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Johann Moritz Rugendas (29 March 1802 – 29 May 1858) was a German painter, famous in the first half of the 19th century for his works depicting
landscape A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or human-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes th ...
s and
ethnographic Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. It explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining ...
subjects in several countries in the Americas. Rugendas is considered "by far the most varied and important of the European artists to visit Latin America." He was influenced by
Alexander von Humboldt Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt (14 September 1769 – 6 May 1859) was a German polymath, geographer, natural history, naturalist, List of explorers, explorer, and proponent of Romanticism, Romantic philosophy and Romanticism ...
.


Biography

Rugendas was born in
Augsburg Augsburg ( , ; ; ) is a city in the Bavaria, Bavarian part of Swabia, Germany, around west of the Bavarian capital Munich. It is a College town, university town and the regional seat of the Swabia (administrative region), Swabia with a well ...
, then a Free imperial city in the
Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...
, now (Germany), into the seventh generation of a family of noted painters and engravers of Augsburg (he was a great grandson of Georg Philipp Rugendas, 1666–1742, a celebrated painter of battles). He first studied drawing and engraving with his father, Johann Lorenz Rugendas II (1775–1826). From 1815-17, he studied with
Albrecht Adam Albrecht Adam (16 April 1786 – 28 August 1862) was a Bavarian painter, who accompanied Napoleon Bonaparte during the 1812 Russian campaign. He was attached as an official artist to the Bavarian contingent in Bonaparte's . Throughout the camp ...
(1786–1862), and later in the Academy de Arts of
Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...
, with Lorenzo Quaglio II (1793–1869). When Rugendas was born, Augsburg was a Free Imperial City of the
Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...
. After the
Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...
, in 1806 it had the status of a city in the newly created
Kingdom of Bavaria The Kingdom of Bavaria ( ; ; spelled ''Baiern'' until 1825) was a German state that succeeded the former Electorate of Bavaria in 1806 and continued to exist until 1918. With the unification of Germany into the German Empire in 1871, the kingd ...
. Rugendas was inspired by the artistic work of
Thomas Ender Thomas Ender (3 November 1793, Vienna - 28 September 1875, Vienna) was an Austrian landscape painter and watercolorist. Life and work He was born to Johann Ender, a junk dealer, and was the twin brother of Johann Nepomuk Ender, a history pain ...
(1793–1875) and the travel accounts in the tropics by
Johann Baptist von Spix Johann Baptist Ritter von Spix (9 February 1781 – 13 March 1826) was a German natural history, biologist. From his expedition to Brazil, he brought to Germany a large variety of specimens of plants, insects, mammals, birds, amphibians and fish. ...
(1781–1826) and Carl von Martius (1794–1868) in the course of the
Austrian Brazil Expedition The Austrian expedition to Brazil (German language, German: ''Österreichische Brasilien-Expedition'') was a scientific expedition which explored Brazil. It was organized and financed by the Austrian Empire from 1817 to 1835. History The expediti ...
, to join Baron von Langsdorff's scientific expedition to Brazil as an illustrator. Langsdorff was the consul-general of the
Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...
in Brazil and had a plantation "Mandioca" in the northern region of
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 ...
. In March 1822, they reached Brazil to Rio in the company of scientists
Édouard Ménétries Édouard Ménétries (Paris, France, 2 October 1802 – St. Petersburg, Russian Empire, 10 April 1861) was a French entomologist, zoologist, and herpetologist. He is best known as the founder of the Russian Entomological Society. Ménétries w ...
(1802-1861),
Ludwig Riedel Ludwig Riedel (2 March 1790, Berlin, Germany – 6 August 1861, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) was a German botanist. Riedel described relatively few species himself, but collected hundreds of new species, many named after him. The genus '' Riedelia'' (E ...
(1761-1861), Christian Hasse and (1799-1874). As illustrator, Rugendas visited the
Serra da Mantiqueira The Mantiqueira Mountains (Portuguese: ''Serra da Mantiqueira iterally: Mantiqueira Mountains Chain') are a mountain range in Southeastern Brazil, with parts in the states of São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro. The name shows the range ...
and the historical towns of
Barbacena Barbacena is a municipality in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. As of 2020, the municipality had 138,204 inhabitants. The total area of the municipality is . Barbacena is known for its strong Italian influence. The Rodrigo Silva Colonial Nucl ...
,
São João del Rei SAO or Sao may refer to: Places * Sao civilisation, in Middle Africa from 6th century BC to 16th century AD * Sao, a town in Boussé Department, Burkina Faso * Serb Autonomous Regions (''Srpska autonomna oblast'', SAO), during the breakup of ...
, Mariana,
Ouro Preto Ouro Preto (, ), formerly Vila Rica (, ), is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. The city, a former Brazilian Gold Rush, colonial mining town located in the Serra do Espinhaço mountains, was designated a ...
,
Caeté Caeté is a Brazilian municipality located in the state of Minas Gerais. Geography The city belongs to the mesoregion Metropolitana de Belo Horizonte and to the microregion of Belo Horizonte. The municipality contains a small part of the S ...
,
Sabará Sabará is a Brazilian municipality located in the state of Minas Gerais. The city belongs to the Belo Horizonte metropolitan region and to the associated microregion. It is a well preserved historic city and retains the characteristics of a ...
and Santa Luzia. Just before the fluvial phase of the expedition started (a fateful journey to the
Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...
), he became alienated from von Langsdorff and left the expedition. He was replaced by the artists
Adrien Taunay Adrien Taunay the Younger (1803 – 5 January 1828) was a French painter and draftsman. He was born in Paris in 1803, the son of history and genre painter Nicolas-Antoine Taunay (1755–1830). Adrien moved to Rio de Janeiro in 1816, accompany ...
and
Hércules Florence Antoine Hercule Romuald Florence (29 February 1804 – 27 March 1879) was a Monegasque-Brazilian painter and inventor, known as the isolate inventor of photography in Brazil, three years before Daguerre (but six years after Nicéphore Niépce), ...
. But Rugendas continued to live on his own in Brazil until 1825, exploring and recording his many impressions of daily life in the provinces of
Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil, being the fourth largest state by area and the second largest in number of inhabitants with a population of 20,539,989 according to the 2022 Brazilian census, 2022 census. Located in ...
and
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 ...
. He also visited the coastal provinces of
Bahia Bahia () is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Mina ...
and
Pernambuco Pernambuco ( , , ) is a States of Brazil, state of Brazil located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast region of the country. With an estimated population of 9.5 million people as of 2024, it is the List of Brazilian states by population, ...
on his journey back to Europe. He produced mostly drawings and
watercolor Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (Commonwealth English; see American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin 'water'), is a painting metho ...
s. On his return to Europe between 1825 and 1828, Rugendas lived successively in Paris,
Augsburg Augsburg ( , ; ; ) is a city in the Bavaria, Bavarian part of Swabia, Germany, around west of the Bavarian capital Munich. It is a College town, university town and the regional seat of the Swabia (administrative region), Swabia with a well ...
and
Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...
, with the aim of learning new art techniques, such as
oil painting Oil painting is a painting method involving the procedure of painting with pigments combined with a drying oil as the Binder (material), binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on canvas, wood panel, or oil on coppe ...
. There, he published from 1827 to 1835, with the help of
Victor Aimé Huber Victor Aimé Huber (10 March 1800 – 19 July 1869) was a German social reformer, travel writer and a literature historian. Huber was born in Stuttgart, Germany. His parents, Ludwig Ferdinand Huber, Ludwig Ferdinand and Therese Huber, née Heyn ...
, his monumental book ''Voyage Pittoresque dans le Brésil'' (Picturesque Voyage to Brazil), with more than 500 illustrations. It was considered one of the most important documents about Brazil in the 19th century. He spent time studying in Italy. Inspired by explorer and naturalist,
Alexander Humboldt Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt (14 September 1769 – 6 May 1859) was a German polymath, geographer, natural history, naturalist, List of explorers, explorer, and proponent of Romanticism, Romantic philosophy and Romanticism ...
(1769–1859), Rugendas sought financial support for a much more ambitious project of recording pictorially the life and nature of Latin America. In his word, it would be "an endeavor to truly become the illustrator of life in the
New World The term "New World" is used to describe the majority of lands of Earth's Western Hemisphere, particularly the Americas, and sometimes Oceania."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: ...
". In 1831 he traveled first to
Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...
, and then to
Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
. In Mexico, he did drawings and watercolors of
Morelia Morelia (; from 1545 to 1828 known as Valladolid; Otomi language, Otomi: ) is a city and municipal seat of the municipalities of Mexico, municipality of Morelia in the north-central part of the state of Michoacán in central Mexico. It is both th ...
,
Teotihuacan Teotihuacan (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Teotihuacán'', ; ) is an ancient Mesoamerican city located in a sub-valley of the Valley of Mexico, which is located in the State of Mexico, northeast of modern-day Mexico City. Teotihuacan is ...
,
Xochimilco Xochimilco (; ) is a borough () of Mexico City. The borough is centered on the formerly independent city of Xochimilco, which was established on what was the southern shore of Lake Xochimilco in the precolonial period. Today, the borough cons ...
, and
Cuernavaca Cuernavaca (; , "near the woods" , Otomi language, Otomi: ) is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state, state of Morelos in Mexico. Along with Chalcatzingo, it is likely one of the origins of the Mesoamerica, Mesoamerican civilizatio ...
. He also began to practice oil painting, with excellent results. After becoming involved in a failed coup in 1834 against Mexico's president,
Anastasio Bustamante Trinidad Anastasio de Sales Ruiz Bustamante y Oseguera (; 27 July 1780 – 6 February 1853) was a Mexican physician, general, and politician who served as the 4th President of Mexico three times from 1830 to 1832, 1837 to 1839, and 1839 to 1841. ...
, Rugendas was incarcerated and expelled from the country. From 1834 to 1844 he travelled to
Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...
, Argentina,
Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...
, Peru and
Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...
, and finally returned in 1845 to
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 ...
. Well-accepted and feted by the court of Emperor Dom Pedro II of Brazil, he executed
portraits A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face is always predominant. In arts, a portrait may be represented as half body and even full body. If the subject in full body better re ...
of several members of the royal court and participated in an artistic exposition. At the age of 44, in 1846, Rugendas departed for Europe.


