Presented by the    Universidade de Brasília - Instituto de Ciências Sociais (Departamento de Sociologia), the study Jean-Baptiste Debret, meu atêlie do Catumbi, Rio de Janeiro, 1816,(Jean-Baptiste Debret, my Catumbi studio, Rio de Janeiro, 1816), by Rafael Pereira Fernandes, is a sociological study of the visual arts, as well as a theoretical study of the sociological field, addressing questions such as: art, artists, field, society and patronage, showing how each of these factors varied according to the artist.

The focus of analysis was the art work produced by the French painters Nicolas Taunay and Jean Baptiste Debret, the Austrian painter Thomas Ender and the German Johann Rugendas. All of the works analyzed were produced in Brazil soon after the arrival of the Portuguese Royal Family at the beginning of the imperial period.