View of Olinda, Dutch Brazil

Frans Post dated this canvas 1662, in Haarlem, and by then Dutch Brazil survived only in pictures. The Portuguese had retaken it in 1654, and in August 1661 the Treaty of The Hague formally recognised Portuguese rule. The view is of Olinda, the old coastal town in Pernambuco, with its cathedral standing in ruins on the hill. The museum notes that the building was badly damaged when the Dutch conquered the region, and in 1631 they had set fire to the town when they moved their base to Recife. People stroll up to the ruin, and the land runs off towards the sea. The foreground is crowded with tropical plants, fruit and animals, among them an armadillo, an anteater, a sloth, a monkey and a lizard. The museum adds that the carved frame continues the animal theme, possibly to the painter's own design.