Depicting black people in Brazil

From 1822 to 1825, as part of the Langsdorff expedition, Rugendas depicted black people living in Brazil. Along with other ethnographic artists who worked in Brazil, such as Jean-Batiste Debret, and François-August Biard, Rugendas is part of the tropical romanticism. This movement challenged the dichotomy between nature and civilization and considered places such as colonial Brazil to be a harmonious environment of racial mixing. Tropical romanticism was one of the elements that influenced Rugendas's representations of black people. According to Freitas, Rugendas illustrated black people of varied origins. This type of illustration details the physical characteristics of black men and women by focusing on hairstyles, adornments, marks and scars, and types of nose, lips, and eyes, demonstrating the ethnographic purpose of these drawings. In the same
lithograph Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the miscibility, immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by ...
, the artist depicts four or five busts of men and women to compare differences and similarities among nations of origin, but also to identify different degrees of civilization. He identified more savage people by depicting them with skin marks and deformities, and normally without clothes. On the other hand, criollos were represented wearing clothes and jewelry, as if to mark a step forward toward civilization if compared with black Africans. Rugendas celebrated black people born in Brazil, saying they were more polished and benevolent than Africans.Diener, Pablo, Maria De Fátima G Costa, and Johann Moritz Rugendas. ''Rugendas e o Brasil''. São Paulo, SP: Capivara, 2002. p.144. Secondly, Rugendas depicted black people in scenes. These painted images presented activities of urban work, such as street commerce, water transportation, and laundry. The main focus was in the activity and the landscape rather than in detailing variation among blacks of different origins. For this reason, he portrayed a generic type of black in such scenes. Rugendas represented the work performed by black people as a civilizing element that allowed them to develop themselves and to have social mobility. Influenced by
Alexander von Humboldt Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt (14 September 1769 – 6 May 1859) was a German polymath, geographer, natural history, naturalist, List of explorers, explorer, and proponent of Romanticism, Romantic philosophy and Romanticism ...
's ideas, Rugendas considered environmental conditions to be determinant factors to human development. He believed that the lack of what he considered formal education and civilizing elements in Africa contributed to the inferiority of the African race. Humboldt was an
abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the political movement to end slavery and liberate enslaved individuals around the world. The first country to fully outlaw slavery was Kingdom of France, France in 1315, but it was later used ...
, and Rugendas similarly disapproved of the Brazilian slavery system. He supported a gradual and progressive emancipation. The historian Robert Slenes said that Rugendas's political agenda that worked together with his ethnographic studies. To Slenes, the artist compromised with a conservative Christian reformism, typical of the abolitionist movement. Although Rugendas defended gradual emancipation, the artist also believed that Brazilian slavery represented a new, positive life for Africans, who got the chance to learn the Christian experience.Slenes, Robert W. "African Abrahams, Lucretias and Men of Sorrows: Allegory and Allusion in the Brazilian Anti-slavery Lithographs (1827–1835) of Johann Moritz Rugendas," ''Slavery & Abolition'' 23, no.2, (2002): 147. In some images, for example the ''Enterro de um Negro na Bahia'', Rugendas identified the dead body of a "black man with another corpse: the suffering Christ the ‘Savior’ honored by the city's name." There are other images where elements of Catholicism are present, such as ''Mercado de Negros'' (a slave market with a church in the background) and ''Familia de Agricultores'', the latter one of the few images in which Rugendas portrays black people in private environments; they are slaves or servants to the white family. Petrônio Domingues says that the artistic work of foreigner painters and ethnographers in nineteenth-century Brazil had a strong influence on the development of the racial imaginary. The romantic view on slavery in Brazil as a civilizing influence, contributed to creation of the myth of racial democracy. Outside Brazil, the images Rugendas produced had relative success. He published a book with his travel log and a collection of one hundred pictures; it was called ''Viagem Pitoresca através do Brazil'', in Portuguese; ''Voyage Pittoresque dans le Brésil'', in French; and ''Malerische Reise in Brasilien'', in German. During the nineteenth century, there was increased publication of travel books and the development of lithographs to illustrate them. Rugendas's images helped to spread the idea of racial harmony inside and outside Brazil.


