The chiseled legacy of Aleijadinho.

• Author: Tripodi, Carlos
• Position: Life and art of Antonio Francisco Lisboa, known as O Aleijadinho - Includes related article - Column

TRAGEDY AND BEAUTY have often co-existed in the most famous works of art. But seldom has the tragedy been as evident and the beauty as sublime as in the life and art of Antonio Francisco Lisboa, known as O Aleijadinho (The Little Cripple). His body of work and school of thought mark one of the most significant examples of what may be called authentic American art.

From the time of the conquest, the cultural norms of the Europeans combined with the effects of climate, environment and indigenous traditions to produce an art of distinct character in the New World. Of the three principle centers of artistic development in the Americas--Peru, Mexico and Brazil--it was Brazil that displayed the greatest stylistic independence from Europe, particularly during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries when Brazilian art reached its apogee. This originality was perhaps the result of a uniquely Brazilian factor--the presence of the African culture, destined to play an important role in the development of the Brazilian baroque.

During the three centuries of Portuguese colonization, architecture and sculpture, more than any other art form, flourished in Brazil. The minor artisans (goldsmiths, metallurgists, and woodworkers), who were concentrated in Bahia, Pernambuco, Rio de Janeiro and Santos, maintained a close link to the traditional Portuguese forms due to the heavy European influence in these areas. However, in the mining towns of the province of Minas Gerais, it was principally the native Brazilians who contributed to the development of the arts, leaving an indelible mark.

The adventurers and settlers of Sao Paulo, who plowed the rivers of Minas Gerais in search of gold, precipitated the advent of a new and unusual prosperity in the region. This prosperity was concentrated in the less densely populated Vila Rica (rich town), later given the grandiose name of the Imperial City of Ouro Preto (Black Gold) by Pedro I. The legendary figures of the adventurer Antonio Dias de Oliveira and the missionary Father Joao de Faria represent the two obsessions with which Ouro Preto was forever associated: gold and faith. Adventurers, goldsmiths, artists, officials, Portuguese noblemen and African slaves all mingled on the streets of Ouro Preto during colorful and prolonged processions such as the "Eucharistic Triumph," famous throughout the country. The churches which served as a backdrop for these processions were the purest examples of Brazilian baroque.

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