Several remarkable buildings of 19th-century Brazilian architecture had in the center of the façade a flat-roofed, arcaded portico, slightly taller than the ground floor and topped with a terrace bordered by a parapet.

This portico proved capable of increasing the elegance and prominence of buildings, and also of giving such qualities to buildings that did not possess them.

Brought from Europe, it was used more in 19th-century Brazil than in European countries, where it was rarely adopted in the 18th and 19th centuries. This allowed it to be of greater importance in Brazilian architecture of the period than in its European counterpart (1).

These facts and the absence of specific studies about this type of portico were the motives that led us to write this paper, whose aims are: (a) to identify the models from which it derived; (b) to discuss the different shapes it took in some selected buildings; and (c) to analyze its relationship with the façade to which it was attached.

Despite its moderate dimensions, this flat-roofed, arcaded portico was very useful for the following reasons: (a) it defined with clarity and elegance the main entrance to the building,(b) it provided goog protection from the sun and the rain, not being very tall or very open, (c) its terrace extended outdoors the floor of the upper story, and (d) it added a projecting mass to the building façade that tended to make this more handsome and noble. These advantages caused it to be the type of projecting portico preferred by the designers of 19th-century Brazilian architecture.

In terms of utility, it was superior to the type of projecting portico that was the most common in European and American classicism: that which reproduced the front of a classical Greek or Roman temple, which was commonly very tal, and usually stood on a raised platform or even a story. This type of portico had limited use in Brazil.

Disadvantages of this latter type of portico were: (a) it was more expensive, because of its larger size; (b) it did not provide effective protection against the sun and the rain, by reason of its substantial height and the large voids of its elevations; and (c) it did not have a terrace on the roof.

It was primarily the symbolic factor that caused the broad spread of the temple-like portico in Europe and the United States: the fact that it had become, thanks to Palladio and his followers (2), one of the architectural components which best expressed the classical style.

Most of the designers of 19th-century Brazilian architecture tended to be austere and economical due to the type of training they had received. Therefore they saw little usefulness in the temple-like portico, and thought it was not worthwhile to pay a lot more for a component whose function was mainly symbolic – which led them to prefer the use of the flat-roofed portico discussed here, being less expensive and more useful. When those designers wanted to make a part of a building façade recall a classical temple, they simply attached to it the elements that formed the front of the temple: columns (or pilasters), entablature, pediment and statues.

An event that illustrates well such a preference is the remodeling of the Teatro da Paz in Belém do Pará (1904). The main front of this building, built in 1869-74, contained a temple-like portico standing on an arcaded base as tall as the ground floor. The remodeling altered this base, eliminated the portico roof, and moved the columns, entablature and pediment of the portico, placing them very close to the front wall of the main body of the theater (3) – thereby turning the temple-like portico into a lower flat-roofed portico.

As we did not find any specific studies about the type of portico we are dealing with, we have engaged in this work with our own analyses, comparisons and reflections upon buildings which we identified as particularly salient, and derived from the examination of various edifices illustrated in numerous publications on the history of architecture.

Early Brazilian examples and their European predecessors

The first flat-roofed, arcaded portico built in 19th-century Brazil was that of the Teatro São João in Salvador (1806-12), now demolished, designed by an unknown architect (4).

The elevations of the portico – as well as most of the façade of the building – followed the Portuguese Plain style and could be read as a series of pillars connected by arches and spandrels that supported a flat roof surrounded by metal railings. These elements were perceived as clearly distinct components: the pillars because of their horizontal grooves; the arches because of their round contours; and the spandrels because of their different color.

Teatro São João, Salvador, in an engraving by Bachelier, based on a photo by Victor Frond, 1859
Imagem divulgação/Image divulgation [RIBEYROLLES & FROND, Brazil pittoresco, Rio de Janeiro, 1859]

The portico featured two characteristics that revealed the disregard of the designer for the rules of classical architecture: the pillars did not support an entablature, and the extrados of the arches started well above, rather than at, the impost (at the sides of the pillars).

