POST, Frans
(b. 1612, Haarlem, d. 1680, Haarlem)

View of Olinda, Brazil

1662
Oil on canvas, 108 x 173 cm
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Post continued painting Brazilian and West Indian scenes after his return to Haarlem in 1644. The muted colour schemes and often rather naive nature of his early landscapes executed in brazil now made way for more skilfully composed scenes with greater colour contrasts.

Olinda had been the capital of Pernambuco province in the days of Portugal rule. The Dutch captured it in 1630 and burned it to the ground. On the left are the remains of the cathedral.