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Spring

2021

The Brazilian Campos in Nineteenth-Century Landscape Art

Published
2021-04-16

Abstract

The mosaic of tropical grasslands, savannahs, and woodlands in the Brazilian Highlands, commonly called <i>campos</i> in the early nineteenth century and <i>Cerrado</i> nowadays, was depicted by European traveling artists and naturalists following new modes of visualization in arts and sciences, in dialogue with Alexander von Humboldt. Illustrations in travel albums presented landscapes following sensorial experiences from the journeys and physiognomic and phytogeographic features studied in the field. They document the transformations of the territory by the advancing settler colonization, with a strong focus on cattle ranching, hunting, and burning of the grasslands.