View of St.Salvador, a City of South America

Location

Country: Brazil
City: Brasilia
Place: British Embassy

This coloured engraving of 1782, showing a view of Salvador, was made after a print
that was originally published in George Millar’s ambitiously titled work The New and Universal System of
Geography: Being a Complete History and Description of the Whole World. This work aimed to provide the reader with ‘a particular, full, accurate, circumstantial and entertaining Account’ of everything from the geographical features of countries to their histories, and from descriptions of flora and fauna to local customs.
The
print of Salvador appears in the relatively small section devoted to Brazil
near the end of the publication. As with the other locations presented in this
work, the author writes of a number of aspects of Brazil: its history and its
terrain, the local populations and occupations. Although the print and
publication are dated 1782, almost twenty years after Rio de Janeiro took the
place of Salvador as capital of the Portuguese colony of Brazil, Salvador is
still referred to as the country’s ‘principle city’ and discussion of Rio is
allotted only a small paragraph. Salvador was founded as capital of Brazil in
1549 by Tomé de Sousa, the first governor-general. It was a centre of both the
sugar and slave trades and continues to be known for its distinctive
Afro-Brazilian culture. Millar refers to it as ‘populous, magnificent, and the
most gay and opulent city in all Brazil’.

 

John Keyse Sherwin was born in Sussex, the son of Francis Sherwin, a labourer. He initially worked as a gardener on William Mitford’s estate near Petworth. In 1769, Mitford sent one of his drawings to the Society of Arts and the work won the silver medal. Sherwin later moved to London, where he studied painting under John Astley and engraving under Bartolozzi. In 1770 he entered the Royal Academy Schools. He set up his own studio in 1774, publishing his first engraving in 1775. During the next ten years he exhibited drawings of historical subjects. He also engraved works by Reynolds, Kauffman, Gainsborough and others. In 1785 he was made Historical Engraver to King George III. However, he died aged just 37 in an alehouse in Westminster.

Places

South America, Brazil

Subjects

canoe, rowing boat, topography, seascape/coastal scene, townscape/cityscape, tree, shore, sea, man, woman, flag, path, house, oar

Materials & Techniques

engraving, coloured engraving

Artist

John Keyse Sherwin (1751 - 1790)

Title

View of St.Salvador, a City of South America

Date

published 1782

Medium

Coloured engraving

Dimensions

height: 23.00 cm, width: 33.60 cm

Acquisition

Purchased from Grosvenor Prints, London, October 2004

Provenance

Grosvenor Prints, London

GAC number

17888