Local flora, consumption and circulation in the Court of Debret in Rio de Janeiro, 1816-1831

Abstract

The history of the Portuguese-speaking territory in America during the first half of the 19th century is marked by several transformations that have as their starting point the arrival of the Court of D. João VI in what was until then the main colony of Portugal. In the midst of this process, a series of investments of a social and cultural nature were made, among which stands out the arrival of the French Artistic Mission, a group that was directly involved in the project of resignification and Europeanization of the new seat of the monarchy, but which, in addition, provided, through its production, important impressions for a reflection on the scenario of the territory. This article analyzes, through Jean-Baptiste Debret’s work “Viagem Pitoresca e Histórica ao Brasil”, how the French painter apprehended and represented the Brazilian territory. Emphasizing the concepts of knowledge circulation (Kury, 2013; Raj, 2007), civility (Elias, 2011) and distinction (Bourdieu, 2007), it discusses Debret’s perspective on the local social reality, especially with regard to eating habits. Methodologically, we use content analysis as proposed by Bardin (2016) in order to build a critical interpretation, contributing to a systemic analysis focused on the indicated sources.