Misplaced Pages

#260739

29-467: According to local tradition, the painter Vasco Fernandes, known as Grão Vasco (the Great Vasco) from the 17th century onwards, was born somewhere in the area around Viseu, but there is no document recording his place or date of birth, nor the names of his parents. The oldest chronological reference to his name, dating back to the financial year of 1501–1502, refers to him as already married and working as

58-547: A Portuguese painter is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Torre do Tombo National Archive The Torre do Tombo National Archive ( Portuguese : Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo ), commonly known simply as the Torre do Tombo ( [ˈtoʁɨ ðu ˈtõbu] ; literally "Tower of the Tome ") is the national archive of Portugal, located in Lisbon . Established in 1378, it

87-547: A classification was warranted, and provided their support. On 30 November 2011, a decision on the classification of this building was approved, and a Special Protection Zone was established. The Torre do Tombo safeguards twelve centuries of historical Portuguese guards, including documents that pre-date the Kingdom of Portugal, and others like the bull Manifestis Probatum , considered an important of UNESCO World Heritage. In addition, records include 36,000 documents recovered during

116-544: A painter in Viseu, which allows us to infer that he was born around 1475. Between the end of 1542 and the beginning of the next year, as is indirectly confirmed by some documents, he died in this same city, leaving behind a widow and two daughters. To help us reconstruct his family background, as well as his economic and artistic life, there are roughly fifty written documents, mostly kept at the Viseu District Archives and

145-613: A request to Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo , King Joseph I's prime-minister, for a new permanent home for the archives, which would eventually be granted to him in the form of the Convent of São Bento (which now houses the parliament of Portugal ). In 1982, a public tender was issued for the construction of the new Torre do Tombo archive building, and was won by the Ateliers Associados, represented by Arsénio Raposo Cordeiro, with M. Sheppard Cruz and A.N. de Almeida. The cornerstone

174-410: A safe-box. Erected in the centre of each facade is a vertical body that acts as buttress, in the form of a "T" that reproduces the archives initials for "Torre do Tombo". The principal and rear facades (oriented to the south and north respectively) are surmounted by eight gargoyles, sculpted by José Aurélio, representing fundamentals elements from human history or important in the particular mission of

203-445: A symbols of preservation and guardianship of a collective memory. The building occupies an area of 11,265 square metres (121,260 sq ft) distributed over seven floors, with three floors used by technical rooms, reading rooms, an auditorium and exposition halls. The upper floors are used to shelter the 140 kilometres (87 mi) shelves for documents, with austere cement walls, with small, square fenestrations, that characterizes

232-417: Is concerned, it can be said that it evolved from markedly Nordic influences – clearly evident in the altarpiece from Viseu Cathedral, where he worked with painters of Flemish origin – to Italianate influences. A decisive event in his artistic development was the arrival of Dom Miguel da Silva from Rome to take over as bishop of Viseu (1525-1540). This was the patron who, amongst other works, commissioned from him

261-501: Is no biographical document dating back to that period, the precise place where he learned the art of painting is not known. However, considering that there was no grand master who preceded him in Viseu and that he was on friendly terms with Jorge Afonso , the official painter of Dom Manuel I , it is quite likely that he learned his skills in Lisbon, just like the other painters who studied and plied their trade there. The basis for identifying

290-508: Is one of the oldest archival institutions in the world. The archive is one of the oldest institutions in Portugal, since its installation in one of the towers of the castle in Lisbon, occurring during the reign of Ferdinand I , and likely in 1378 (the date where the first testimony originated). The archive served as the King's and nobilities' reference, with documents supporting the administration of

319-417: Is possible to include another thirty-three panels in his creative universe, or in other words it is possible to identify Grão Vasco's participation and individual involvement in a total of forty-one paintings, even though some of them are the result of a work of collaboration, as is the case with the fourteen panels of the cathedral's former altarpiece. As far as the course of our master's aesthetic development

SECTION 10

#1733092862261

348-506: The Guarda das Pedras (Guard of Stones) and the Guarda dos Papiros (Guard of Papyruses or Guard of the Scrolls) . Last Supper (Fernandes) The Last Supper (Portuguese: Última Ceia ou Instituição da Sagrada Eucaristia ) is an altarpiece by Grão Vasco Fernandes, from 1535. The painting is an oil on canvas with overall dimensions of 151 x 201.5 centimeters. It is in the collection of

377-696: The Portuguese discoveries , was inscribed on UNESCO 's Memory of the World Register in 2007 in recognition of its historical value "for acquiring knowledge of the political, diplomatic, military, economic and religious history of numerous countries at the time of the Portuguese Discoveries." Another item relating to the Portuguese discoveries, the Carta de Pêro Vaz de Caminha (Letter from Pêro Vaz de Caminha),

406-486: The Torre do Tombo , in Lisbon . Through these documents, and through the presence of some paintings that have remained in places of worship until the present day, it is known that he worked for the bishops of Viseu and Lamego , namely for the two cathedrals, and for important convents and monasteries in the Douro and Beiras regions, such as Santa Maria de Salzedas, São Francisco de Orgens and Santa Cruz de Coimbra. As there

