THE SUGARLOAF PAINTED BY N.A.TAUNAY

NICOLAS-ANTOINE TAUNAY (1755-1830) 

Sugarloaf Mountain or Pao de Açucar (396 m - 1299ft)

Brazil

In  Le mont du Pain de Sucre vu du Couvent Saint-Antoine, 1816, oil on canvas 

The moutain
Sugarloaf Mountain (396 m - 1299ft), Pao de Açucar in Portuguese, Pain de Sucre in French,  is a isolated peak (Inselberg) situated in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, at the mouth of Guanabara Bay on a peninsula that sticks out into the Atlantic Ocean. Rising above the harbor, its name is said to refer to its resemblance to the traditional shape of concentrated refined loaf sugar. It is known worldwide for its cableway and panoramic views of the city. The name "Sugarloaf" was coined in the 16th century by the Portuguese during the heyday of sugar cane trade in Brazil. According to historian Vieira Fazenda, blocks of sugar were placed in conical molds made of clay to be transported on ships. The shape given by these molds was similar to the peak, hence the name.
Climbing routes:
1907 – The Brazilian engineer Augusto Ferreira Ramos had the idea of linking the hills through a path in the air.
1910 – The same engineer founded the Society of Sugar Loaf and the same year the works were started. The project was commissioned in Germany and built by Brazilian workers. All parts were taken by climbing mountains or lift by steel cables.
1912 – Opening of the tram. First lift of Brazil. The first cable cars were made of coated wood and were used for 60 years.
1972 – The current template trolley was put into operation. This increased the carrying capacity by almost ten times.
2009 – Inauguration of the next generation of cable cars that had already been purchased and are on display at the base of Red Beach.
Visitors can watch rock climbers on Sugarloaf and the other two mountains in the area: Morro da Babilônia (Babylon Mountain), and Morro da Urca (Urca's Mountain). Together, they form one of the largest urban climbing areas in the world, with more than 270 routes, between 1 and 10 pitches long.
Source :
- Sugarloaf Official Website

The painter 
Nicolas-Antoine Taunay (1755-1830) was a French painter. He joined the french Academy of Fine Arts in 1795, after having studied painting in 1768 with Nicolas Bernard Lépicié then with Nicolas-Guy Brenet and Francesco Casanova.  In 1805, he was chosen, along with other painters, to represent Napoleon's campaigns in Germany. At the fall of the Emperor, Taunay participated to an artistic mission organized by the Count of Barca,  very influent minister of the regent Don Joao, the future John VI of Portugal. Taunay embarked in 1816 with his family to Brazil as a member of the French artistic mission. He arrived in Rio de Janeiro in 1816, painted the picture above and  became a pensioner painter of the kingdom.  He joined the group of painters who founded the Brazilian Royal Academy of Fine Arts and in 1820 was appointed professor at the Academy and gets the chair of landscape painting. The following year, in disagreement with the Portuguese painter José Henrique da Silva who was appointed head of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, he returned to France.
His son Felix Taunay became professor of landscape painting, and later director of the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts. Adrien Taunay, his younger son, accompanied, as designer, shipments of Freycinet and Langsdorff.