O Estado da Arte: : Trajetória Artística Através de Documentos Coevos - O Caso de Caetano da Costa Coelho, Pintor da Venerável Ordem Terceira de São Francisco da Penitência – Exposição e Detalhamento de uma Rede de Intelectuais e de Artistas no Rio de Janei

Abstract

Caetano da Costa Coelho was one of the most renowned artists of colonial Rio de Janeiro. Well recognized for his painting and gilding works in the Church of the Order of São Francisco da Penitência in Rio, despite of the splendor of his works, very little is known about his biography. The lack of awareness about the main aspects of Caetano's life prevents any knowledge of whom he was, exactly, with whom he related, in the artistic milieu of his time, and how did he attract such relevant contracts. Through a genealogical study, combined with a social research, this study aims to highlight a part of Caetano da Costa Coelho's public and domestic context in the Rio de Janeiro of his time, by demonstrating, with a focus on his father-in-law's family, who were the people he had contact. This article, therefore, aims to contribute to Caetano's biography, by reconstructing a fraction of his social context, situating him, and by demonstrating how was the network of relationships composed, for the benefit of his access to the colonial art market.