  About the Artwork
  
  
  In 1637 Frans Post accompanied Johan Maurits, count of Nassau-Siegen, to the Dutch colony of Pernambuco in Brazil. The Impressions garnered during seven years in South America became the source for numerous compositions painted throughout the artist's life. This panoramic view, completed many years after Post's return to Holland, depicts a church built in a tropical clearing, perhaps the Jesuit church at Olinda, the former capital of Pernambuco. The artist contrasts the church and the colonial settlement in the background with the lush native flora and fauna that dominate the foreground. The otherwise peaceful atmosphere is interrupted by the image of a cobra eating a rabbit, perhaps a reminder that the New World could not totally be tamed.
  
  
  Title
  View of the Jesuit Church at Olinda, Brazil
  
  
  Artwork Date
  1665
  
  Artist
  Frans Jansz Post
  
  
  
  Life Dates
  ca. 1612-1680
  
  
  
  
  Nationality
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events.
  Some definitions include:
  Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation.
  
  
  
  Dutch
  
  
  
  Culture
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group.
  
  
  
  
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  Medium
  Oil on canvas
  
  
  Dimensions
  Unframed: 22 1/8 × 32 7/8 inches (56.2 × 83.5 cm)
  Framed: 28 1/4 × 39 1/8 × 2 1/2 inches (71.8 × 99.4 × 6.4 cm)
  
  
  Classification
  Paintings
  
  
  Department
  European Painting
  
  
  Credit
  Founders Society Purchase, General Membership Fund
  
  
  
  Accession Number
  
  
  
  This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection.
  Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings.
  For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups.
  
  
  
  34.188
  
  
  Copyright
  Public Domain
