An Indian lying down displaying his extreme skill in handling the bow and arrow. It occupies the center of the image, however, a little distant, stands another Indian in the same position and, farther back, a third archer, standing, also shoots his arrow in the wild and natural landscape, in which no sign of colonizers can be identified.
<p>If the image (nudity, use of indigenous weapons, wild landscape) could suggest that we are in front of a "wild Indian", the title of the painting of Caboclos or civilized Indians and the text to which it corresponds, Village of São Lourenço, leave no doubt about the classification given by Debret to the characters: these are caboclos - "civilized Indians", generic name that, in the province of Rio de Janeiro, was given to "every civilized and baptized Indian."
</p>
The archer was the object of Debret's gaze, a caboclo of São Lourenço, who lived in intense contact with colonial society, yet maintained his skill with the bow and arrow and placed himself in that manner to attract the admiration of foreign travelers. According to the description, it was common to find them among the civilized of the villages, Indian archers, perhaps disdainful, interested in exhibiting their dexterity to the strangers who passed by. If that was the goal, it seems to have been achieved, at least with Debret. The cited text evinces the admiration of the artist for the Indian's ability, evidence reinforced by the option to portray him, associating it in the text about the village of São Lourenço
<bdi><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Jean-Baptiste_Debret" class="extiw" title="w:en:Jean-Baptiste Debret"><span title="French painter (1768–1848)">Jean-Baptiste Debret</span></a>
</bdi>
circa 1834 <div style="display: none;">date QS:P571,+1834-00-00T00:00:00Z/9,P1480,Q5727902</div>
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