A Brazilian Landscape

From 1630 to 1654, the Dutch colony in northern Brazil, appropriated from the Portuguese, forcibly dispossessed Indigenous populations of their land. Post and a naturalist accompanied the governor to the area and recorded flora and fauna (such as the foreground iguana). The landscapes he produced after returning home mix observation with fantasy. Post’s painting hides the process by which natural resources were obtained. Absent are obvious references to the enslavement of African people and their forced labor on plantations, the basis of Dutch colonial wealth. Indigenous families appear at rest, apparently after hunting and food gathering. Routinely treated as generic figures in Dutch representations, Indigenous Brazilian groups include the Aymoré, Potiguara, Tarairiu, and Tupinambá, among others.