The literature of travelers of the 16th to the 19th century and its images of indigenous musical instruments

Abstract

This paper seeks to work with the various images of indigenous musical instruments found within Brazilian information literature from the 16th to the 19th century. They are read as a form of language and we seek for them a place within the history of art. Several were the travelers who left us images of colonial and imperial times in Brazil. The images used by travelers often had the function of confirming written texts from the information literature. These images were seeking a place of speech within the written texts and should also be included and thought within the artistic field. However, how can art history deal with these images? We try to analyze the possible discourses of meaning related to such images and to seek a place for them in the artistic tradition. Our research for this text was based on bibliographic and imagery sources and our analysis sought, qualitatively, to understand the place of such images and their speeches. The partial results show that the images of indigenous musical instruments of the 16th century refer to the exotic, the estrangement in relation to the objects of the Brazilian natives. In the 19th century, such images are more organized and show the creativity and inventiveness of Brazilian natives.