Constança Paca (Rio de Janeiro, 1844-1920)
Constança Paca is often mentioned in the bibliography about João Barbosa Rodrigues, the famous director of the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden, orchidologist, pioneer in indigenous studies and
specialist in palm trees. However, little is said about her, although it is remembered that Rodrigues dedicated the orchid genus Constantia and the palm Bactris constanciae to Constança Paca and that she gave birth to 13 children. Many of them were born during expeditions to remote regions, such as the Amazon and places that are difficult to access, in which Constança took part. She was a botanical illustrator and contributed to Rodrigues' works. The illustrations in Sertum palmarum brasiliensium (1903), in which some palm trees are portrayed next to a person, giving the plant a dimension of scale, something rare in botanical art, which tends to isolate the detail, without recording the context. Given this unusual characteristic in the science of the time, I wonder if Constança wasn't responsible for these drawings. In this book, a pioneering work cataloging the palm species found in Brazil, Barbosa Rodrigues also pays tribute to his "faithful companion". It was in this book that I found the only photo of her, on which I based my portrait of her at the age of 76, when she died.
Image: Portrait of Constança Paca, aged 76, created with artificial intelligence, from an archive image of the young artist-scientist. 50×76 cm, 2024.
References:
Gesteira, Heloisa Meireles, and Anderson Pereira Antunes. "Barbosa Rodrigues in His Cabinet: Image, History, and Science." Rodriguésia 73 (January 13, 2023): e00212022. https://doi.org/10.1590/2175-7860202273097.
Lirio, Alba, and Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro, eds. Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden, 1808-2008. Rio de Janeiro: Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden, Ministry of the Environment, 2008.