The portico looked like a small mass simply added to the center of the tall, flat façade of the theater. However, in terms of surface treatment there was a certain continuity between the portico and the rest of the façade, because both exhibited some elements with similar designs: round-headed openings, pilasters and pillars.

The portico improved substantially the main front of the building, without which it would have been, below the upper cornice, a large rectangular wall pierced by openings and divided into panels by linear projecting elements. The portico gave this wall a less obvious outline and made the façade three-dimensional – which added visual interest to it.

The idea of including this type of portico in the theater probably came directly or indirectly from the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Italy, where it was present.

Designed by Piermarini and erected between 1776 and 1778, this theater was one of the most famous in the world, being therefore during the following decades a source of inspiration for buildings of the same kind.

Teatro alla Scala, Milan, in an engraving by Domenico Aspar, 1790
Imagem divulgação/Image divulgation [Wikimedia Commons]

Very well designed, its portico blended with the rest of the façade in terms of both massing and surface treatment. It projected from a body that in turn projected from the main plane of the façade (the front section of the building gradually narrowed outwards). It exhibited a surface treatment (rusticated stone emphasizing the horizontal joints and hiding the extrados of the arches) and a type of opening (with vertical proportions and round head) which were similar to those used in the rest of the façade. These characteristics were borrowed from Italian buildings of the Cinquecento, such as La Zecca in Venice, by Sansovino.

This portico was virtually reproduced in the Teatro de São Carlos in Lisbon, planned by Costa e Silva and completed in 1793 (according to França (5), the whole façade of this building was inspired by the Scala). This Portuguese theater may have been the direct source of inspiration for the portico of the Salvador theater, as it was, for the Brazilians, a closer reference than the Milanese Scala.

Teatro de São Carlos, Lisbon, in an engraving by Alberto, 1878
Imagem divulgação/Image divulgation [BENEVIDES, Francisco da Fonseca. O Theatro Real de S. Carlos de Lisboa, Lisboa, 1883]

However, the Salvador portico was not modeled on Lisbon’s portico with regards to the treatment of the elevations.

As for this aspect, a source of inspiration may have been the portico that in the mid-18th century Bonavia added to the main front of the Palacio Real de Aranjuez (6), Spain, which may have suggested the use of pilasters and the display of the extrados of the arches. Note that in terms of the overall composition there were some similarities between the main front of the Salvador theater and the seven-bay central section of the palace’s façade.

Main front of the Palacio Real de Aranjuez, Spain
Foto autores/Photo authors

Possibly it was Bonavia’s portico that gave Piermarini the idea of including a portico of the same kind in the main elevation of the Scala, since the two architects were Italians and the Palacio Real de Aranjuez was an outstanding edifice, known throughout Europe.

An additional comment is that in the European buildings referred to above, the portico was topped by a balustrade inspired by the Italian Renaissance.

Another portico which may have been a model for that of the Salvador theater  regarding the treatment of the elevations is that of the Jesuit church of the Espírito Santo in Évora, Portugal, built in the third quarter of the 16th century – since its elevations exhibited three characteristics that also appeared in the Salvador portico: (a) pilasters with horizontal grooves, (b) the extrados of the arches, and (c) the fact that the color of the spandrels differed from that of the arches. Kubler saw in this Jesuit portico influences of the severe architecture of El Escorial (7).

Church of the Espírito Santo, Évora, Portugal
Foto autores/Photo authors

It is likely that this portico inspired the one designed by Bonavia: they had common features, like the presence of five arches in the front elevation, and additionally, Aranjuez and Évora were not separated by a great distance.

From what we have said above it is possible to conclude that the portico of the church of the Espírito Santo was the earliest predecessor of that of the Teatro São João in Salvador, built nearly 250 years later.

In our view, the Jesuit portico in turn was a reinterpretation, in the Plain style, of the porticos of some medieval Roman basilicas (such as that of San Lorenzo fuori le Mura), which, according to Goitia (8), derived from the Greek stoa, also used in classical Roman architecture.

