A arte do Vale do Jequitinhonha no século XVIII: estudo das pinturas sobre madeira da Capela de São Gonçalo (Minas Novas MG) e Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Rosário dos Homens Pretos (Chapada do Norte MG)

Abstract

The cities of Chapada do Norte and Minas Novas are located in Middle Jequitinhonha, north of Minas Gerais, a region which has been the focus of several researches mainly related to the immaterial culture and ceramic production, for its richness and peculiarities of its customs and traditions. A little is known about the art produced in this region through the 18th century, many works were lost, and most of them in an awful conservation state, with many layers of repainting. Between the years of 2006 and 2010, there was made a work of restoration of the artistic elements of two chapels build by the first half of the 18th century: the chapel of Nossa Senhora do Rosário dos Homens Pretos in Chapada do Norte and of São Gonçalo in Minas Novas. It is about paintings on wood which constitute altars and ceiling, and, which after the removal from its layers of paintings it was possible to evaluate its importance to the history of colonial art in the 18th century in Minas Gerais. The characteristics and resemblances of the paintings from the two chapel in question were analyzed as well as its possible relations and influences from European art, highlighting the cultural and social characteristics from Jequitinhonha Valley, with the objective of also proving the hypothesis that an only artist had acted in these two cities in the first decades of the 18th century. Therefore, a multidisciplinary method was adopted, which surrounds technical, scientific, historical and stylistic studies, aiming the understanding of the samples chosen within its various aspects.