Arguing that landscape is culturally constructed by social relations and power, my analysis of Frans Post’s landscapes has shown two things: Post’s first canvases, commissioned by Johan Maurits,... Show moreArguing that landscape is culturally constructed by social relations and power, my analysis of Frans Post’s landscapes has shown two things: Post’s first canvases, commissioned by Johan Maurits, Count of Nassau-Siegen, depict specific Brazilian sites according to chorographical and accurate topographical profiles. Frans Post was representing Brazil as a New Holland in the Tropics, a visual strategy due to a Nassau-orangist colonial project. The later paintings, done in the context of colonial defeat, were related to a market of the “Exotic”. They seem to show a crack that revealed two distinct Dutch attitudes to Brazil: a) General expectations about Brazilian landscapes were related to economical interests about sugar production, slave trade and naturalia for cabinets of curiosity. Therefore, these pushed Frans Post’s production toward an indiscriminating image, depicting Brazil as Amoenitates exoticae; and b) Some other few images, that still depicted Brazil in straight reference to specific Brazilian localities, used the motif of ruins to evoke vanitas conventions in order to mark a visual memento of colonial failure. This smaller public for Brazilian landscapes were probably discontented with civil rule after the end of stathouderate in 1650. Show less