After this brief genealogical discussion, let us examine the portico of the Teatro de São João in Rio de Janeiro, the second one of the type in question erected in 19th-century Brazil.

Teatro de São João, Rio de Janeiro, in an engraving by Theremin, 1835
Imagem divulgação [THEREMIN, Karl Wilhelm von. Saudades do Rio de Janeiro]

Completed in 1813, this edifice (now demolished) was designed by the Portuguese João Manuel da Silva. With regards to the elevations, the only significant difference between its portico and those of the Milanese and Portuguese theaters was the upper metal railing that these did not feature (a non-Renaissance element that was also used in the Teatro São João in Salvador. This suggests that the portico of Rio’s theater was inspired directly or indirectly by that of the Scala – or directly by that of the Teatro de São Carlos in Lisbon.

Silva gave the front part of the building an interesting fragmented massing composed of four elements: a taller central body with three floors; two symmetrical two-story blocks flanking the latter; and a portico attached to the front of the central body.

Thus the portico was an important part of the massing of the building, contributing to its fragmentation and complexity. Unlike the portico of the Salvador theater, it was not a mere appendage.

Two languages coexisted without conflict on the exterior of such a front part: that of the Italian Cinquecento, and the Plain style. The latter was used in the symmetrical blocks, especially in the following elements: (a) the prominent roof with projecting eaves, (b) the corner pillars, (c) the stringcourses between the stories, and (d) the square-headed windows topped with cornices. The first language, in turn, was used in the two central volumes: the portico, which followed a formula adopted by Sansovino in La Zecca, and the three-story block, whose façade – divided into three bays by giant pillars and pilasters that supported a triangular pediment – was inspired by some of Palladio’s buildings.

Despite this blend of languages, the façade of the theater was balanced and interesting, and in terms of quality was superior to that of the Salvador theater and that of the Teatro de São Carlos in Lisbon. Smith – who saw in the sober classicism of Rio’s façade the continuity of a Portuguese stylistic tradition – made the mistake of saying that Rio’s theater was almost a copy of its Lisbon counterpart; in reality, their main fronts had only one major similarity: the portico (9).

The portico of Rio’s theater considerably improved the front section of the edifice by increasing the fragmentation of its massing. It must be said, however, that even without the portico the façade of the theater would be handsome, because of its fragmented appearance and the elegance of its design.

These two Brazilian theaters were built in the last years of the country’s colonial period, and it was only some years after the abdication of its first emperor that Brazil saw the erection of other buildings with flat-roofed, arcaded porticos.

Outstanding porticos of the imperial period

Of the six porticos to be analyzed below, five were built during the reign of Pedro II (1840-89). The sixth may date from the same period, but may also have been erected in the late Regency period: the portico of the former Tavares da Silva house in Recife, planned by an unknown designer in the Imperial classicism style.

Former Tavares da Silva’s house, Recife
Foto/Photo A. Fernandes

From an account by Vauthier, Sousa concluded that this house already existed in the first half of the 1840s (10). If his deduction is correct, the house would have been built in that decade or in the last years of the previous one. What is certain is that it existed in the early 1850s, when it was depicted in an engraving by Bauch.

Its portico occupies the whole extent (rather than part) of the house façade, as is the case in the church of the Espírito Santo in Évora. It is not a small mass attached to a much larger one. It looks as if it was the ground floor itself that was extended forward leaving the story above in a setback position, and giving the house’s massing a stepped form – which is visually interesting for having two front faces lying on different planes: the frontmost one resting on the ground, and the other being above and set back.

The portico added beauty to the building by giving movement to its massing. Without it this would be a simple rectangular block and the house façade would be a mere rectangle, containing some openings and projecting elements.

The portico parapet resembles that of the Teatro de São João in Rio de Janeiro. Below it in the main elevation are two features that appeared in the Salvador theater (a cornice supporting the parapet, and arches with exposed extrados), but the arches were arranged in an unusual way, as the lateral ones were not placed at the center of their bays (an innovation or just a mistake?).

Such similarities make us believe that the idea of including a portico in the house was suggested by these two theaters.

