RIO DE JANEIRO — Just seven months before the start of the Olympic Games here, Rio de Janeiro State has declared a public health emergency, plunging oil royalties have officials scrambling to pay pensions, and assailants enjoy such free rein that muggings in downtown Rio are a regular feature on television news programs.
To the surprise of many in Rio, the governor, Luiz Fernando de Souza, is laying part of the blame for these crises on, of all things, a painting.
Mr. de Souza, 60, felt so strongly about the issue that he recently had the painting, “The Death of Estácio de Sá,” completed by Antonio Parreiras in 1911, removed from his office in the opulent Guanabara Palace.