Johann Moritz Rugendas’ “Voyage pittoresque dans le Brésil”

Race, Slavery, and a Morbid Sublime Pleasure

Abstract

Johann Moritz Rugendas (1802–1858) is widely regarded as one of the most significant Romantic European painters in nineteenth-century Latin America. His extensive body of work, which includes thousands of drawings, lithographic albums, and hundreds of paintings, establishes him as one of the most prolific artists to explore and portray the continent. In 1822, Rugendas embarked on an almost three-year journey across Brazil, depicting its people and landscapes. The primary outcome of this journey was his celebrated Picturesque Voyage in Brazil, published between 1826 and 1835 in French and German. Hitherto, Voyage pittoresque has been viewed as a critique of the slave trade, positioning Rugendas as an advocate for racial equality. However, this article argues that Rugendas’ portrayal of slavery reveals an ambiguous and inconsistent stance on racial issues, complicating the narrative of a fierce denouncer of slavery built around his figure. Through detailed analysis of the album’s texts and images and foregrounding overlooked evidence, this essay challenges the notion of the volume as an antislavery manifesto, highlighting its racialist undertones and the complex interplay of pain, pleasure, the picturesque, and the sublime.