Albert Eckhout: The Tapuya Dance (1643)

(National Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark)

A painting by the Dutch artist Albert Eckhout (1610-1665). Albert Eckhout was a portrait and still life painter who travelled to Dutch-Brasil in 1636 after he was invited by Johan Maurits van Nassau-Siegen, the governor of Dutch Brazil. In Brasil Albert Eckhout made eight life-size ethnographic representations of Brazil's inhabitants, twelve still lives of Brazilian fruits and vegetables and a large painting of dancing Indians - shown here. These native Indians are Tarairiu Indians (the Tupi Indians gave the generic name Tapuya to all tribes who did not speak their language). The painting shows 8 men performing a ritual dance with two women talking to the right. This painting together with the rest was intended by Johan Maurits as wall decorations for a monumental room or hall for his palace called ' Vrijburg' in Mauritsstad, the capitol of Dutch Brasil - now a part of the city of Recife.. After Dutch Brasil was reconquered by the Portugese, Johan Maurits gave the entire set to his causing king Frederick III of Denmark (Johan Maurits later became to regret this donation). Painting from 1643.