Frans Post (1612–1680), The Netherlands
Landscape with Chapel, ca. 1663
Oil on canvas
Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros
Twenty-five years after he returned to the Netherlands from Brazil, Post painted this scene, one of many for European patrons. The artist depicts a group of Dutch and Brazilian people entering a church in the middle ground while African slaves walk in the foreground. He further displays attractive exotica—herons, lizards, an anteater, and two armadillos, as well as a prominently placed bromeliad blossom—which appealed greatly to his European audience.