12/7: The Age of Discovery & Lisbon's Superb Museum of Ancient Art

I returned about three weeks ago after being away on vacation with a friend in New Zealand and Australia for 3.5 weeks. In case you also want to follow that really fun trip, here's a link to the newest blog: www.bergersadventures7.blogspot.com 

After spending most of the day exploring one of Lisbon's interesting neighborhoods, Steven and I wanted to finish it off by touring the Museum of Ancient Art located a mile west of downtown. It was fun trip out there: taking a trolley first and then walking up a lot of steps which we knew to be the norm in the capital! The museum wasn't 'ancient' as in Greek and Roman antiquities but rather referred to Portugal's Age of Discovery when the Portuguese ruled the seas in the 15th and 16th centuries. 

The museum's background: By 1560, one could sail from Lisbon to China without ever losing sight of land explored by Portugal according to travel writer Rick Steves. The riches of the world poured into the small country: spices from India and Java; ivory, diamonds and slaves (sold to New England plantations) from Brazil; as well as knowledge of new customs, animals and plants gained from everywhere. 

It seemed incredulous that little Portugal was able to pull all this off. But they were motivated by the basest of motives: greed as they wanted to break the Arab and Venetian monopoly on spices such as pepper whose price was increased by 1,000 percent by the time it reached European dining tables. Other motives were the crusading Christian spirit, a sense of adventure and an affinity for science. 

Portugal also had the advantage of its Atlantic location which led to a strong Maritime tradition and one of Europe's first unified nation states which financed expeditions. The country was aided by a group of scientists who developed navigational devices based on their knowledge of shipbuilding, astronomy and maps.

We started on the museum's top floor which showcased Portuguese painting and sculpture. The Panels of St. Vincent was a series of paintings by the late 15th century master Nuno Goncalves in which a group of 60 real people - from royalty to sailors and beggars - surrounded Lisbon's patron saint. 

One of the paintings contained the only recognized portrait of Prince Henry the Navigator who was responsible for setting Portugal on the path to exploration. Prince Henry was shown as an older man dressed in black with a wide-brimmed hat. 

St. Mark the Evangelist was created in polychrome and gilded walnut from 1510-1525.

The Time of the Altarpieces: In the late 15th and early 16th centuries, the main Portuguese cathedrals and monasteries commissioned large altarpieces, frequently at the initiative of the king himself. They were either paintings or sculptures or both together but they were always set within carved woodwork that divided the different scenes, based on religious themes, creating a narrative. 

The model of these altarpieces used throughout the Iberian Peninsula was invariably the same: an arrangement of horizontal rows, with several paintings or sculptures in each one, divided by vertical posts or pillars. The structure was normally covered by a curtain which was opened during religious festivities and services. 

The impact of these altarpieces was enormous, because of their monumental size, the colorfulness of the paintings, the representation of the saints and their stories, and the brilliance of the carved and gilded woodwork. Various texts from the time referred to the astonishment that they aroused. 

Frei Carlos was a Flemish painter who took religious vows in 1517 when he joined the Order of the Hieronymite Monks. The monasteries of this Order, which received the support of the king himself, were afforded multiple artistic commissions in the first decades of the 16th century. Frei Carlos' workshop was particularly active in this context, both in the production of paintings for altarpieces and in the creation of small-sized devotional pieces. 

The early 16th century limestone Two-headed Fountain was one of the most unusual pieces I'd seen. It was composed of a twisted column decorated with the scales of a reptile that ended in two spouts in the form of a crowned head, one male and one female. The serpent and guardian of the waters entwined around the twisted column underlined the king's power over water which was an essential element for the welfare of the people. 

The Medieval Sculpture Gallery was as impressive as it was huge. 

Diogo Pires-O-Velho who was active from 1473-1514 was called a 'sculptor who served the king.' From left to right, these were The Holy Trinity, Mother and Child and St. James. 

Never had we seen a statue or any image I recall of a pregnant Mary as we did in the polychrome limestone The Virgin of Expectation from about 1340-1350. I read that this unusual theme was common in rural parts of Portugal where the Virgin's fertility was her most persuasive quality in recruiting local followers. 

On the middle floor were items that Portuguese explorers brought home from their far-flung travels in galleries called Art from the Portuguese Discoveries. One of the most enchanting was the Namban Folding Screen in which its paintings depicted the Portuguese from a 16th century Japanese perspective. 'Namban' meant the barbarians from the south which referred to the Portuguese. 

Screens were generally made in pairs and consisted of a variable number of hinged leaves, covered with paper and finished off within a thin lacquer frame. The accuracy of the representation, the attention given to the Portuguese merchants and the description of their valuable cargo made these two screens an unique historical and visual document about the relations between Portugal and Japan. 

The Portuguese were the first Europeans to make contact with the Japanese and gave the people guns, a new deep-frying technique now known as tempura as well as Catholicism. The city of Nagasaki was founded by Portuguese Jesuits!

