New Discoveries Among Old Treasures
Within the historic doors of a seventeenth century palace and surrounding buildings, visitors can take in collections showcasing paintings, sculpture, gold and silverware and textiles and ceramics, among other categories.
By Leslie Wu
from traditional Portuguese tilework to modern masterpieces
Lisbon offers the seasoned traveller an inviting offering of artistic discoveries, with institutions housing treasures from traditional Portuguese tilework to modern masterpieces. One of the city’s largest museums (with over 40,000 items in its collection), the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga (MNAA) has held a place of pride in Lisbon since its creation in 1884. Within the historic doors of a seventeenth century palace and surrounding buildings, visitors can take in collections showcasing paintings, sculpture, gold and silverware and textiles and ceramics, among other categories.
Created in 1884, the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga is the home to the most important Portuguese public collection of art.
The MNAA is unique in its mix. For example, it is not very common for museums to have collections of furniture like the MNAA’s fifteenth century pieces, as museum representative Adelaide Lopes tells me on a Zoom call one late afternoon. Although many visitors to the museum head straight for Hieronymus Bosch’s Temptations of St. Anthony or the MNAA’s prized Namban Folding Screens (which show the arrival of the Portuguese in Japan in 1543), the museum houses an extensive collection of Portuguese art. Lopes, who has worked in the museum’s education department for more than 20 years, shares some of the most significant, must-see pieces for first-time and return visitors to view during a self-guided visit or perhaps, a private tour with a museum curator.
Although the Adoration of the Magi is one of the most recent pieces in the collection, the story behind its purchase is now a case study for other museums in terms of engagement and acquisitions.
“Many people come to the museum to see their own Adoration. They feel that it’s their own piece and that it’s for them,” says Lopes, referring to the unique crowdsourcing method used to purchase this piece, created by painter Domingos António de Sequeira in the mid-19th century. The painting was bought by public subscription, divided so that individuals could buy a single pixel for one cent. Interestingly, those individual subscriptions made up two-thirds of the total acquisition price (the remainder came from a sponsor).
People from across the country, as well as schools and educational institutions, pooled their funds for a piece of publicly purchased art, and the resulting engagement with the museum attracted notice from around the globe.
“It’s been transformed into a case study for other museums,” says Lopes. “Most paintings tend to be purchased by sponsors or companies, but in this case, it was just ordinary people. Many people in Portugal feel like the painting is in their own house.”
Domingos António de Sequeira (1768 - 1837)
The Adoration of the Magi
1828
Oil on canvas
Provenance: purchased, Public Subscription, 2016
MNAA, inv. 2204 Pint
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The painting is also symbolic of Portuguese art on a more subtle level, representing a changeover in many ways. “The painting represents a new way of painting for Sequeira in terms of the composition and brushstrokes, the way he arranged the light and the number of figures in the piece,” says Lopes. The Adoration of the Magi also serves as a natural transition to the end of the museum’s offerings in terms of time, since post nineteenth century work is showcased in the National Museum of Contemporary Art (Museu Nacional de Arte Contemporânea; MNAC). The museums were split in 1911.
The Saint Vincent Panels, attributed to Portuguese painter Nuno Gonçalves (the royal painter of King Afonso V) are thought to have originally formed part of the altarpiece of St. Vincent in the chancel of the Lisbon cathedral. Not only are the six paintings among the museum’s most important pieces, says Lopes, but they are also among the earliest pieces in European painting to portray so many people (58 to be exact), such as knights, members of the nobility and members of the church, including the archbishop.
Nuno Gonçalves (active 1450-1491)
St. Vincent Panels
c. 1470
Oil (?) and tempera on oak
Provenance: Paço de São Vicente de Fora, Lisbon, 1913
MNAA, inv. 1361/1366 Pint
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influence and awareness of the world beyond the country’s borders
Visitors to the panels can also get a fascinating glimpse into the process of study, conservation and restoration — a rare event, as such pieces are normally removed for such work. “In this case, it was impossible for the museum to take the paintings out of the public view for restoration and study due to their importance,” says Lopes. Along with the usual consultants and experts from other museums, the general public can view the work through a glass walled area around the paintings and also view the team of restorers who work daily on the panels. According to Lopes, infrared reflections and x-rays are still showing new innovations and discoveries within the work. The process began in 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic began, and due to the delay, is scheduled to be completed in 2024.
Attributed to Gil Vicente (c. 1465-c. 1536?)
Belém Monstrance
1506
Gold and polychrome enamels
Provenance: Mosteiro dos Jerónimos, Lisbon, 1925
MNAA, inv. 740 Our
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Portuguese artwork from the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance is filled with the influence and awareness of the world beyond the country’s borders, due to the exploration of figures such as Vasco de Gama in the late 15th and early 16th century under King Manuel I. Despite some controversy around these expeditions when viewed through an international lens, today’s museums seek to provide education about the context of purchased pieces for future generations of art lovers. The Belém Monstrance, attributed to goldsmith Gil Vicente, was made from gold brought back by de Gama as tribute from the African country of Kilwa and was commissioned for the Jerónimos Monastery in Belém. “The way that the old and the new is linked in this piece is very interesting — the shift between the medieval world but also the Renaissance,” says Lopes. Representations of the Virgin Mary, the Holy Spirit and God can be seen throughout the monstrance, along with peacocks, animals and exotic fruit.
Today, the Belém Monstrance is one of the best and most important works from medieval Portuguese goldsmiths, as well as of the Manueline style (art made in the time of King Manuel), says Lopes.
Although these examples of Portuguese art provide a fascinating glimpse into the history of the country’s diverse artistic expression, organizers at the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga aren’t resting on their laurels.
Renovations to put the museum’s wide array of work in chronological order to improve flow, and restoring the chapel that houses some of the collections, are underway, providing art lovers from all generations a chance to see a reflection of Portugal’s past for years to come. ✈
Your jet is ready when you are.
Photos courtesy of Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga
(Laura Castro Caldas & Paulo Cintra; Paulo Alexandrino; Luís Piorro)