Keeping an eye on the "Constitutional Commitment"
Discover details of Aurélio de Figueiredo's painting, on display in the Ministerial Hall of the Museu da República.
"Compromisso Constitucional" (1896) by Aurélio de FigueiredoMuseu da República
Completed in 1896, the painting represents a fact that took place five years earlier, on February 26, 1891: after being elected the first president of the Republic, Marshal Deodoro da Fonseca swore his commitment to the Federal Constitution.
The marshal (bearded, holding the book) was elected by the Constituent Assembly, as was the vice president, also marshal Floriano Peixoto (to the right of Deodoro, in uniform). Floriano would assume the presidency in November 1891, after Deodoro's resignation.
Although Deodoro is the protagonist of the scene, the figure that stands out in the center of the picture is the civilian Prudente de Moraes, who at the time was the president of the Constituent Assembly. In 1896, however, he was the President of the Republic himself, successor to Floriano Peixoto.
In the crowded hall, the deputies seem tense or indifferent to the reading of the oath. Among them are political leaders, military, liberal professionals and journalists, all directly or indirectly linked, by social origin or interests, to the agro-export landowner class.
Many of the deputies portrayed here played a prominent political role throughout the First Republic (1889-1930). This is the case, for example, of Campos Sales (above right, bearded), successor of Prudente de Moraes in the presidency. Both represented São Paulo coffee growers.
The only black person on the scene is Francisco Glicério (left), one of the leaders of the São Paulo Republican Party; just below, with a mustache and profile, is the Gaucho Pinheiro Machado, a key figure in the Governors' Policy that characterized the political dynamics of the First Republic.
The author of the painting, Aurélio de Figueiredo, painted his self-portrait in the middle of the scene; he is this man with the black mustache on the left, in profile. Just above, on the right, he portrayed his brother, the deputy and also painter Pedro Américo.
At the bottom of the image, facing the viewer's direction, is the
stenographer Caetano da Silva, responsible for the written record of the solemn session. Like the painter, he is producing a testimony of that event.
The table and floor of the hall appear filled with flowers. Where would they have come from?
Possibly, they were launched by the women who watch the scene from the balcony, likely relatives of the deputies; it is assumed that Aurélio de Figueiredo painted them using his wife Paulina de Figueiredo and daughters Sylvia, Suzana and Helena as models.
These women influence the scene with their flowers but not the political action, which they observe from a distance. The same was happening off-screen: under the pretext of family morality and biology, the Constituent Assembly of 1891 rejected all proposals that extended political rights to women.
O pico da Tijuca, e o Paço Imperial da São Christovao (about 1870) by Marc FerrezThe J. Paul Getty Museum
The scene portrayed in the painting took place inside the hall of the National Constituent Assembly set up inside the former Imperial Palace of São Cristóvão, which would later become the National Museum, destroyed by fire in 2018.
Ministerial HallMuseu da República
It was during the government of Prudente de Moraes, central figure in painting, that the National Bank of the Republic commissioned the "Constitutional Commitment" to Aurélio de Figueiredo, to decorate the Palácio do Catete, which from 1897 would be the new seat of the Presidency of the Republic .
In the Museu da República collection there are items related to the "Constitutional Compromise" scene: the chair of the President of the National Constituent Assembly, which appears behind Prudente de Moraes; the paper bin, belonging to the Imperial family, improvised as a ballot box for the voting that elected Deodoro da Fonseca and Floriano Peixoto; and the original of the first edition of the Federal Constitution of 1891, signed by the constituent deputies.
Museu da República /IBRAM/SECULT
Director - Mario Chagas
Technical Coordination - Daniela Matera do M. Lins
Communication Sector - Henrique Milen
Texts and editing: Paulo Celso Corrêa
Bibliography: CHAGAS, Mario. "República em Documentos: Série Documentos Museológicos nº 2 - Compromisso Constitucional". Rio de Janeiro: Museu da República, 2018.
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