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- Title
The Iconography of Nature and Landscape in 15th and 16th centuries Portuguese paintings. Images and Meanings.
- Authors
AZAMBUJA, Sónia Talhé
- Abstract
This doctoral thesis entitled The Iconography of Nature and Landscape in 15th and 16th centuries Portuguese paintings. Images and Meanings, aims to interpret the intrinsic meanings of naturalism in Portuguese paintings of the 15th and 16th centuries - Late Gothic, Renaissance and Mannerism - on the basis of a significant series of illuminations, "fresco" paintings and altarpiece paintings, which lead to the symbolic interpretation of the flora, fauna and landscapes represented. The research combines three distinct scientific subjects: Art History (Iconography and Iconology), Natural History (Botany) and Landscape Architecture (Landscape). Landscape paintings are defined and classified into five types: landscape of symbols, landscape of fantasy, ideal landscape, landscape of facts and real landscape. A large number of the represented landscapes have a deliberately symbolic meaning. These types of landscapes provide for a new perspective on the landscape's role, as seen by the Portuguese painters of the 15th and 16th centuries, including António de Holanda, Álvaro Pires, António Fernandes, Jorge Afonso, Vasco Fernandes, Gregório Lopes, Cristóvão de Figueiredo, Garcia Fernandes, Francisco Henriques, Mestre da Lourinhã, Lourenço de Salzedo, Tomás Luís, Francisco de Campos, Fernão Gomes, among others. In the List of Works of Art, comprising 350 paintings, and 304 species of plants and animals (flora 168 and fauna 136) were identified. Using a relational database, relevant works of art were analysed, in the field of illumination: Leitura Nova, Forais Manuelinos, King Manuel's Book of Hours, Books of Hours, Countess of Bertiandos' Breviary; in the field of mural painting: Casas Pintadas ('Painted Houses', Évora), Counts of Basto's Palace (Évora), Ducal Palace of Vila Viçosa, São Bento de Cástris Monastery (Évora); and in the field of religious altarpiece painting: ancient altars in the chancel of the Viseu Cathedral, in the chancel of the Church of São Francisco (Évora), in the chancel of the Church of theConvent of Jesus (Setúbal), in the Évora Cathedral, the main altar of the Santíssima Trindade Monastery (Lisbon), among others. We believe that the identification of aesthetic paradigms of landscape and the symbolic interpretation of species of flora and fauna depicted in the paintings of the period under study can provide a new look at the relationship between Man and Nature. We also found out that the majority of species of flora and fauna depicted have a symbolic character, rather than being merely decorative. The growing importance of the landscape, plants and animals in Renaissance paintings marks a new era in terms of knowledge, and art can reflect this growing interest in the natural world.
- Subjects
SYMBOLISM in art; PORTUGUESE painting; ART history
- Publication
E-Journal of Portuguese History, 2019, Vol 17, Issue 2, p556
- ISSN
1645-6432
- Publication type
Abstract