Aguarelas "Camoens Cave": original e cópia

A aguarela acima é do início do século 19 e foi vendida recentemente num leilão. Tem por base uma obra original que Thomas e William Daniell incluiram no livro "A Picturesque Voyage to India by the Way of China", publicado em Londres em 1810 (imagem abaixo). Os dois ingleses estiveram em Macau na década de 1790. Esta ilustração tem uma história muito curiosa que conto numa edição deste ano da Revista de Cultura.

Excerto do livro referido:

"Camoens Cave, Macao: It is delightful to discover in a remote corner of Asia an object like Camoens’ cave, consecrated to the memory of European genius. It is well known that the adventurous bard having too freely indulged his wit in satire, was disgraced by Francisco Barreto, the viceroy of Goa, and banished to Macao. Tradition still preserves some records of his residence. The stranger is still led to the top of the rock where he was accustomed to walk, and where the summer-house is now erected, commanding a view of the harbour of Macao: but it was in this romantic cave that he delighted to spend his leisure hours, forgetting past and present hardships in the luxurious exercise of his imagination. His exile was softened by the kindness he experienced; and he obtained a lucrative appointment, which enabled him in five years to realize a considerable fortune: but, like Spenser, he lost his all in shipwreck; and finally returned to Portugal as poor as he left it. He died at Lisbon in 1679, in his sixty-second year. (...)"