^
Died on 16 February 1680: Frans
Janszoon Post (or Poost), Dutch landscape painter born in
1612.
— Post was born in Leiden and active mainly in Haarlem. In 1637-44
he was a member of the Dutch West India Company's voyage of colonization
to Brazil and became the first European to paint landscapes in the New World.
He observed the unfamiliar flora and fauna with an appropriate freshness,
creating scenes of remarkable vividness and charm, and he continued to paint
Brazilian landscapes after his return to the Netherlands (indeed he is not
known to have painted any other type of picture). Because of his "naive"
style, he has been called the Douanier Rousseau of the 17th century, and
he was virtually forgotten or regarded as a curiosity until the 20th century.
His brother Pieter (1608-69) was one of the outstanding Dutch architects
of the 17th century (the Huis ten Bosch near The Hague is his most famous
work) and also occasionally painted.
— One of the first European-trained artists to paint in the Americas,
Frans Post accompanied the newly appointed Dutch governor on an expedition
to the colony of Brazil from 1637 to 1644. Probably taught by his painter
father, who was the brother of architect Pieter Post, Frans used his early
training to paint Brazilian landscapes, plants, animals, and natives. Together
with Albert Eckhout and other artists and scientists, he recorded various
aspects of Brazilian life, capturing the local atmosphere and topography.
Post's experiences in South America remained a fundamental influence; for
the rest of his career, he produced imaginary Brazilian landscapes. More
than thirty paintings by the artist were presented to Louis XIV of France
in 1679 and were later used by the Gobelins Tapestry Manufactory as the
basis for the popular tapestry series, " Les anciennes Indes”. Towards the
end of his life, Post's memories of Brazil began to fade, and his works
became increasing decorative.
— LINKS
— Brazilian
Landscape - Brazilian
Landscape _ Post painted only Brazilian landscapes while in Brazil and
later in Haarlem.
— Hacienda
(1652, 45x65cm) _ From 1637 to 1644, Post accompanied the retinue of Prince
Johan Maurits of Nassau Siegen to Brazil, where he painted the landscape
around Pernambuco and on a number of oceanic islands, as well as genre scenes
of local life. This Dutch artist's sensitivity to specific situations, landscape
and people make Post's Brazilian paintings an invaluable source of information
regarding not only the flora and fauna of the region, but also the dress
and customs of the time. On his return, Post settled in Haarlem and, like
all his Dutch colleagues, he specialized, concentrating especially on tropical
and exotic views. In his paintings, we note that, although he supplies details
and specific information about this far-off land, the paintings themselves
are nevertheless organized along the lines of conventional Dutch landscape
paintings. The gaze of the spectator is drawn from the foreground into the
depths of the landscape. This distant view with atmospheric changes and
a large proportion of sky, are typical features of Dutch painting. Genre-type
figures are also included in the compositional structure of these Brazilian
scenes.
— The
Ox Cart (1638, 61x88cm) _ The Dutch Republic settled overseas territories
as colonies, often gained in battle with other seafaring powers. For their
apparent truthfulness, Dutch pictures show little of colonial working life,
concentrating rather on colonial benefits to trade, art, and science. The
most impressive colonial artistic project was the transcription in texts,
maps, and pictures of the sites, peoples, fauna, and flora of eastern Brazil,
under Dutch control from 1630 to 1654. Scientists trained in medicine, biology,
and cartography, and artists, including Frans Post, gathered material for
the Historia Naturalis Brasiliae, a large natural and ethnographic
study of Brazil, illustrated with 533 woodcuts of exotic discoveries from
swordfish to chiefs of indigenous tribes. Frans Post's records of Brazilian
rivers, roads, and fields fit well-established schemes of Dutch landscape
painting. But for its inclusion of workers of African origin and the exotic
tree, his Ox Cart resembles near-contemporary Dutch pictures. Although
not intended perniciously, such paintings of Dutch Brazil mark the indigenous
scene as Dutch indeed, easily and rightfully accessible to Dutch cultivation.
— Le
Cheval Rayé From the "Les Anciennes Indes" _ Detail:
Coat of arms in border (Woven at the Gobelins Tapestry Manufactory;
after a cartoon by Albert Eckhout and Frans Post, 330x574cm) _ Studies made
by two Dutch artists during an exploratory expedition to Brazil from 1637
to 1644 were the inspiration for this tapestry. The newly appointed Dutch
governor, Prince Johan Maurits of Nassau, led a group of scientists and
artists, including Albert Eckhout and Frans Post, to Brazil, where they
studied and painted the unusual plant and animal life of this country. Many
of the plants, fish, birds, and other animals woven in this hanging can
be traced to life studies made by Eckhout and Post in South America. French
artists at the Gobelins manufactory, who designed the cartoon to heighten
the tapestry's impression of drama and exoticism, probably introduced other
animals, such as the Indian rhinoceros and "striped horse" or zebra. |
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