Romances in paintings: visual representations of literary feminine characters in Brazil (1880-1920)

• Grant number: 20/13472-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: October 01, 2021
• End date: September 30, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Arts - Art Fundamentals and Criticism
• Principal Investigator: Elaine Cristina Dias
• Grantee: Vitoria Amadio de Oliveira
• Host Institution: Escola de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (EFLCH). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus Guarulhos. Guarulhos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The project refers to the study of female characters representations by Brazilian painters between 1880 and 1920, such as Francesca di Rimini (1883) by Aurélio de Figueiredo e Mello, Desdêmona (1892) by Rodolpho Amoêdo, O voto de Heloíse (1880) by Pedro Américo e Virgínia (1905) by Antônio Parreiras. We seek to elucidate these figures and others through the observation and comparison of their characteristics and their book's descriptions. In order to provide means to do that, we created three groups of paintings: characters who suffered moral punishments for their behavior, characters who committed suicide, and characters who were considered as seductive and perverse women. We shall expose those literature-based paintings as a relevant part of the production of painters in this period because they reveal modern ambitions related to the artistic genres and besides, they are frequent themes. Our goal is to comprehend how these paintings help with the construction of these figures in the collective imagination while having as a foundation the historical international and national contexts.