Death

He died on 29 May 1858 in
Weilheim an der Teck Weilheim an der Teck (, ) is a town in the Esslingen (district), district of Esslingen in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It is situated 7 km southeast of Kirchheim unter Teck, and 13 km southwest of Göppingen. Locals often re ...
, Germany. King Maximilian II of
Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...
had acquired most of his works in exchange for a life pension. His painting ''Columbus Taking Possession of the New World'' (1855) has been on view at the
Neue Pinakothek The Neue Pinakothek (, ''New Pinacotheca'') is an art museum in Munich, Germany. Its focus is European Art of the 18th and 19th centuries, and it is one of the most important museums of art of the nineteenth century in the world. Together with t ...
, in
Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...
.


See also

*
Ludwig Riedel Ludwig Riedel (2 March 1790, Berlin, Germany – 6 August 1861, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) was a German botanist. Riedel described relatively few species himself, but collected hundreds of new species, many named after him. The genus '' Riedelia'' (E ...
*
Francis de Castelnau Francis may refer to: People and characters *Pope Francis, head of the Catholic Church (2013–2025) *Francis (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters *Francis (surname) * Francis, a character played by YouTuber Boogie29 ...
*
Sigismund Ernst Richard Krone Sigismund Ernst Richard Krone was a German naturalist, zoologist, spelunker, archaeologist and researcher born on 18 June 1861 in Dresden, Kingdom of Saxony. Having been the discoverer of the Devil's Cave in 1891, he explored and studied the e ...
*
Peter Claussen Peter Clausen (approximately 1801–1872), often misspelt as Peter Claussen, and also known as Pedro Claudio Clausen and Pedro Dinamarquez Clausen, was a Danish natural history collector born in Copenhagen, who was known for his work between 1834 ...
* Jean-Batiste Debret * François-August Biard


References


Further reading

*Ades, Dawn, ''Art in Latin America''. 1989. *Diener, P.: ''Rugendas, 1802–1858''. Wissner; Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Augsburg and Santiago de Chile, 1997. A massive catalogue of works in Spanish and Portuguese. *Diener, P.; COSTA, M. de F. (org.). ''Rugendas e o Brasil. Obra completa''. Rio de Janeiro: Editora Capivara, 2012. *Lemos, Carlos. ''The Art of Brazil'' 1983. *Miles, Mary Jo. "Johann Moritz Rugendas" in ''Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture'', vol. 4, p. 619. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons 1996. *Milla Batres, Carlos. ''Juan Mauricio Rugendas: El Perú Romántico del siglo XIX''. Lima: Milla Batres 1975. *''Juan Mauricio Rugendas en Mexico (1831–1834) : un pintor en la senda de Alejandro de Humboldt; exposición del Instituto Ibero-Americano, Patrimonio Cultural Prusiano, Berlin''. Berlin : Ibero-Amerikanisches Institut, 2002.


External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rugendas, Johann Moritz 1802 births 1858 deaths 19th-century German painters 19th-century German male artists German male painters German landscape painters