Note that the portico in question is of great interest because it was the first to be used in Brazilian domestic architecture.

The next portico to be examined is that of the Teatro de Santa Isabel, a building designed by the French engineer Vauthier and erected in 1841-50.

Teatro de Santa Isabel, Recife, in an engraving by Bauch, 1852
Imagem/Image divulgação [BAUCH, Emil. Souvenir de Pernambuco, Recife, 1852]

Probably Vauthier included a flat-roofed, arcaded portico in the theater because it was present in the two main Brazilian theaters – Rio de Janeiro’s and Salvador’s.

The most interesting feature of the edifice was its massing, composed of four volumes (three of which being rectangular blocks). One was the portico, an essential part of the building, without which it would be incomplete.

The elevations of the portico are almost entirely in Lisbon stone, the only exception being the spandrels, faced with plaster.

Portico of the Teatro de Santa Isabel, Recife
Foto/Photo A. Fernandes

Following the example of the Aranjuez palace, Vauthier topped the portico with a Renaissance-inspired balustrade.

However, below this element he innovated by adopting a design which differed from those of all the porticos I have examined so far. Such a design was an adaptation of a model of arcade proposed by Vignola in his famous treatise – in which the arches have archivolts, rest on imposts, and are set between two columns on pedestals. In the high quality composition he created, Vauthier used engaged Tuscan columns, and – inspired by Palladio’s Basilica in Vicenza – placed three of them at each front corner of the portico, thereby strengthening visually the support of the entablature at that place (11).

Two characteristics gave grace and delicacy to Vauthier’s composition: the low height of the columns (a consequence of the use of pedestals to support them) and the near absence of decoration.

In order to make the portico fit in well with the front of the block to which it was attached Vauthier placed on it, above the portico, an architectural arrangement that roughly imitated the overall scheme of the portico façade.

When the Teatro de Santa Isabel was inaugurated, another outstanding edifice with a flat-roofed portico was under construction in Petrópolis: the Palácio Imperial, designed by Joaquim Guillobel and erected between 1845 and 1856.

Apparently its façade was inspired by the Aranjuez palace regarding the following aspects: the portico; the choice of the colors; the division of the façade into rectangular panels, each containing only one opening; and the existence of a prominent central section flanked by two lower ones (12). On the other hand, the use of a projecting central body – one of the best features of the façade – may have been suggested by an English building, Wanstead House (1715-20), planned by Colen Campbell and depicted in his book Vitruvius Britannicus.

Portico of the Palácio Imperial de Petrópolis
Foto autores/Photo authors

Guillobel skillfully handled the influences he absorbed, and based on them, created a refined façade (13), whose most outstanding characteristics were: the contrast between the prominent central block and the long and low lateral wings, and the use on the ground floor of a series of identical narrow bays, each with a round-headed window.

Seen as a volume, the portico fits in well with the massing of the building, because the central body to which it is attached projects from the lateral wings. However, regarding the surface treatment, it does not blend harmoniously with the rest of the façade, since it contrasts with this in terms of materials and colors.

The elevations of the portico are monochromatic and entirely in stone. They resemble the portico of the Aranjuez palace concerning composition and material, but differ from it regarding the number of arches and some details (e.g. it has a complete entablature and Ionic pilasters).

The portico gave dignity to the palace façade and made it more beautiful, thanks to its own beauty – resulting from the color of its stone and the precision with which this was carved.

In 1858 an important theater with a flat-roofed portico was inaugurated in another Brazilian town: Porto Alegre (14).

Named São Pedro, and designed by the German Normann, it had an exterior that may be considered an example of Brazil’s Imperial classicism, despite exhibiting two features of German influence which were not common in this: the bracketed cornice and the absence of corner pillars, or pilasters.

Foto/Photo Terragno, c. 1875 [FERREZ, Marc. A fotografia no Brasil: 1840-1900]

In including a portico in the building, Normann followed the example of the Teatro de Santa Isabel, inaugurated in 1850 as the most beautiful in Brazil.

