From quills to brushes: the past of São Paulo (re)created in orders from Afonso Taunay to Oscar Pereira da Silva

ABSTRACT This article focuses on the five paintings by Oscar Pereira da Silva (1865 [7?] - 1939), commissioned by Museu Paulista’s board of directors, represented by Afonso d'Escragnolle Taunay (1876 - 1958), and destined to the Antiga Iconografia Paulista (Ancient São Paulo’s Iconography) room, which was opened to the public in 1922. Attention is drawn to the visual matrices selected by Taunay, such as those made by Hercule Florence (1804 - 1879), Aimé-Adrien Taunay (1803 - 1828) and Jean-Baptiste Debret (1768 - 1848), dating from the first decades of the 19th century and enlarged by Pereira da Silva in oil on canvas paintings almost 100 years later. Given the scarce iconography inherited from the past of São Paulo, the production of such images based on documents that were considered as authentic in Taunay's historical conception, would inform visitors about themes related to the history of São Paulo, such as monsoons and bandeiras. Changes that were made when enlarging the drawings, engravings and illustrations are also discussed, since these were taken as visual sources for the paintings, highlighting or obscuring certain elements contained in these images, adapting them to the glorification discourse proposed within the Museum. Its doors were reopened precisely for the celebrations of the Brazilian Independence Centenary, in a period when the economic and political strength of the state of São Paulo, when compared to other states of the federation, was justified by acts considered as heroic that were conducted by paulistas, as these paintings would attest.

摘要 本文聚焦于奥斯卡·佩雷拉·达席尔瓦（Oscar Pereira da Silva，1865[7？]—1939）的五幅画作：该作品由圣保罗博物馆（Museu Paulista）董事会委托创作，由阿方索·德·埃斯克拉尼奥勒·托内（Afonso d'Escragnolle Taunay，1876—1958）作为董事会代表对接，原本计划陈列于1922年对公众开放的圣保罗古代图像志（Antiga Iconografia Paulista）展厅。研究着重探讨托内所遴选的视觉母本，包括埃尔库勒·弗洛伦斯（Hercule Florence，1804—1879）、埃梅-阿德里安·托内（Aimé-Adrien Taunay，1803—1828）与让-巴蒂斯特·德布雷（Jean-Baptiste Debret，1768—1848）在19世纪前半叶创作的作品，佩雷拉·达席尔瓦在近一个世纪后以这些作品为蓝本，创作了大幅布面油画。鉴于圣保罗留存的古代图像史料极为匮乏，基于托内历史叙事中被认定为真实可信的文献创作此类图像，能够为参观者呈现与圣保罗历史相关的主题，例如季风与班代拉远征（bandeiras）。本文还讨论了在扩绘这些素描、版画与插图时所做的改动——这些作品均被用作本次画作的视觉源素材，改动包括突出或遮蔽原作中的特定元素，使其适配博物馆所倡导的颂扬性叙事话语。该展厅恰逢巴西独立百年庆典之际重新开放，彼时圣保罗州相较于巴西联邦其他各州所展现出的经济与政治实力，可通过圣保罗人的英雄事迹加以佐证，而本次展出的画作正是这些英雄事迹的具象见证。