Diamond Mining, Serro Frio, Brazil, ca. 1770s
The three slaves in the center background are breaking rock to extract diamonds. Born in Italy ca.1740, Juliao joined the Portuguese army and traveled widely in the Portuguese empire; by the 1760s or 1770s he was in Brazil, where he died in 1811 or 1814. For a detailed analysis and critique of Juliao's figures as as representations of Brazilian slave life, as well as a biographical sketch of Juliao and suggested dates for his paintings, see Silvia Hunold Lara, Customs and Costumes: Carlos Juliao and the Image of Black Slaves in Late Eighteenth-Century Brazil (Slavery & Abolition, vol. 23 [2002], pp. 125-146). C. R. Boxer, The Golden Age of Brazil, 1695-1750 (Univ. of Calif. Press, 1962) reproduces this painting (in black and white) and gives it a date of 1762.
Image Title
Diamond Mining, Serro Frio, Brazil, ca. 1770s
RegID
SI-OB-225
Date
1770-1780
Title
Diamond Mining, Serro Frio, Brazil, ca. 1770s
Source
Carlos Juliao, Riscos illuminados de figurinhos de broncos e negros dos uzos do Rio de Janeiro e Serro do Frio (Rio de Janeiro, 1960), plate 40. The prints used as plates in this book are housed in the Secao de Iconografia in the National Library of Brazil; the historical introduction and descriptive catalog were written by Lygia da Foneseca Fernandes da Cunha. (Copy in Tulane University Library)
Language
Portuguese
Item sets
Miscellaneous Occupations & Economic Activities
Spatial Coverage
South America--Brazil
Reproduced In
Carlos Juliao, Riscos illuminados de figurinhos de broncos e negros dos uzos do Rio de Janeiro e Serro do Frio (Rio de Janeiro, 1960), plate 40.
Researchers
Handler, Jerome; Tuite, Michael; Randall Ericson; Henry B. Lovejoy Graduate Research Assistants: Tiffany Beebe; Travis May
Identifier
juliao13