José Joaquim da Rocha e a Escola Baiana de Pintura; entre a oralidade, a crônica e a documentação

Abstract

The oral tradition recorded in an anonymous 19th century manuscript positioned José Joaquim da Rocha as the founder of the Bahian School of Painting and author of important quadrature works on the ceilings of churches in Salvador. These attributions were replicated and expanded by Manuel Querino and Carlos Ott. In this article, we intend to discuss these attributions, comparing them with documented works, relativizing the attributional methods, considering the tradition of workshop work, and raising questions to be faced.