Paper short abstract:

The objective of this paper is to explore the network of relations established by the Viscount and Viscountess of Cavalcanti in Europe that contribute to the recognition of Brazil as a major supplier regionof ethnographic and archaeological collections.

Paper long abstract:

Albuquerque Viscount, Diogo Velho, and his wife, Amelia Machado, played an important role in the dissemination of Brazilian culture during the second half of the nineteenth century. Amelia Machado was the daughter of an elite intellectual miner, related to sponsorship of the arts and Brazilian cultural heritage. Her stepfather collaborated with the work "Journey to Brazil (1865-1866)" by Louis Agassiz. Her maternal uncle was part of the Brazilian commission at the Paris Universal Exhibition in 1867. Diogo Velho held important political positions in Brazil. He was President of Province, Minister of Agriculture, Foreign Affairs and Justice, as well as the being commissioner of the Paris Universal Exhibition in 1889. It was during this period that, because of their political contributions to the State of Brazil, Emperor Pedro II granted them the title of Viscount Cavalcanti. With the proclamation of the Republic Brazil, in 1889, the couple maintained loyalty to the Emperor D. Pedro II and remained in Europe where they began a relationwith museums and antique houses through the sale of the collections that theyaccumulated during the period they were in Brazil. The objective of this paper is to explore the network of relations established in Europe by the Viscounts,which will act in the recognition of Brazil as a major region supplying ethnographic and archaeological collections. We will give special attention toexplore the context of the supply of the collection to the Volkekunde Museum in Leiden, Netherlands, one of the first and oldest European ethnographic museums.