Dom Pedro II (Rio de Janeiro RJ 1825 - Paris, France 1891)
Pedro de Alcântara João Carlos Leopoldo Salvador Bibiano Francisco Xavier de Paula Leocádio Miguel Gabriel Rafael Gonzaga de Bragança and Habsburgo.
Maecenas and photographer.
Son of Dom Pedro I (1798 - 1834), he is acclaimed Emperor of Brazil at just 5 years old, when his father gives up his throne, in 1831. In 1841, by means of a decree of the previous year, which anticipates his majority, he was crowned emperor. He married by proxy, in 1842, with Princess Teresa Cristina Maria de Bourbon (1822 - 1889), in Naples, Italy. From 1840 onwards, he regularly frequents the meetings of the Instituto Histórico e Geográfico Brasileiro - IHGB, created in 1838, coming to preside over several sessions. Thanks to its incentives, in the 1850s, the IHGB consolidated itself as a very active center for historical and literary studies. Dom Pedro II directly leads the Institute's actions and drives the romantic production of authors such as Joaquim Manuel de Macedo (1820 - 1882) and Gonçalves Dias (1823 - 1864).
acquire, in 1840, a daguerreotype device, and introduces this technique of reproduction in the country. A great enthusiast and encourager of new photographic techniques, he produces several daguerreotypes and photographs. This pleasure results in the formation of a relevant collection, which brings together images of several pioneers of photography, such as Marc Ferrez (1843 - 1923), Insley Pacheco (ca.1830 - 1912) and Revert Henrique Klumb (183? - ca.1886). The emperor is involved in the conduct and realization of the projects of the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts - AIBA, part of a political project to strengthen the monarchy and national unification. During the Second Reign (1841-1889), he implements a clear and effective policy in relation to AIBA. As a patron and the largest financier, he provides public and private assistance, he distributes scholarships, awards, medals and insignia of the Order of the Rose to the most outstanding artists. Directly controls part of the funds from the imperial house allocation for pensions and rewards its favorite artists with these resources, known as "the emperor's pocket".
Through official orders, it promotes the production of Aiba, supported by figures. such as Félix Taunay (1795 - 1881) and Porto Alegre (1806 - 1879), general directors of the institution. Victor Meirelles (1832 - 1903) and Pedro Américo (1843 - 1905), artists of great prestige, are the most requested. The canvases Batalha de Guararapes, by Américo, and First Mass in Brazil, by Meirelles, are among the most famous historical paintings of the period. Dom Pedro asks several Aiba artists, such as Félix Taunay and Porto Alegre, to paint their portrait to spread and perpetuate their image as a monarch in various situations. In addition to being a photographer, Dom Pedro considers himself an amateur portraitist, and makes pencil illustrations in his diaries.
Interested in science, studies languages, astronomy and geology, he is the author of the famous phrase "Science is me", given in the enclosures. of the IHGB. Grants imperial support to research projects, funding scientists such as Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius (1794 - 1868), Emílio Augusto Goeldi (1859 - 1917) and Auguste François Marie Glaziou (1828 - 1906). An opera admirer, creates the Imperial Academy of Music and the National Opera, in 1857. In that year, with the aim of helping the German composer Richard Wagner (1813 - 1883), who is going through a period of economic difficulties, he orders him a lyrical work be represented in Rio de Janeiro, but this work is not composed.
Dom Pedro II asks Carlos Gomes (1836 - 1896) to create a national opera, based on the novel O Guarani, by José de Alencar (1829 - 1877), which ended in 1870. In 1862, it enabled the Brazilian representation at the Universal Exhibition of London. With government resources, he exclusively finances the country's participation in the universal exhibitions of Vienna (1867), Philadelphia (1876) and Paris (1889).
With the establishment of the Republic, in 1889, it is deposed and banned from the country, and leaves for Europe in November of that year. After spending a period in Lisbon, he goes to France and resides in Cannes and Paris, where he died, in 1891. Prevented from being buried in Brazil, only in 1921 his body returned to the country. In 1939, in a ceremony with the presence of President Getúlio Vargas (1883 - 1954), he was buried in the mausoleum of the Cathedral of Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro. The collection of photographs and books that constitutes his reign today is part of the collection of the National Library, in Rio de Janeiro. Several paintings officially commissioned from Aiba painters are currently part of public collections such as the National Museum of Fine Arts - MNBA, in Rio de Janeiro, and the Imperial Museum, in Petrópolis.
Criticism
"The Emperor, then only 14 years old, was so enthusiastic about the invention that in March 1840 - that is, eight months before the announcement we have just transcribed - he acquired a device from Felício Luzughy, for 250 thousand réis, Becoming probably the first Brazilian to make daguerreotypes, that Dom Pedro II tried to familiarize himself with the device and who used it with a certain frequency, suggests the notation made on September 8, 1842 by Prince Adalberto da Prussia in his travel diary: 'The Emperor has already experimented with Daguerreotypia and gave me his opinion that luck is largely in this method, as I agree'. Some photographs, the most curious being one of his own person, on the verse he wrote with his unmistakable lyrics: 'Photography taken by myself'. Throughout his life he will collect photographs of his relatives, friends and views of Brazil. He has accumulated several albums, most of which are part of the Teresa Cristina collection donated to the National Library".
Gilberto Ferrez
FERREZ, Gilberto. Photography in Brazil: 1840-1900. 2. Ed. P. 20.
"When he had his majority decreed in 1840, so that he could assume the throne, Dom Pedro II was already an amateur photographer, having acquired his equipment of Daguerreotype in March of the same year motivated by the demonstrations that the French abbot Louis Compte had made to him in January, when he introduced photography in Brazil.
By acquiring his apparatus, eight months before similar ones were finally marketed in the country, the He became the first Brazilian photographer, and that was under 15 years of age! In addition, it is inscribed among the world pioneers, as we must not forget that the official announcement of the invention of Daguerreotypia had been made a short time ago - on August 19, 1839, by French scientist and politician François Arago. Therefore, less than a year later, Dom Pedro II was already starting and exercising in the new art, with the unrestricted enthusiasm he devoted to scientific discoveries. Enthusiasm that would never abandon him, as evidenced by the visit to Grahan Bell during the Philadelphia Fair in 1876, to get to know the phone, and his interest in the phonograph of Thomas Edison who tested it days before his deposition by the Republicans, becoming one of the first Brazilians to have his voice mechanically reproduced".
Pedro Vasquez
Vasquez, Pedro. Dom Pedro II and photography in Brazil. p. 14.
"The Emperor Pedro II was the first Brazilian photographer and a generous patron, gathering a large collection of photographs and encouraging this activity in Brazil through the intense support he gave to a large group of active professionals in the country. Without its support, Brazilian photography would not have achieved the development it achieved in the last century, to the point of conquering a prominent position in the Latin American scenario and of producing some photographers capable of rivaling the most outstanding from the entire continent and Europe". Vicente Gesualdo
Gesualdo, Vicente. History of La Fotografía en América: from Alaska Hasta Tierra del Fuego en el Siglo XIX. p. 76-77.
Collectives
Thereza Christina Maria Library National Library - Rio de Janeiro RJ
Dom Pedro de Orleans and Bragança Collection - Rio de Janeiro RJ
Posthumous exhibitions
1985 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Dom Pedro II and photography in Brazil, at Casa do Bispo
1987 - Rio de Janeiro RJ Stock Photos. At the National Library
1997 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - The Emperor's Collection Brazilian and foreign photographs in the 19th century, at CCBB
Source: Itaú Cultural
