Textile Artwork Coroa Imperial By Madeleine Colaço, 118 × 148 Cm

The work is signed in embroidery at the bottom right by Madeleine Colaço, a leading figure in modern textile art.

This piece, titled Coroa Imperial (Imperial Crown), is emblematic of Madeleine Colaço’s unique approach to art: inspired by popular culture and colonial architecture, she uses embroidery as a tool for visual storytelling.

Misunderstood and poorly preserved by its previous owners, this artwork shows some gaps in the embroidery and a visible hole in the fabric. It deserves a conservative restoration treatment to preserve its integrity and its artistic and historical value.

Madeleine Colaço (1907–2001) Born in Tangier, Morocco, Madeleine Colaço was a Franco-Moroccan artist who became a naturalized Brazilian citizen. Her work left a profound mark on contemporary tapestry art. Trained in Morocco and France, she discovered a unique embroidery stitch she named the Brazilian stitch, officially registered at the International Tapestry Center in Lausanne. In 1940, she moved to Brazil with her husband, Portuguese writer Thomaz Ribeiro Colaço, fleeing Salazar’s dictatorship. She first exhibited in Rio de Janeiro in 1963, and her works would be shown in over 40 solo exhibitions around the world: Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, the United States, France, among others. Her studio, located near Maricá (Rio de Janeiro), became a hub for artistic creation and training.

This textile piece depicts the Coroa Imperial do Brasil, the imperial crown made of solid gold, adorned with diamonds and pearls, created in 1841 for the coronation of Dom Pedro II, the second and last emperor of Brazil. The crown became a symbol of the grandeur and refinement of the Brazilian Empire, which lasted from 1822 to 1889.The Empire of Brazil emerged after the country’s independence from Portugal, proclaimed by Dom Pedro I. His son, Dom Pedro II, reigned for nearly fifty years—a period marked by relative political stability, social reforms, and gradual modernization. The imperial crown, now housed in the Imperial Museum of Petrópolis, has become a major historical artifact, a witness to the monarchical era and Brazilian national identity; it is often featured in official heraldry and remains a powerful symbol of prestige in Brazil’s collective imagination.