435-631: The National Archive, whose vast collection had been archived since 1757 in the Monastery of São Bento da Saúde (today the São Bento Palace . The new archive inherited the name of the former Moorish tower of the Castle of São Jorge where documents from the kingdom were warehoused since 1378. Before its inauguration on 21 December 1990, the archive that remained at the former-monastery was transferred to

464-450: The altarpiece with the theme of Pentecost , painted in 1535, which is kept at the sacristy of the Igreja de Santa Cruz de Coimbra – as well as the five panels remaining from the former altarpiece of the chancel of Lamego Cathedral, exhibited in the museum of that city, and the magnificent Saint Peter of this collection, painted around 1529 for Viseu Cathedral. Starting from this safe base, it

493-544: The court chancellor 's. Both the offices of Chief Chronicler and Court Chancellor were extinguished in the 19th century, while the job of Royal Keeper was eventually transformed to Director of the National Archives after the establishment of the Portuguese Republic . António Baião was the last Royal Keeper and also the first Director of the renewed institution. Following the events of the 1755 Lisbon earthquake ,

522-633: The creative process of the grand master of the Portuguese Renaissance , or the works that are definitely known to have been produced by Grão Vasco, are the two paintings that he signed – the Lamentation with Franciscan Saints , dating from roughly 1520, known as the Cook Triptych because it was sold to an English collector, which is currently to be found at the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, and

551-692: The era of the Inquisition, many documents inscribed by the International and State Defense Police and the accord that admitted Portugal into the European Economic Community. Among the other significant collections at the archive are items relating to the Portuguese explorations and discoveries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The Corpo Cronológico ( Chronological Body ), a collection of manuscripts on

580-405: The five great altarpieces for the cathedral, one of which was Saint Peter . Working with a highly personalised and easily characterisable artistic language, which can be defined by his use of a darker palette than the other Portuguese painters of his time, yet nonetheless one that had infinite gradations of tone, his sensitive use of light fundamentally to represent space in depth and to spatialise

609-426: The form, the extraordinary plasticity of the fabrics, the powerful characterisation of the faces and the dramatic involvement of the figures, the realism and minute descriptive detail of scenarios and ornaments, habitually making use of simple objects from family life, Grão Vasco is a central and deservedly major figure in the history of Portuguese painting. The economic importance of the dioceses of Viseu and Lamego,

SECTION 20

#1733092862261

638-555: The kingdom and overseas territories, and documenting the relationships between the State and foreign kingdoms. This institution was maintained by the Royal Keeper, an office sometimes paired with the post of Chief Chronicler of the Kingdom . The first known Royal Keeper was João Annes de Almada , called "the Great", appointed by king John I , Ferdinand's successor, who separated the office from

667-503: The national archive. These include gargoyles that figure as the Guarda do Abecedário ( Guard of the Alphabet ), the Guarda das Ondas Hertzianas ( Guard of Hertzian Waves ), O Velho ( The Old ) and o Novo ( The Young ), the a Morte ( The Death ) and O Bem ( The Good ) and O Mal ( The Evil ); the gargoyles in the rear represent A Tragédia ( The Tragedy ) and A Comédia ( The Comedy ), A Guerra (The War) and A Paz ( The Peace ),

696-556: The new building. On 22 December 2010, the DRCLVTejo proposed classifying the building as a municipal property of interest, which was supported by the director of the IGESPAR . On 17 May 2011, an announcement was published regarding the process to classify the building, and by August, a formal request to make the building a municipal property of interest was formalized by DRCLVTejo. The National Council for Culture decided on 10 October 2011, that

725-588: The social, political and cultural prestige of their bishops, members of the prime nobility and advisers to the king, the region's powerful religious centres, the success enjoyed by painting at the time, and, of course, the painter's artistic merit, all these factors enabled his workshop to be transformed into one of the country's most important centres of production. In fact, after 1520, besides Vasco Fernandes, there were various painters active in Viseu, related both professionally and by ties of kinship, who followed his artistic development closely. The most important of these

754-518: The then Keeper of the Royal Archives, Manuel da Maia , was responsible for saving the contents of the Torre do Tombo. At 75 years old, Maia personally led the safe-guarding team to São Jorge Castle , where the archives were located, and saved nearly 90,000 pieces, accumulated between 1161 and 1696. He ordered the construction of provisional barracks to store the contents of the archives and immediately made

783-498: Was also inscribed on the Memory of the World Register in 2005. This letter is the first document describing the land and people of what became Brazil. The imposing structure consists of two large units unified by a central body, forming an immense "H" plan. The two wings are supported by large bases that create a fortress-like structure, evocative of the large historic monuments that were constructed to last for an eternity, and to act as

812-406: Was laid in 1985, in an official ceremony. The sculptor José Aurélio was invited to sculpt the gargoyles in 1987, which completed between 1988 and 1990 (in conjunction with mason José Rodrigues and builder Júlio Mesão. The actual building was projected by architect Arsénio Cordeiro, in collaboration with architect António Barreiros Ferreira. It was inaugurated in 1990, and purposely built to receive

841-592: Was the Viseu-born Gaspar Vaz, who frequently worked as his collaborator. Grao Vasco's Última Ceia , and his Saint Peter are both in the Grão Vasco National Museum , Viseu. The former is one of the ten most important artistic works in Portugal according to the Europeana project. A line of Portuguese wines are labelled with his masterpiece under the name Grão Vasco. This article about

#260739