Décio Rodrigues Villares (1 December 1851, in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

– 21 June 1931, in Rio de Janeiro) was a Brazilian painter, sculptor,

caricaturist A caricaturist is an artist who specializes in drawing caricatures. List of caricaturists * Abed Abdi (born 1942) * Abril Lamarque (1904–1999) * Al Hirschfeld (1903–2003) * Alex Gard (1900–1948) * Alexander Saroukhan (1898–1977) * Alfre ...

, and graphic designer. He is best known for helping to design the blue disc on the Brazilian Flag and his designs for the monument honoring

Júlio de Castilhos Júlio Prates de Castilhos (29 June 1860 – 24 October 1903) was a Brazilian journalist and politician, having been elected ''Patriarch of Rio Grande do Sul''. Politics He was elected twice as the governor of Rio Grande do Sul Rio Grande ...

Biography

His father, José Rodrigues Villares, was a Lieutenant Colonel, a member of the

Nova Iguaçu Nova Iguaçu (, ''New Iguaçu'') is a municipality in Rio de Janeiro state in Brazil. Geography Location The city is named after the Iguaçu River that runs through it and empties into Guanabara Bay (not to be confused with the Iguaçu Rive ...

city council, and a participant in the

Liberal rebellions of 1842 The Liberal Rebellions of 1842 were a series of rebellions that took place in the Brazilian provinces of Minas Gerais and São Paulo in response to actions taken by emperor Dom Pedro II to unify power under the central government and limit the po ...

. Although his family was not wealthy, they were politically connected (his uncle, Manoel Rodrigues Villares (1804-1878), served as a Minister of the Supreme Federal Court), so he was able to gain entrance to the

Colégio Pedro II ''Colégio Pedro II'' (Pedro II School) is a federal public school located in the state of Rio de Janeiro. Named after Pedro II of Brazil, it was established on 2 December 1837, and made official by Imperial decree on 20 December of the same ...

and the

Academia Imperial de Belas Artes The Imperial Academy of Fine Arts (') was an institution of higher learning in the arts in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, established by King João VI. Despite facing many initial difficulties, the Academy was established and took its place at the fore ...

. There, he studied with

Victor Meirelles Victor Meirelles de Lima (18 August 1832 – 22 February 1903) was a Brazilian painter and teacher who is best known for his works relating to his nation's culture and history. From humble origins, his talent was soon recognized, being admitted a ...

and

Pedro Américo Pedro Américo de Figueiredo e Melo (29 April 1843 – 7 October 1905) was a Brazilian novelist, poet, scientist, art theorist, essayist, philosopher, politician and professor, but is best remembered as one of the most important academic painter ...

. In 1870, he began providing caricatures for the satirical magazine, ''Comédia Social'', published by Américo and his younger brother, , who was also a student there at that time. For unknown reasons, he was frequently absent from his classes, did not participate in exhibitions and did not compete for the travel scholarship. Eventually, he dropped out.Elisabete Da Costa Leal, ''Os filósofos em tintas e bronze: arte, positivismo e política na obra de Décio Villares e Eduardo de Sá'' UFRJ, 200
Online
/ref> For the next nine years, he travelled, initially (1872) to Paris. There, he studied in the workshops of

Alexandre Cabanel Alexandre Cabanel (; 28 September 1823 – 23 January 1889) was a French Painting, painter. He painted historical, classical and religious subjects in the Academic art, academic style. He was also well known as a portrait painter. He was Napoleon ...

. In 1874, he was awarded a gold medal at the

Salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon A beauty salon or beauty parlor is an establishment that provides Cosmetics, cosmetic treatments for people. Other variations of this type of business include hair salons, spas, day spas, ...

for his painting of

Paolo Malatesta Paolo Malatesta (; – 1285), also known as il Bello ('the Beautiful'), was the third son of Malatesta da Verucchio, Lord of Rimini. He is best known for the story of his affair with Francesca da Polenta, portrayed by Dante in a famous episode ...

and

Francesca da Rimini Francesca da Rimini or Francesca da Polenta (died between 1283 and 1286) was an Italian noblewoman of Ravenna, who was murdered by her husband, Giovanni Malatesta, upon his discovery of her affair with his brother, Paolo Malatesta. She was a ...

