Art and The Portuguese Renaissance in Europe

Arte do Renascimento Português.

Regia Marinho
3 min readJun 12, 2022

--

“Oh, salty sea, how much of your salt Is tears from Portugal?” -Fernando Pessoa.

The Portuguese Renaissance was a period of cultural development in Portugal, during the 15th and 16th centuries. It is considered by many to be a part of the Renaissance, which is a broader movement that occurred throughout Europe.

At the end of the 15th century and the first half of the 16th century, fueled by expansion and financed by patrons such as the kings D. Manuel I and D. João III, Portuguese painting was in a golden age.

Casamento de Santa Úrsula com o Príncipe Conan.

Casamento de Santa Úrsula com o Príncipe Conan, parte do retábulo de Santa Auta, de Cristóvão de Figueiredo. © MNAA © DGPC/ADF.

Merchants, students, humanists, diplomats, scholars, and artists, from all over Europe, were drawn to Portugal during its Renaissance.

The maritime trade of the Age of Discovery were a decisive role in the evolution of the Portuguese Renaissance.

This is The Bom Pastor, de Frei Carlos.

Bom Pastor, de Frei Carlos.

Trade intensified contacts with important centers of the Italian Renaissance. And it made it possible for a new commercial bourgeoisie to prosper and have surplus funds to become a patron of the Portuguese Renaissance, as well as the other Renaissances of Europe.

Adoração dos Pastores, de Jorge Afonso.

Adoração dos Pastores, de Jorge Afonso. © MNAA © DGPC/ADF, Luísa Oliveira / José Paulo Ruas.

The arts in the Portuguese Renaissance did not follow the classicist aesthetic standards on which the Italians built their Renaissance.

The arts of the Portuguese Renaissance were unique among other Renaissance arts. They were mixing of Late Gothic style with the innovations of the fifteenth century and a Portuguese national twist all at once.

--

--

Regia Marinho

I write about ideas, technology, the future and inspire the world through art. Artist. Civil engineer. https://regiaart.com