Brazil, Dutch conquest of Pernambuco – Wenceslaus Hollar + Johannes Janssonius, 1657

DUTCH LANDING AT OLINDA AND RECIFE 1630

“Olinda de Phernambuco.” Etching by Wenceslaus Hollar, published in Amsterdam by Johannes Janssonius in 1657, as part of Civitates orbis terrarum. Illustriorum Hispaniae urbium tabulae. Coloured by a later hand. Size: 32.2 × 47.2 cm.

This composite print is based on the four-sheet wall map published by Claes Jansz. Visscher in 1630 in response to the Dutch conquest of Pernambuco under General Hendrick Loncq and Colonel Diederik van Waerdenburch. Its three images combine the military expedition at Olinda and Povo (the harbour settlement that later became Recife) with sugar production, the economic prize at stake.

Above, a panorama depicts the coast near Povo and Olinda. The headquarters of General Loncq are indicated, while nearby smoke rises from sugar warehouses which, according to the legend, had been “burned by the Spaniards”. Burned and sunken ships likewise recall the defenders’ retreat. The image therefore brings together different phases of the event: the destruction of supplies and vessels by the retreating Iberian defenders, and the establishment of the Dutch headquarters at Povo.

Below, the operation unfolds as a tactical overview. At the far right, Dutch soldiers are put ashore; from there, a column advances along the beach towards Olinda. To the left, the fleet lies off Povo, whose buildings are shown in flames. The coastline, reefs, forts, beaches and settlements mark the terrain of the attack.

The separate inset, Saccharariae molae [sugar mill], shows the processing of sugar cane. The cane is cut and stripped of its leaves, carried to the press, crushed between rollers, and then boiled and clarified in large cauldrons. It is subsequently transferred to pots or moulds, left to harden, packed and transported.

On the verso, Pernambuco is praised in Latin as “the paradise of all Brazil”, followed by a victory account of the expedition of 1630. The text consistently refers to the defenders as “Spaniards”: in 1630, Portugal was still part of the Iberian Union under the Spanish Crown.

“In 1630 the Dutch brought this place, together with a large part of the captaincies, under their authority, under the command of General Hendrick Corneliszoon Loncq and Colonel Diederik van Waerdenburch. Having arrived with military equipment and landed 2,101 soldiers and 699 seamen, they first attacked the Spanish infantry and cavalry whom they encountered at the Rio Doce. By the violence of the attack they forced them to flee; all withdrew into the surrounding forests and hid there.

Having defeated these troops, they advanced in good order towards the city. On the way, they encountered a second Spanish detachment, which they likewise immediately scattered. When Van Waerdenburch saw that the enemy was gradually giving way, he divided his soldiers into three divisions. Having called upon God’s aid, he attacked the city in three places at once and took it with little resistance.

He then turned against the remaining, stronger positions, intending to attack them both by land and by sea. He first bombarded Fort St George, the Land Castle, with artillery. When the Spanish soldiers realised that they had been cornered and could expect no assistance, they capitulated.

While this surrender was taking place, the soldiers of the Sea Fort, the Forte de São Francisco da Barra, were summoned to surrender by a drummer. Alarmed, they requested three days’ respite, until they might learn from their governor, Albuquerque, what course they were to follow. But intimidated by threats, their commander, Manuel Pacheco de Aguiar, surrendered this very strong and almost impregnable position to the Dutch later that same day, at five in the afternoon.

The Dutch gave thanks to God for this unexpected victory and on 3 March took possession of the settlement of Povo, abandoned by all its inhabitants. Thus, in a short time, without much bloodshed or substantial loss on their own side, they wrested the strongest places and the most fertile country from the hands of the Spaniards. May the most gracious God grant them to possess these in peace for many centuries.”

The landing mentioned in the text is marked at the far right of the lower image.

When Johannes Janssonius included the print in his town atlas in 1657, this final wish had already been overtaken by events. The Dutch West India Company had lost Pernambuco and its remaining Brazilian possessions to Portugal in 1654. Portugal had moreover broken away from the Spanish Crown as early as 1640. The text on the verso was therefore not updated, but repeats an earlier Dutch victory account.

That is precisely what makes the print so interesting. The Dutch Republic had shortly before, in 1648, been recognised as a sovereign state. It may reasonably be assumed that Janssonius used this event to reinforce a national image of Dutch military and commercial achievement.

Price: Euro 1.250,-