An overview of the Portuguese Baroque through a selection of paintings, silver, jewelry, ceramics, porcelain and azulejos.
[Red and gold / Treasures of the Portuguese Baroque] Entitled Red and gold – the colors of the coat of arms of the house of Braganza – this volume provides an overview of the Portuguese Baroque, through a selection of artworks that evoke the significant moments of a troubled period in the history of Portugal. An era marked – between 1580 and 1668 – by the fierce struggle for independence from the Spanish Crown, and by the drive for national unity that took form around the new royal family of the house of Braganza.
Political strife and civil ideals are reflected in Baroque painting, especially the works of Diego Pereira. In like manner, the religious attitudes of the time are reflected in the still lifes of Gomes Fugueira and the religious painting of Josefa de Ayala, steeped in the spirit of the Counter-Reformation.
The volume also includes silver, jewelry, ceramics, porcelain, azulejos, bearing witness to the vast horizon of Portuguese colonial conquest that had extended, since the previous century, from Brazil to Africa, India to China.