The DEVOTIONAL SCULPTURE WORKSHOP IN THE BRAZILIAN BELLE ÉPOQUE

FROM TRADE CORPORATIONS TO INDUSTRIALIZATION

Abstract

In Brazil, during the great immigration that occurred between the end of the nineteenth century
and the first quarter of the twentieth century, the first workshops were established by
immigrants, who abandoned the organization system of the old trade guilds, and were
precursors of an industrialization of devotional sculptures where the style, production and
marketing methods were influenced by the large importation of industrialized devotional
sculptures in Saint-Sulpice style. The research involves bibliographic and primary
documentation analysis, allowing us to compare the production model of Brazilian workshops
with European ones, learn about the materials and plaster casting technology used at the time
and analyze the concepts of copying and reproduction for making devotional sculptures in the
Brazilian Belle Époque period.