DEBRET, JEAN-BAPTISTE. - Voyage pittoresque et historique au Brésil ou séjour d'un artiste français au Brésil depuis 1815 jusqu'en 1831 inclusivement, époques de l'avenement et de l'abdication de S.M.D. Pedro ler fondateur de l'Empire brésilien. Tome 1 - 3. [Complete three volume set].

Rio de Janeiro & New York, Distribuidora Record / Continental News, 1965. 3 vols. [6],[8]),XVI,17-56,[2], [6],162,[2], [4],XVI,252 pp. Num. facs. plates. Loose as issued in original unif. cloth dropback boxes (gilt lettered cherry red cloth) with imit. bone clasps. Large folio. - - Fine set.Scare complete set of the facsimile edition. Reprint of the original edition: Paris, F. Didot Frères, 1834-1839. Commemorative edition of the 4th centenary of the city of São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro, printed in limited edition of 1000 numbered copies (nr. 900). - - The French painter Jean-Baptiste Debret (1768-1848) had directed the studio of the great David in Paris before going into exile in Brazil at the fall of Napoleon, within the framework of the French Mission, a group of artists invited to create an Academy of Fine Arts in Rio de Janeiro, capital of the new kingdom. During this long stay (1815-1831) and apart from his academic work, Debret produced several hundred drawings and watercolors on daily life in Brazil. On his return to France, he published this picturesque and historical Voyage to Brazil with Firmin Didot (1835-1839). Forgotten for a century, then translated into Portuguese in 1944, this exceptional work has become for Brazil a founding iconographic and literary source since it was contemporary with the birth of the Brazilian Nation.