Diptych of the Altarpiece of Porto da Luz, Diogo de Contreiras

The altarpiece of the porto da luz chapel the appearance on the art market of the altarpiece of the porto da luz chapel is of the most particular importance. In fact, this altarpiece, which is still little known to the majority of the public interested in art and antiquities, combines several aspects that make it an unavoidable element in the history of portuguese art. We can point out three fundamental reasons to support this statement: first, the paintings we see in it are, most likely, the last works of the painter diogo de contreiras; second, in one of the paintings we see the person in charge of the work represented; thirdly, the paintings still remain in the altarpiece machine for which they were created, being one of the rare examples of altarpieces from their time that have survived to this day. The painter diogo de contreiras, until around twenty years ago known by the generic name of “mestre de são quintino”, was duly included in the panorama of national pictorial production by joaquim oliveira caetano, in his master's thesis presented to the universidade nova de lisboa and later in an article published in the magazine “oceanos”. In fact, this art historian not only revealed the real name of the artist, whose work until then was named after one of the churches where he had painted, but also carried out a critical approach to all the paintings in the corpus that were associated with the aforementioned painter. Thus, through aesthetic approximation and deep knowledge of his work, he definitively associated the painted tablets of porto da luz with contreiras, adding that due to the evolution and artistic development of this painter, these would be the last known paintings by this master. To substantiate this statement, he resorted to an attempt to identify the donor who appears painted on the board on the left side of the altarpiece kneeling, with hands folded in an attitude of prayer, next to the full-length figures of saint paul the apostle, saint marçal, saint anthony and saint vincent who, with their eyes down, appears to be looking at him. The porto da luz farm was donated, on november 24, 1597, to domingos da fonseca and his wife isabel perestrelo, by the canon of the cathedral of coimbra francisco dias. In the document where this donation is reiterated, it is added that the canon would already be “very old” and would die the day following the signing of the document. Joaquim caetano confirms “this is certainly the canon who died in 1597 leaving his quinta da luz and, if he was already “very old”, it was not unlikely that he was the one portrayed, as the altarpiece is from around 1555 and the character represented in canon's attire does not appear to be more than thirty years old, so he would have died around seventy years of age, very old for the average time, but at a possible age to be the one portrayed in the panel”. As the last known document of diogo contreiras' activity dates from 1560, when he was appointed to the important position of examiner of painters in lisbon, and there is no known work painted by him between 1555 and 1560, this is the last work of this painter, who is one of the most important representatives of portuguese painting in the assumption of “classicist models and costumes with an italianizing vocation”. These characteristics can be seen by observing the elegant figures with elongated cups and sophisticated poses, for example, the holy martyrs luzia, eulália, barbara and apolônia that we see in the painting on the right side of the altarpiece. But in this work of art, it's not just the paintings that make it special, we would say that it's actually the whole thing that makes it special. It is extraordinary that the paintings are still integrated into their original altarpiece which, despite its state of conservation and repainting, is one of the only ones dated to the mid-16th century that is still preserved in our country. Lisbon, june 6, 2011 anísio franco. Object Type: painting, reredos, religious work of art. Genre: religious art. Place of creation: Portugal. Collection: Private collection. Diogo de Contreiras - Retábulo de Porto de Luz