**Interviewer:** You’ve suggested that the Baroque style of Brazilian art during the Portuguese colonial period originated largely from Asia. Why do you think the Baroque and Rococo styles in Brazil were influenced by Asian aesthetics?
**Maristela Carneiro:** The academic consensus in Brazilian art history views the art from the colonial period as a blend of European, Indigenous, and African aesthetics. However, it’s less known that there was also significant Asian influence.
As a former colony of Portugal, Brazilian art and architecture during this period were profoundly shaped by European styles. Baroque and Rococo art emerged in Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries, and Brazil was no exception to this influence. You can observe grand and intricate Baroque and Rococo elements in the churches, homes, and public buildings across the region.
The colonization by Portugal was contemporaneous with its maritime expansion into Africa and Asia. Despite the deeply unequal interactions and violence that characterized these colonial relationships, there was undeniably an exchange of new languages, perspectives, and worldviews. Art, much like any field of knowledge, is fluid and influenced from both ends.
This dual influence can be seen in areas under Portuguese rule, such as Brazil, Angola, India (Goa), and Macau in China. For instance, in Diamantina in Minas Gerais, there are three important streets named “Lower Macau,” “Middle Macau,” and “Upper Macau,” all named after the Chinese city.
This cross-cultural exchange is evident in the concept of “Chinoiseries,” which entails Europeans mimicking Chinese visual art characteristics in their artworks. From the 16th to the 20th century, European fascination with Chinese architecture and art shaped a demand for Chinese products, especially porcelain, among affluent European collectors.
This influenced European art, especially visible in the Rococo style of the 18th century, where many household items and architectural decorations emphasized and imitated Chinese themes, patterns, and styles. As replicas became more common, Chinese narrative forms were established as standard themes, becoming a hallmark of Rococo art. The French term “Chinoiserie” translates directly to “in the Chinese style,” while in Portuguese, it’s referred to as “Chinesice,” meaning “Chinese style.” This aesthetic influence left its mark across Western Europe, and under Portuguese influence, Brazil too was touched by these “Chinese winds.”
**Interviewer:** Can you share some specific examples that illustrate how the Rococo style in Brazil has been influenced by the “Chinese style”?
**Maristela Carneiro:** The influences from Europe, Africa, and Asia made their way to Brazil via transatlantic trade. Thus, the Chinese artistic styles that impacted painting, sculpture, and relief work in the Iberian Peninsula can also be seen in Brazil. In the religious architecture of Bahia and Minas Gerais, for example, there is a rich use of floral and dragon, swallow, and beast motifs.
In the Museum of the Third Order of Saint Carmel in Cachoeira, Bahia, there’s a fascinating series of “Chinese Christ sculptures.” The creator was a Frenchman who had lived in Macau, Charles Berveiller. This ensemble features seven statues of Jesus Christ, styled with their hair shaved to the forehead, one adorned in a long robe. While they clearly display the exaggerated features of Baroque-Rococo style, they also emanate Chinese influences.
Another notable example is a wooden casket adorned with four lion sculptures located in the Museum of Sacred Art of the Jesuits in São Paulo. These lions bear a striking resemblance to traditional Chinese guardian beasts such as Fu lions, Pi Xiu, and Qilin. Other furnishings in the church also showcase similar decorative styles.
Clearly, these influences were filtered through a European lens. Many artists creating “Chinese style” works may never have encountered genuine Chinese art but were likely inspired by imitations, fully aware that these styles resonated with contemporary audiences.
It’s important to note that this influence was reciprocal. Just as Chinese aesthetics captivated European elites, European tastes also attracted Chinese elites, evident in Emperor Qianlong’s construction of European-style buildings like the “Yuanmingyuan” (Old Summer Palace) in Beijing.
**Interviewer:** What can we learn from the cultural fusion of Brazil with China, as exhibited through the Baroque and Rococo styles? How does that resonate with today’s context?
**Maristela Carneiro:** At the height of European royal power, Lisbon served as a major gateway through which exquisite Japanese artifacts, Indian furniture, and Chinese porcelain entered Europe. In Brazil, colonial elites aspired to replicate the luxurious lifestyles of the Portuguese metropolis as closely as possible, and the “oriental style” became synonymous with grandeur, opulence, and visual delight, transporting a piece of the world from the other end of the globe.
Today, we must question these patterns, recognizing that such efforts to claim non-European cultural elements—whether from China, the Middle East, or Africa—can often be reductive and alienating. They fail to truly reflect the complexities of the cultures represented.
I believe art can teach us a lot about biases, desires, self-expectations, and our expectations of different cultures. In many ways, art is a grand synthesis of the symbols, values, perceptions, and aspirations cherished by the collective. Engaging with art is always a deeper way to understand history, nations, cultures, and how life seeks its place in the world.
Thus, discussions around art and culture inevitably lead to conversations about fusion. Some fusions are forced and rife with asymmetry and violence, but that isn’t always the case. Fusion can serve as a means for diverse cultural lives to flourish, evolve, and diversify. In the realm of art, encounters between different worlds can yield unique visual feasts that will continue to captivate our senses for generations to come.
