Diamond Mining, Brazil, ca. 1770s
Groups of slaves engaged in various phases of diamond mining, including breaking large stones, supervised/guarded by Europeans. 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 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 dates it 1762.
Image Title
Diamond Mining, Brazil, ca. 1770s
RegID
SI-OB-226
Date
1770-1780
Title
Diamond Mining, 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 41. 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 41.
Researchers
Handler, Jerome; Tuite, Michael; Randall Ericson; Henry B. Lovejoy Graduate Research Assistants: Tiffany Beebe; Travis May
Last Updated
14-Oct-10
Identifier
juliao06