Juramento da Princesa Isabel 1875

Victor Meirelles painted Juramento da Princesa Isabel using oil on canvas, a technique refined over centuries. The very qualities of oil paint – its blendability, the subtle gradations of tone it allows – serve the artist’s intention. He wants us to see the grandeur of the moment when Princess Isabel swore the constitutional oath. Yet the material itself speaks to a less exalted story. Oil paint relies on pigments, mined and processed, and linseed oil, pressed from flax seeds. Canvas is woven from plant fibers. These materials were globally sourced through colonial trade, implicating even a celebratory image like this in the wider economy of exploitation. The skilled labor to produce the painting is also significant. Meirelles would have trained for years to achieve this level of realism. In the end, the painting is a material record, not just of a historical event, but of the many hands and resources that made its representation possible.