Manuel de Araújo Porto-alegre, Baron of Santo Ângelo

This article is about the Brazilian poet, playwright and painter. For the Mozambican politician, see Manuel de Araújo.

Manuel de Araújo Porto-alegre
A painting of Porto-alegre, made in 1848 by Ferdinand Krumholz
Born	Manuel José de Araújo Porto-alegre 29 November 1806(1806-11-29) Rio Pardo, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Died	30 December 1879(1879-12-30) (aged 73) Lisbon, Portugal
Pen name	Tibúrcio do Amarante
Occupation	Writer, painter, caricaturist, professor, diplomat, architect
Nationality	Brazilian
Alma mater	Escola Nacional de Belas Artes
Literary movement	Romanticism
Spouse(s)	Ana Paulina Delamare
Children	Carlota Porto-alegre, Paulo Porto-alegre
Influences Gonçalves de Magalhães, Jean-Baptiste Debret, Almeida Garrett

Manuel José de Araújo Porto-alegre, Baron of Santo Ângelo (November 29, 1806 — December 30, 1879) was a Brazilian Romantic writer, painter, architect, diplomat and professor. He is patron of the 32nd chair of the Brazilian Academy of Letters.

Life

Porto-alegre was born Manuel José de Araújo in Rio Pardo, to Francisco José de Araújo and Francisca Antônia Viana. He would change his name to Manuel de Araújo Pitangueira during the independence of Brazil, due to nativist causes. Later on, he finally changed it to its definitive form: Manuel de Araújo Porto-alegre.

In 1826, he moved to Rio de Janeiro, in order to study painting with Jean-Baptiste Debret at the Escola Nacional de Belas Artes. He also studied at what is now the Academia Militar das Agulhas Negras and took a Medicine course and Philosophy. In 1831, he left Brazil along with Debret to Europe, in order to improve his painting techniques. In 1835, he went to Italy, where he met Gonçalves de Magalhães, another Brazilian poet. He and Magalhães would create in France, in the year of 1837, a short-lived magazine named Niterói, alongside Francisco de Sales Torres Homem. Also in 1837, he becomes history painting teacher at the Escola Nacional de Belas Artes, in a post that would last until 1848, when he would become a drawing teacher at the Academia Militar das Agulhas Negras, and starts doing his first caricatures. In 1838, he married Ana Paulina Delamare, having with her two children: Carlota Porto-alegre (the future wife of painter Pedro Américo) and future diplomat Paulo Porto-alegre.

A herma of Porto-alegre in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

In 1840 he is named the official painter and decorator of Emperor Pedro II's palace. He decorated the imperial palace in Petrópolis, the wedding of Pedro II with Teresa Cristina of the Two Sicilies and the aforementioned emperor's coronation. He was decorated with the Order of Christ and the Order of the Rose.

Reuniting with Gonçalves de Magalhães and Torres Homem, he founded a periodic named Minerva Brasiliense, that lasted from 1843 to 1845. He would publish in this periodic his poem Brasiliana. In 1844, alongside Torres Homem, he founded the humoristic magazine Lanterna Mágica, where he published his caricatures.

In 1849, Porto-alegre founded the magazine Guanabara, alongside Joaquim Manuel de Macedo and Gonçalves Dias. The magazine, considered the official journal of the Romantic movement in Brazil, lasted until 1856.

The coat of arms of the Baron of Santo Ângelo, the same worn by the Araújo family

In 1852, he enters the political career, assuming a position as a substitute councilman in the Municipal Chamber of Rio de Janeiro, lending service in the areas of urbanism and public health. He would exerce this post until 1854, the year when he became the headmaster of the Escola Nacional de Belas Artes, lasting until 1857.

In 1860, Porto-alegre entered the diplomatic career, where he served as the consul of Brazil in the Kingdom of Prussia, in the Kingdom of Saxony and later in Portugal, where he died. (Porto-alegre's remains were brought to Brazil in 1922.)

He was proclaimed Baron of Santo Ângelo by Emperor Pedro II in 1874, and was a member of the Brazilian Historic and Geographic Institute.

This caricature that satirizes the Regency period of the Empire of Brazil (1831–1840) was made by Porto-alegre, and it is considered to be the first Brazilian caricature ever

Trivia

While in Dresden in 1865, Porto-alegre wrote a letter to Joaquim Manuel de Macedo, then-tutor of Princess Isabel's children, in which he reveals that he became a Spiritist and was able to psycograph messages from the Beyond, and Isabel would ask him "who was [her] guardian spirit". The letter, now being kept at the Brazilian National Archives, has 12 pages.^[1]

Literary works

Poetry

• Ode Sáfica (1830 — dedicated to Jean-Baptiste Debret)
• Canto Inaugural (1855)
• Brasiliana (1863)
• Colombo (epic poem — 1866)

From left to right: Gonçalves Dias, Porto-alegre and Gonçalves de Magalhães, on a picture dating from circa 1858

Theater plays

• Prólogo Dramático (1837)
• Angélica e Firmino (1845)
• A Destruição das Florestas (1845)
• A Estátua Amazônica (1851)
• A Restauração de Pernambuco (1852)
• A Noite de São João (1857)
• Cenas de Penafiel (1858)
• Os Judas (1859)
• O Prestígio da Lei (1859)
• Os Lobisomens (1862)
• Os Voluntários da Pátria (1877)

Fiction

• Excertos das Memórias e Viagens do Coronel Bonifácio do Amarante (under pen name Tibúrcio do Amarante) (1848)

Translations

• Electra, by Euripides
• Lucrèce Borgia, by Victor Hugo
• Christine of Sweden, by Alexandre Dumas, père

Famous paintings

• 

  Portrait of Pedro I of Brazil, oil painting

• 

  Brazilian Jungle, watercolor painting

• 

  Study for a Decorative Panel, oil and nankeen

• 

  Pietà

• 

  Study for Pedro II's Sagration, oil painting

• 

  Self-portrait, oil painting; circa 1823

References

1. ^ Além da Vida magazine, 30th edition. Brazilian National Archives, Rio de Janeiro.

External links

• Excerpts of Porto-alegre's epic poem Colombo at the official site of the Brazilian Academy of Letters (Portuguese)
• Porto-alegre's biography at the official site of the Brazilian Academy of Letters (Portuguese)
• A chronology of Porto-alegre's life in Itaú Cultural (Portuguese)

Preceded by New creation

Baron of Santo Ângelo 1874 — 1879

Succeeded by None

Preceded by New creation

Brazilian Academy of Letters - Patron of the 32nd chair

Succeeded by Carlos de Laet (founder)

Persondata
Name	Porto-Alegre, Manuel De Araujo
Alternative names	Tibúrcio do Amarante
Short description	Brazilian poet, playwright and painter
Date of birth	November 29, 1806
Place of birth	Rio Pardo, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Date of death	December 30, 1879
Place of death	Lisbon, Portugal