the garden of the Public Promenade

where the tips of the two granite pyramids on either side of the Amores fountain appear, works by Master Valentim.

In the background, on the right, is

the church of Gloria

the Pão de Açúcar (Sugarloaf Mountain).

To the left of the two characters portrayed in the foreground

the Ajuda Convent, in the place of the present praça da Cinelândia

Study for Panorama do Rio de Janeiro (1885) by Vítor MeirelesMuseu Nacional de Belas Artes

Victor Meirelles

He began his studies in Desterro, now Florianópolis, Santa Catarina, with the engineer Marciano Moreno. In 1847, he moved to Rio de Janeiro, enrolling in the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts. He won a prize to travel to Europe in 1853. He studied in Rome and Paris, returning to Brazil in 1861. From 1862, he began to practice teaching under the chair of Historical Painting of the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts.

Estudo para "Panorama do Rio de Janeiro" : Morro do Castelo (1885) by Vítor MeirelesMuseu Nacional de Belas Artes

Studies for "Panorama of Rio de Janeiro," 1885

Estudo para "Panorama do Rio de Janeiro": Morro da Conceição e Igreja da Candelária (1885) by Vítor MeirelesMuseu Nacional de Belas Artes

Studies for "Panorama of Rio de Janeiro,", 1885

Monastery of São Bento

Study for landscape with Corcovado by Rodolfo AmoedoMuseu Nacional de Belas Artes

Rodolfo Amoedo

Born in the city of Salvador, Rodolfo Amoedo arrived in Rio de Janeiro in 1868. Five years later, he entered the Lyceum of Arts and Crafts, and in 1874 at the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts, where he had Victor Meirelles, Agostinho da Mota and Zeferino da Costa as masters. At the School of Fine Arts in Paris - already a scholarship holder at the Academy - he perfected himself with Cabanel and Puvis de Chavantes. Back in Rio de Janeiro, he excelled in teaching as an honorary professor and later as director of the former National School of Fine Arts.

View of Corcovado hill

still with the Hat of the Sun, where today is the Christ the Redeemer

Study for "The sleeping Giant" (1940) by Carlos OswaldMuseu Nacional de Belas Artes

Carlos Oswald

He was born in Florence. His first artistic studies were in the musical area, but the attraction for the plastic arts led him to the study painting. The interest in engraving was born from his coexistence with a group of artists who debated the validity of modern art and the reaffirmation of engraving as a work of art. It is in, above all, the didactic activity that lies the great importance of Carlos Oswald for the development of engraving in Brazil.

The asleep giant (1940) by Carlos OswaldMuseu Nacional de Belas Artes

The Sleeping Giant

Study for Palm Trees in Tijuca (1940) by Carlos OswaldMuseu Nacional de Belas Artes

Rio, Tijuca (1940) by Carlos OswaldMuseu Nacional de Belas Artes

Pão de Açúcar [Rio de Janeiro, RJ] (1933) by Carlos OswaldMuseu Nacional de Belas Artes

[Pedra da] Gávea" [Rio de Janeiro, RJ] (1925) by Carlos OswaldMuseu Nacional de Belas Artes

Gávea Stone

Rio de Janeiro capital of the beauty (1939) by Bruno LechowskyMuseu Nacional de Belas Artes

Bruno Lechowsky

Born in Warsaw, Poland, Lechowsky performed his artistic training at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kiev, Ukraine. On a trip around the world, he exhibited his works in Rio de Janeiro, in 1926, where he settled.

Bruno Lechowsky and his vision of Rio: "capital of beauty"

Gávea Stone

Esboço do interior da sobreloja do Palácio do Ministério da Educação e Saúde Pública, atual Gustavo Capanema, Rio de Janeiro, RJ (1936) by Le Corbusier, Charles Edouard Jeanneret-Gris, ditoMuseu Nacional de Belas Artes

Le Corbusier

Le Corbusier, one of the most important architects of his time, whose work still has repercussions, was also an urbanist, painter and teacher. He was in Brazil in two different periods: the first visit was in 1929 and the second in 1936, invited by Lúcio Costa to collaborate as a consultant in the project of the headquarters building of the then Ministry of Education and Public Health.

Architectural sketch: glazed front to see

the Sugarloaf Mountain

Corcovado. Ipanema. Leblon- Rio De Janeiro" (2002) by Thereza MirandaMuseu Nacional de Belas Artes

Thereza Miranda

In 1947, he graduated in Philosophy and in the same year began his classes of painting with Carlos Chambelland. In 1963, he attended the MAM Engraving Studio in Rio de Janeiro, where he learned the techniques of metal engraving with Walter Marques. He won a travel award at the Modern Art Hall in 1972 and in 1974 he studied with Denis Mazi at the Croydon College of Art in London.

"Calm down to think
And having time to dream

[...] see the Corcovado
The beautiful Redeemer "
Tom Jobim

Hill of Pinto,Rio de Janeiro (1938) by Yoshiya TakaokaMuseu Nacional de Belas Artes

Yoshiya Takaoka

He was born in Tokyo and started his painting studies there with Shin Kurihara. In 1925, he arrived in Brazil. He had Bruno Lechowski as his chief advisor.

Dawn on the hill
What a beauty
[...]

The coloring sun is so beautiful
It's so beautiful
And nature smiling
Dyeing, dyeing

Cartola

Hill of Pinto,Rio de Janeiro (1981) by Tereza MirandaMuseu Nacional de Belas Artes

Thereza Miranda

Morro do Pinto

Hill (1958) by Rossini PerezMuseu Nacional de Belas Artes

Rossini Perez

His artistic initiation took place in the Brazilian Drawing Association, in Rio de Janeiro. Following that, he studied with Fayga Ostrower. From Iberê Camargo and Vera Tormenta, he received engraving lessons in metal. In 1959, he was assistant to Friedlaencer in the inaugural course of the Engraving Workshop of the Museum of Modern Art of Rio de Janeiro.

The hill has no say
And what it did already was too much
But regard it well
When you get to the hill
The whole city will sing
[...]

The hill wants to show itself

They open wings for the hill... "

Vinicius de Moraes

Credits: Story

Tudo que o olhar alcança: vistas do Rio de Janeiro e de seus morros

Curadoria
Cláudia Ribeiro
Nilsélia Diogo

Idealizada especialmente para o Google Art Project, 2017

Credits: All media
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