As artes no Brasil joanino

Abstract

During Brazil's economic heyday and while John V was developing an artistic policy decidedly attuned with Italy, every aspect of the art and architecture of the colony went through considerable transformations and gained a new ambition. Contrary to what one might expect, it was not yet in the gold region of Minas Gerais that the arts went through the most important transformations; that happened later. It is in the ports through which the gold was sent to Europe, such as Salvador in Bahia and Rio de Janeiro that the most significant works of the first half of the 18th century are to be found. This article aims at surveying the transformations at work at the time in the various fields of artistic and architectural production such as architecture itself, gilded woodcarving, tiles and painted ceilings. It also identifies some historiographic problems and points out ways for future research.