Simple and of little interest, the façade to which the portico was attached was a rectangular wall enlivened with the bracketed cornice, a complete Tuscan entablature, small pediments over the windows, square-headed openings on the upper story, and round-headed openings on the ground floor.

The portico was similar to that of the Petrópolis palace regarding the design of the main elevation, but diverged from it in details – such as pilasters without pedestal, and front corners without pilasters – and in the color treatment, based on the contrast between a light and a dark color.

Although the portico is attached to a single-plane façade, it harmonizes with this, because this façade contains some elements similar to those appearing in the portico: an entablature, Renaissance-inspired balustrades, and arches.

The portico embellished the building façade, preventing it from being a simple rectangular wall animated only by the elements referred to above.

In the 1860s another house in Recife was given a flat-roofed portico: the one belonging to the Baron Rodrigues Mendes, which today houses a society of literature, the Academia Pernambucana de Letras. It resulted from the remodelling and enlargement of an existing structure – designed by an unknown architect and probably completed in 1870, a date that appears on its façade – which gave the house’s exterior its current appearance in the Imperial classicism style.

Former Rodrigues Mendes’s house, Recife
Foto/Photo A. Fernandes

The best architectural feature of the house is its beautiful fragmented massing, composed of four volumes (three of them with one floor, and one with two). One of these is the portico, an inseparable part of it. This component is not simply attached to the taller central volume: visually it penetrates this, as its upper floor projects slightly over it, thus increasing the cohesion between the two volumes. As a result, the two lateral blocks seem to be recessed in relation to the central one whereas in fact they and the ground floor of the latter are aligned. Note that because the upper floor projects above the portico, the main elevation of the house contains sections lying on three front planes.

Although the uncommon beauty of the house derives mainly from its massing, it also stems from the excellent design of its elevations and the successful use of the facing materials (15).

Excluding the massing, the feature that gives most beauty to the house’s exterior is the azulejo tile cladding that cover all wall surfaces between the projecting elements (such as the pilasters). They have given the elevations glossy surfaces, delicate colors, and also blue lines that emphasize the outlines of elements such as spandrels and opening surrounds. Besides, they contrast with the matte white plastered components, which creates a beautiful effect.

The façade openings have round heads – which gives uniformity to fenestration - and are divided into groups composed of three elements. Fenestration is enlivened by the fact that one of these groups is located above the others, and another group (the one in the portico) lies on a different plane.

The front of the upper floor is surmounted by a triangular pediment while that of the lateral volumes is topped by a solid parapet that hides only a very small part of the steep roof behind it.

The elevations of the portico are similar to those of the portico of the Petrópolis palace, despite its Tuscan order (in the palace the order is Ionic) and the refined treatment of the front corners, whose perpendicular pilasters – one on the front face and the other on the side face – are connected by a slightly recessed, curved surface (in the palace the corresponding pilasters are united by a common edge). Yet in terms of colours and materials the two porticos are very dissimilar, because that of the house is faced mostly with white-painted plaster, and contains some parts covered with azulejo tiles.

An important contribution of the portico to the elegance of the house was the series of vertical lines it introduced into the façade, which contrasts agreeably with the several horizontal lines that appear at the top of the lateral volumes.

The last portico to be examined here is that of an edifice erected in Belém do Pará between 1869 and 1884 to house departments of the provincial government: the Palacete Provincial. Known today as Palácio Antônio Lemos, it was designed by the Brazilian mathematician Gama e Abreu, born in Pará and trained in Portugal.

Former Palacete Provincial, Belém do Pará
Foto autor desconhecido/Photo by an unknown photographer, c.1907 [Wikimedia Commons]

In our view Abreu included a portico in the palace because this type of component was present in two palaces – those in Petropolis and Aranjuez – and often embellished and dignified the building that contained it.

He gave the edifice a long and very horizontal façade, surmounted by three triangular pediments – one at the center and one each at either end.

