Press release Exhibition 29 September 2005 2 January 2006

Muse du Louvre, Sully Wing, 1st floor, Salle de la Chapelle

Frans Post (16121680)

Brazil at the court of Louis XIV
This exhibition follows the fabulous adventure of a series of landscape paintings by the Dutch artist Frans Post begun in Brazil between 1637 and 1640, completed in the Netherlands and offered to Louis XIV some forty years later. This exceptional exhibition at the Louvre brings together all the works in this series that have so far been rediscovered. The Dutch painter Frans Post was the first European artist to paint landscapes of the New World. Eighteen of these paintings, accompanied by nine Brazilian landscapes Post executed from memory after his return to the Netherlands, were offered by Prince Johan Maurits of Nassau to Louis XIV in 1679. Eight of these paintings are in the Louvres permanent collections and form the core of the exhibition. Although only four other canvases from this series are as yet identified, we are aware of additional works executed by Frans Post through engravings and gouaches, which are presented here alongside the large landscapes. These paintings evoke the region of Pernambuco at the northeastern tip of Brazil, under Dutch control until 1654. Remarkable for reuniting the seven rediscovered landscapes painted by Post in Brazil, today held in four different collections, this exhibition is a first in the history of art.
Exhibition curators : Pedro Corra do Lago, President of the National Library of Brazil, with Blaise Ducos, curator in the Department of Paintings, Muse du Louvre Related events and publications : Exhibition catalogue by Pedro Corra do Lago and Blaise Ducos, co-published by Muse du Louvre Editions and Cinq Continents Conference presenting the exhibition: Monday, 3 October 2005 in the Auditorium du Louvre, by P. Corra do Lago

Brsil, Brsils The Year of Brazil in France (March December 2005) is jointly organized In Brazil: by the Brazilian organizing committee, the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of External Relations. In France: by the French organizing committee, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Culture and Communication and the Association Franaise dAction Artistique.

This exhibition was made possible through the sponsorship of Safra Bank ans the support of Yamato Co. LTD The exhibition enjoys the participation of Paris Premire and RFI as media

Frans Post : Estate of a "labrador" (sugar cane plantation owner) in Brazil Painted circa 1650 - 1655, after returning to the Netherlands H. : 1,12 m. ; W. : 1,46 m. Muse du Louvre, dpartement des Peintures, INV 1722 RMN/ H. Lewandowski

Communications Aggy Lerolle aggy.lerolle@louvre.fr

Press relations Sylphide de Sonis T : 01 40 20 53 14 / fax : 84 52 sylphide.de-sonis@louvre fr

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F. Post, Castle of the Three Wise Men, 1638, painted in Brazil. Muse du Louvre, dpartement des Peintures, INV 1726 RMN / D. Arnaudet Centre: Thiry, Gouache after the painting by F. Post, Castle of the Three Wise Men, 1765, Paris, Bibliothque nationale de France BnF Bottom right: F. Post, Ox-cart, 1638, painted in Brazil. Muse du Louvre, dpartement des Peintures, INV 1728 RMN / D. Arnaudet

Johan Maurits of Nassau-Siegen (16041679) was named governor-general of the Dutch territories in Brazil in 1636 by the powerful Dutch West India Company. He travelled to northeastern Brazil in 1637, accompanied by soldiers, officers, scientists and artists including the painter Frans Post (c. 16121680), and remained in power there until 1644. Post was ordered to paint landscapes documenting Dutch possessions, as well as their chief stronghold of Recife, its main buildings, and certain battles. These canvases were intended to provide a topographical record, but also to serve as decoration for the governor-generals residence in Pernambuco. Post completed eighteen paintings in Brazil, which were brought back to the Netherlands upon his return, and which he used as inspiration for engravings illustrating a record of Johan Maurits of Nassaus tenure as governor-general in Brazil, written by Caspar Barlaeus. These paintings and this book were part of a magnificent group of Brazilian objects offered in 1679 to Louis XIV by Maurits of Nassau shortly before his death. Certain canvases had been executed from memory by Post after his return to the Netherlands. This exhibition therefore includes forty works: - the seven rediscovered landscapes painted in Brazil, four of which are in the Louvres permanent collections, a fifth belonging to the Mauritshuis in The Hague, and two others in private collections; - eighteen engravings completed in 1645 by Frans Post after his own paintings, as illustrations for a book published in 1647; - six paintings from the group executed upon the artists return to the Netherlands, four of which are in the Louvres permanent collections and the remainder in private collections; - nine gouaches by Thiry, an amateur 18th century painter who copied the paintings given to Louis XIV and which were at that time housed at the Chteau de Chaville. Today, these gouaches are preserved in the Bibliothque Nationale de France.

Visitor information
Hours: Open daily except Tuesdays from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and until 9:30 p.m. on Wednesdays and Fridays Further information: +33 (0)1 40 20 53 17 - www.louvre.fr Access to the exhibition is included in the purchase of an admission to the Museum's permanent collections: 8.50; 6 after 6 p. m. on Wednesdays and Fridays; free admission for all visitors the first Sunday of each month, and for youths under 26 after 6 p.m. on Fridays; free admission at all times for youths under 18, the unemployed, and holders of the Louvre Jeunes, Louvre Professionnels, Louvre Enseignants, Louvre Etudiants Partenaires or Amis du Louvre cards.