The XVIII Century
The "Cycle of the Masters"
n the early XVIII century tile painters regained the status of artists and often signed their panels.
The precursor of this trend was the Spaniard Gabriel del Barco, who was active in Portugal during the last decade of the XVII century. He introduced a taste for more exuberant decorative surrounding tiles and a style of painting that was freed from the strict framework imposed by drawing.
These innovations opened up the market for other artists, thereby initiating a golden period of Portuguese tile-making - the "Cycle of the Masters" - in reaction to imports from Holland. The painters applied an original spontaneity to their works that was reflected in a very free and pictorial use of engravings and in the creativity of the compositions themselves, which were adapted to the architectural designs on which they were to appear.
António Pereira, Manuel dos Santos and the artist identified only by the monogram ?PMP" were the most important tile painters of the time, although we should also note the work of António de Oliveira Bernardes and his son Policarpo de Oliveira Bernardes.
Notable for his composition, António Bernardes was foremost among the Masters when it came to modelling figures and handling the spaces around them. Thanks to his great technical and artistic capacity, he was the principle creator of the most sophisticated figurative Portuguese tiles of the time.
Mythological Scene, Gabriel del Barco,
c. 1695, MNA inv. 900.
photograph: José Pessoa (DDF-IPM)
"Foot Baths", Rua das Amoreiras,
Lisbon, António de Oliveira Bernardes,
1st quarter of the XVIII century.
photograph: Nicolas Lemonnie
"The Conquest of Lisbon",
São Vicente de Fora Monastery, Lisbon,
Manuel dos Santos, c. 1710.
photograph: Nicolas Lemonnier
Quinta da Capela,
Sintra, António de Oliveira Bernardes,
1st quarter of the XVIII century.
photograph: Nicolas Lemonnier
Portraits of the Marquises of Minas,
Palace of the Marquises of Minas, Lisbon,
"PMP", 1st quarter of the XVIII century.
photograph: Nicolas Lemonnier
São Filipe Chapel,
Setúbal, Policarpo de Oliveira Bernardes, 1736.
foto: Nicolas Lemonnier
© Instituto Camões, 2000