Probably the shape of the façade was inspired by the main elevation of Rio de Janeiro’s mint, the Casa da Moeda, a building designed by Teodoro de Oliveira and completed in 1868. If this was not the case, the source of inspiration may have been the façade of the Associação Comercial de Salvador, an edifice of the 1810s planned by the Portuguese Cosme Fidié. Note that these two façades had parts lying on two different front planes, since the former featured a projecting middle section, and the latter a central loggia.

Abreu gave the façade the language of Imperial classicism. He used two complete Doric entablatures to divide it, and pierced it with openings that were all round-headed. To enliven the façade he made use of several types of projecting elements: engaged colums on the ground floor, pilasters in the piano nobile, and horizontal cornices, triangular pediments and segmental pediments above the windows.

In terms of massing, the portico of the Palacete Provincial was an appendage placed in front of a single-plane façade, as was the case in the Porto Alegre theater. Nevertheless, thanks to the well-conceived design of its elevations it blended harmoniously with such a façade.

Abreu made the portico look strong and impressive by flanking its central arch with paired engaged columns, faced with plaster. Possibly this solution was suggested by the main front of the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia – a baroque edifice of the 1750s, designed by Rastrelli - where a similar solution (with slightly engaged columns, also faced with plaster) was used in the principal doorway. On the other hand, the placement of two engaged columns at each front corner (one at the front and the other at the side) followed a formula publicized by Scamozzi through his treatise of 1615. The engaged columns and the projections of the cornice above the columns gave the portico a somewhat baroque appearance. Note that the cornice was topped with a Renaissance-inspired balustrade.

Portico of the former Palacete Provincial, Belém do Pará
Foto/Photo C. Nóbrega

The portico fits in well with the building façade due primarily to three factors: (a) the use of identical entablatures in the portico and at the top and in the middle of the façade; (b) the fact that all the openings are round-headed; (c) the use, in the section of the façade over the portico, of pilasters echoing the engaged columns of the latter.

The portico embellished the palace façade by adding to it new planes, shadows and visually rich components (16).

Conclusion

All the eight Brazilian porticos analyzed above differed clearly from one another, although they had certain similarities. None of them was a copy of one of the others.

Seven of them differed greatly from the one that was their most famous predecessor: the portico of the Scala in Milan, which was imitated only in the Teatro de São João in Rio de Janeiro (but only partly).

The European portico that was the main source of inspiration for the Brazilian porticos examined above was that of the Aranjuez palace. Its balustrade and its arches (resting on imposts and having exposed extrados) were similar to those of five of the Brazilian porticos; its pilasters on pedestals were similar to those of three porticos, and their front corners (formed by two perpendicular pilasters) to those of two porticos.

The church of the Espírito Santo, in turn, may have suggested the use of three characteristics: (a) the dichromatic treatment distinguishing the arches from their spandrels, adopted in five Brazilian porticos, (b) pillars forming the front corners of the portico (used in three examples), and (c) pillars or pilasters without pedestal, present in two porticos.

On the other hand, a feature that existed in five Brazilian porticos, the complete entablature, did not appear in any of the European porticos referred to above. As it was first used in the Teatro de Santa Isabel, this may have inspired its use in the other four porticos.

Certain features were used in only one portico, such as the engaged columns on pedestals in the Recife theater, the paired engaged columns without pedestal in the Palacete Provincial, the rusticated elevations in Rio’s theater, and the tiled spandrels in the Rodrigues Mendes house.

Of the eight Brazilian porticos, three – dating from the period 1840-1860 – had a strong Renaissance appearance: that of the palace in Petrópolis and those of the theaters in Recife and Porto Alegre. The three porticos erected before the mid-1840s period were those which deviated the most from the Italian Renaissance, because of the metal railings surmounting them and of the solecisms exhibited by the Salvador theater and the Tavares da Silva house. And the two porticos built after 1860, although closer to the Renaissance than the three previous ones, had features which also deviated from the Renaissance: the glazed tiles (azulejos) that gave a Brazilian flavor to the portico of the Tavares da Silva house, and the paired engaged columns that added a baroque touch to the portico of the Palacete Provincial.