, which was praised by the notoriously difficult-to-please art critic, . During that period, he was first exposed to the positivist philosophy of

Auguste Comte Isidore Auguste Marie François Xavier Comte (; ; 19 January 1798 – 5 September 1857) was a French philosopher, mathematician and writer who formulated the doctrine of positivism. He is often regarded as the first philosopher of science in the ...

and abandoned Catholicism. This would result in his being rejected for a teaching position at the

Académie des Beaux-Arts The (; ) is a French learned society based in Paris. It is one of the five academies of the . The current president of the academy (2021) is Alain-Charles Perrot, a French architect. Background The academy was created in 1816 in Paris as a me ...

. He then went from Paris to

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

, where Pedro Américo maintained a studio. He may have studied sculpture with

Rodolfo Bernardelli José Maria Oscar Rodolfo Bernardelli y Thierry (18 December 1852 – 7 April 1931) was a Mexican-born Brazilian sculptor and art professor, of Italian ancestry. Biography He was the oldest of four children born to a violinist and a dancer. His ...

. It is not known exactly how long he stayed in Italy, although letters indicate that he was still there in 1878. It is possible that he returned briefly to France. What is known for certain is that he returned to Brazil in 1881. Soon after, he and Aurélio de Figueiredo received a major commission: eighteen paintings of the

Aimoré The Aimoré ''(Aymore, Aimboré)'' are one of several Indigenous peoples in Brazil, South American peoples of eastern Brazil called Botocudo in Portuguese (from ''botoque'', a plug), in allusion to the wooden disks or tembetás worn in their li ...

people for display at the Brazilian Anthropological Exhibition of 1882; made from sketches and photographs. The general publicity accorded to the exhibition enabled him to establish himself and launch a successful career. In 1887, he and José Ferraz de Almeida Júnior were chosen to replace Victor Meirelles in the history painting department at the Academia Imperial, but they never did. Three years later, he and De Figueiredo were part of a group that presented a proposal for a new method of teaching that would emphasize the master/apprentice relationship and abolish the Academia. In 1901, he married Maria Dolores de Souza Martins. They received both Catholic and positivist rites (what the positivists called a "mixed marriage") but, following positivist practice, declared their desire for "eternal widowhood". It proved to be a difficult marriage. She was addicted to

morphine Morphine, formerly also called morphia, is an opiate that is found naturally in opium, a dark brown resin produced by drying the latex of opium poppies (''Papaver somniferum''). It is mainly used as an analgesic (pain medication). There are ...

and, once, in a drug-induced haze, set their apartment on fire. She was arrested and sent to a sanatorium and Villares, who was on a lengthy business trip, allowed her to stay there. After a year, she charged him with psychological cruelty, abandonment and theft of her family inheritance. Despite this, they never had a formal separation. When he was forced to be away from home, she was watched over by members of the Positivist Church. When he died, in 1931, she burned down his studio. Julio-de-Castilhos monument-2

Much of his work was funded by the Positivist Church; including a medallion, to be placed on the grave of

Dante Alighieri Dante Alighieri (; most likely baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri; – September 14, 1321), widely known mononymously as Dante, was an Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer, and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called ...

Ravenna Ravenna ( ; , also ; ) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire during the 5th century until its Fall of Rome, collapse in 476, after which ...

, and a monument to

Benjamin Constant Henri-Benjamin Constant de Rebecque (25 October 1767 – 8 December 1830), or simply Benjamin Constant, was a Swiss and French political thinker, activist and writer on political theory and religion. A committed republican from 1795, Constant ...

. Although he has often received little credit, he participated in the creation of the Brazilian flag, conceived by Raimundo Teixeira Mendes (a member of the Positivist Church); helping to design the blue disc and the placement of the words "Ordem e Progresso". He also painted the prototype that was used by the seamstresses who made the first flags. The painting was stolen in 2010 and has not been recovered. He may have served as the inspiration for Julião Vilela, a character in ''Mocidade Morta'', a novel by the art critic, Gonzaga Duque, who felt that Villares made poor aesthetic choices and never lived up to his potential.Gonzaga Duque, ''A arte brasileira''. Campinas: Mercado de Letras, 1995. p. 189

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Villares, Decio 1851 births 1931 deaths Brazilian painters Brazilian sculptors Brazilian caricaturists Brazilian positivists Flag designers Artists from Rio de Janeiro (city)

Biography

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Further reading

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