Chiasms of power: art, law and politics in the "Coronation of Dom Pedro II" by Manuel De Araújo Porto-Alegre

Abstract

This paper analyzes, from a legal perspective, the painting of the Coronation of Dom Pedro II by Manuel de Araújo Porto-Alegre, as a bidimensional image that brings together four different temporalities: a) the power centered in the past on the image of the dynastic glory of his father, Emperor Dom Pedro I; b) the power centered on the present of the hierarchical organization among the different political groups represented in the painting; c) the power based on the retrospective future of the image of the Constitution and the Prayer Book; and d) the power centered on hope for the future of the Court and the Government, which, surprisingly, is not directed at the person of the Emperor or the Constitution, but at ourselves. Based on the analysis of the relationship between glory and sovereign power (Agamben), we conclude that the painting builds an intelligent visual chiasm about the glory of power, but at the same time subverts that chiasm through the eyes of the characters, which do not acclaim the body of the emperor, neither the Constitution, nor the people, but other complex references of meaning.