The rest of the floor was full of exquisite furniture, large vases, ivory carvings, fine china and ceramics. I could imagine how astonishing these treasures must have seemed when Portugal's early explorers returned with them.

This teak, ebony and ivory cabinet came from 17th century Goa, India.

These Afro-Portuguese oliphants or musical horns made from elephant's tusks came from 16th century Sierra Leone, a country in West Africa on the Atlantic Ocean.

This remarkable 16th century ivory salt cellar was thought to have come from Benin, a French-speaking West Africa nation. The incredible piece was one of the first artistic and rare examples of the crossing of cultures brought about by the Portuguese Discoveries. Using European prototypes, this and other ivory pieces from Benin were distinguished by their careful depiction of the Portuguese with the artists detailing long hair, variously styled beards and slender, pointed noses. The clothes of the figures and the background of the composition, though, reproduced textile patterns that are still manufactured in the looms of present-day Nigeria. 

These striking tiles came from Damascus as a gift from Calouste Gulbenkian, an Armenian oil tycoon who founded what is regarded as the city's best museum, the Gulbenkian Museum, that we'd also see in a couple of days.

One of the richest pieces of Portuguese baroque gold and silverware was the gorgeous gold Bemposta Monstrance or Communion-host holder designed by the architect Mateus Vicente and made for Lisbon's Bemposta Palace.

Its carrying case was behind it in the same freestanding glass case.

There was case after case of magnificent gold and silver items.

The table centerpiece was designed by Thomas Germain, the most famous French silversmith of his time, and was modified and finished by his son. Dedicated to the theme of hunting, the piece reflected the popularization of the ritual of the 'French service' begun by Louis XIV where food was placed on the table in successive services, the number of which would vary according to the lavishness of the banquet.

One of the most striking and unusual for me was this 17th century silver and gilt crozier made from quart and colored glass. I had to look up and see what a crozier was as it was a new term for me. I learned it was a hooked staff carried by a bishop as a symbol of pastoral office.

Even more exquisite than the Bemposta Monstrance was this Belem Monstrance that had been commissioned by King Manuel I and made from East African gold brought back by Vasco da Gama.

The remarkable piece included the 12 Apostles gathered around the glass case for the Communion wafer as the glass top popped off. 

A painting of 17th century Lisbon before the devastating earthquake hit the city in 1755 included the ship-clogged Rio Tejo.

A Panoramic View of Lisbon in the 18th century:

The young Roman soldier, winged and standing on a cloud represented St. Michael the Archangel, was depicted raising his right arm to wield the sword (now disappeared) with which he defeated the rebellious angels who called into question the power of God. The sculpture, completed in the mid 18th century, came from the Royal College of St. Patrick in Lisbon where Irish clergy were trained as missionaries.

The Virgin and Child medallion was from Florence in the 15th to 16th century. The double border frame was comprised of a garland of fruits and flowers and a sequence of white cherubs against a blue background. It was set around a marble medallion with a representation of the Virgin and Child, accompanied by two young children. Such a design was characteristic of the first quarter of the 16th century. 

On the ground floor was the museum's collection of European paintings. The Dutch painter, Hieronymus van Aiken but more commonly known as Hieronymus Bosch, created the Triptych of the Temptations of St. Anthony Abbot was described as a "radical reflection on sin, the troubles of the world, penitence and salvation, populated with monsters and hybrid beings in landscapes and environments of enigmatic fantasy, reflects the theatrical imagination that accompanied the festivities carried out in the painter's home city."

On the reverse was The Betrayal of Christ and the Way to Calvary.

Albrecht Durer, the gifted and versatile German artist of the Renaissance, painted St. Jerome in 1521. St. Jerome, always depicted with a skull, was an important figure in Lisbon as he was the primary person behind the Monastery of Jeronimos in Belem, a district five miles west of downtown Lisbon that we'd see in a couple of days.

I was very drawn to the early Italian Renaissance paintings of the St. Anne and the Virgin and St. Barbara. 

We exited through the elaborate Baroque doorway that was one of the few remaining remnants of the palace that had been purchased by the brother of the powerful Marques de Pombal, a minor noble who was asked to rule the government by the lazy King Jose I in 1750. Pombal was responsible for expelling the Jesuits to keep them from monopolizing the education system, putting the Bishop of Coimbra in prison and severing relations with the Pope. 

If you ever are lucky enough to visit Lisbon, I urge you to stop at the Museum of Ancient Art. You'll be so happy you did.

On the way back to our apartment we passed yet another shop selling a zillion cans of sardine which must be a staple of the Portuguese diet. They looked so attractive and I would have been sorely tempted to buy a few except I remembered the ghastly smell from my youth when my father ate them.

One of our amusing experiences in a long time had been riding the funicular up and down Lisbon's hills earlier that day!

Next post: Visiting the magical Pena Palace and more in Sintra on a day trip from Lisbon.

Posted on April 14th, 2019, from sunny Littleton, Colorado.