Of the eight porticos, the most harmonious with the rest of the building were those of the Teatro de Santa Isabel and the two Recife houses – the less harmonious being those of the Salvador theater and the Petrópolis palace. On the other hand, the most handsome porticos were the latter and those of the Palacete Provincial, the Rodrigues Mendes house and the Teatro de Santa Isabel – the first standing out for its dignity, the second for its strength, the third for its grace, and the last one for its delicacy.

Six of the Brazilian buildings analyzed here rank among the finest examples of 19th-century Brazilian architecture, and their flat-roofed, arcaded porticos helped them to attain such a level of importance.

notes

NA – We are very grateful to the Scottish architect Alasdair Macdonald, who kindly proofread this article.

1
It was so little used in European countries that it was not even mentioned in the comprehensive book by Robert Adam, which examines numerous elements of the language of classical architecture, including porticos. ADAM, Robert Classical Architecture. A Complete Handbook. Penguin Books, 1990.

2
Idem, ibidem, p. 212; GOITIA, Fernando Chueca. Protótipos na arquitectura greco-romana e a sua influência no mundo ocidental. Lisboa, Edições 70, 1996.

3
One of the reasons the theater was remodeled was that the front of its portico had seven columns (an odd number), which contravened the grammar of classical architecture. But such a problem was not caused by the architect of the building, who designed the portico with six front columns, according to a report dated 16th May 1869 by the governor of the province (p. A-9).

4
Curiously, this theater was not mentioned by Robert Smith. SMITH, Robert (1969). Arquitetura civil no período colonial. In: Arquitetura Civil I. São Paulo, FAU USP/MEC-Iphan, 1975.

5
FRANÇA, José-Augusto. A arte em Portugal no século XIX. Volume 1, Lisboa, Bertrand, 1990, p. 50.

6
An analysis of the alterations that Bonavia made in this palace appears: Palacio Real. In Aranjuez – guía de turismo y ocio <www.aranjuez.com/palacio-real.html>.

7
KUBLER, George; SILVA, Jorge Henrique Pais da; CORREIA, José Eduardo Horta. A arquitetura portuguesa chã. Lisboa, Vega, 1988, p. 61.

8
GOITIA, Fernando Chueca. Op. cit., p. 56.

9
SMITH, Robert. Op. cit., p. 189.

10
SOUSA, Alberto. O classicismo arquitetônico no Recife imperial. João Pessoa, Editora UFPB/Fundação João Fernandes da Cunha, 2000, p. 110.

11
According to Sousa, this portico was more handsome than those of the Scala in Milan, the Teatro de São Carlos in Lisbon, and the Teatro de São João in Rio de Janeiro. SOUSA, Alberto. Op. cit., p. 61.

12
Probably this was the reason the journalist Koseritz associated Petrópolis with Aranjuez. KOSERITZ, Carl Von. Imagens do Brasil. Belo Horizonte, Itatiaia, 1980, p. 70.

13
In 1864 the Portuguese journalist Vilhena Barbosa wrote that the palace combined architectural dignity with elegance and simplicity. Quoted in SOUSA, Alberto. A variante portuguesa do classicismo imperial brasileiro. João Pessoa, Editora UFPB, 2007, p. 40.

14
Some years later a town hall that almost reproduced the exterior of the theater was erected near this. WEIMER, Günther. A fase historicista da arquitetura do Rio Grande do Sul. In FABRIS, Annateresa. Ecletismo na arquitetura brasileira. São Paulo, Nobel/Edusp, 1987, p. 262. Não vamos tratar o pórtico dela por ser ele quase uma réplica do pórtico do teatro. I will not deal with its portico because this was nearly a copy of the theater portico.

15
Sousa saw in this dwelling the most perfect house that Imperial classicism gave to Brazil. SOUSA, Alberto. O classicismo arquitetônico no Recife imperial (op. cit.), p. 150.

16
In 1882 the edifice, not yet completed, greatly impressed the lawyer and politician. MORAES, Joaquim de Almeida Leite. Apontamentos de viagem. São Paulo, Companhia das Letras, 1995.