From the frontispieces’ eloquence: political discourse on the Dutch presence in Pernambuco

ABSTRACT The main point of this paper is to discuss the relations established between the frontispieces and the intentionality of the books in which they were printed, in the works Nova Lusitânia (1675) of Francisco de Brito Freyre, and Rerum per Octennium in Brasilia (1647) of Gaspar Van Baerle. We aproach these frontispieces counting with the identification of the attributes, characters and spaces represented by the gravers of such images, as their textual contents. Taking as a starting point the imagery aspects presented on the cover pages of the mentioned books, we seek to trace the patters of intentions of the books and their respective engravings as political discourses. In this way, not only the images but also the works themselves are connected. It discusses how Gaspar Van Baerle access the symbols at his disposal to praise the deeds of the Count of Nassau at Pernambuco; otherwise, Francisco de Brito Freyre operates with classical references and build a heroic narrative of his own experience against the Dutch domain in Portuguese America.