FATE OF THE POLYPTYCH
Lisbon Cathedral
The “Vincentian thesis” and, in a sense, the “official thesis” associate, conflating them, the Polyptych with the Altarpiece of St Vincent that stood on the eponymous altar in the chancel of Lisbon Cathedral between 1462 and 1690. To this end, they draw upon documentary sources supposedly relating to both groups of paintings, when in reality these refer exclusively to the Cathedral Altarpiece (and, moreover, as Alfredo Leal demonstrated, the polyptych did not fit on the altar of St Vincent).
Thus, they maintain that the Polyptych formed part of the Altarpiece, from which it was removed (c. 1600) and later (1742) sent to the Palace of the Mitre in Marvila, before being subsequently transferred to the Monastery of St Vincent, where it was to be found at the end of the nineteenth century.
Besides failing to adduce irrefutable proof that the Polyptych had always formed part of the Altarpiece, it leaves unexplained the manner in which it contributes to the overall meaning of the Vincentian thesis, since no paintings or sculptures are known to depict St Vincent in a manner similar to the “Saint” of the Polyptych.
In short: the Polyptych cannot and must not be confused with the Altarpiece of St Vincent, notwithstanding that it can be documentarily proven that it was temporarily displayed beside the said Altarpiece, in the chancel of Lisbon Cathedral, from which it was removed as a consequence of the norms issued by the Council of Trent (1545–1563) regarding the nature and configuration of the images admitted in places of worship.
The most remote known accounts capable of attesting to its presence beside the altar of St Vincent were recorded in a short work by Artur da Motta Alves in 1936:
“O Príncipe D. Afonso seu filho, que caiu do cavalo, está retratado na capela-mor da Sé na dita capela, entrando por ela à mão esquerda do altar em cima, no alto, uma sepultura dourada onde diziam estar o corpo de S. Vicente e, em baixo, ao pé dela estavam dois painéis em que estava pintado S. Vicente em figura de moço de 17 anos em cada retábulo e painel, que estavam juntos um do outro, e a figura de S. Vicente estava virada uma para outra de maneira que mostrava a si cada parte do rosto em figura deste S. Vicente está retratado o Príncipe Dom Afonso – um rosto muito fermoso de moço, e ele, e outras muitas figuras de homens que nos ditos painéis estavam, que eram Senhores e fidalgos daquele tempo que se mandaram retratar com o príncipe Dom Afonso e tinham nas cabeças umas caraminholas muito altas de veludo, uma de vermelho, outras de verde e de cores que parece que eram os barretes daquele tempo, há muito que não vi isto, disseram-me há poucos dias que não estavam já aí estes painéis, dirão os cónegos onde estão também me disseram que estava este príncipe retratado em S. Bento, em figura de S. Sebastião no pé de um retábulo nunca o vi, os da Sé retratou o Mota que foi o que pintou El-Rei D. João pai deste príncipe”.
In addition to this, an opinion subscribed, on this occasion, by Pereira Pestana, constitutes another relevant testimony, alluding clearly to some of the panels of the Polyptych and likewise enabling the period during which it was displayed beside the Altarpiece of St Vincent to be delimited:
“E, porém, senhor entrando na capela mor da Sé de Lisboa olhe vossa alteza aquelas sepulturas dos Reis vossos Avós e nelas vera quanto melhor parecem os que não estão vestidos de arminhos pois todos e tudo ali vai parar nas [sic] toco a redenção dos cativos assim de Portugal como de Castela o que muito se deve olhar. […].
E porque vossa alteza mais me não culpe lhe torno a lembrar e pedir por mercê que este dia de São Vicente que ora vem vá ouvir missa à Sé por ver aqueles famosos reis armados tão formosos e gentis homens os quais todos estão no paraíso e tanto desairosos e descontentes estão os de arminhos que de ali parecerem mal se não deve de fazer nas festas deles nem as sumptuosas sepulturas nas pedras esculpidas bem lavradas em que se esmeram e louvam as mãos dos pedreiros mas as grandes e honradas crónicas devem de ser seus sepulcros se aqui falar algumas ignorâncias o que creio não serão e se forem doudices do que me eu não descontento vossa alteza de atrevimento a que peço por mercê que as perdoe como grande porque mais imprima na sua lembrança com este antigo e verdadeiro provérbio o que quer nenhuma cousa lhe é difícil”.
Pereira Pestana’s record is unequivocal: at the period to which he refers, four paintings appeared in the chancel of Lisbon Cathedral on the Gospel side, beside the tombs of King Afonso IV and Queen Brites: the panels we know today as the Friars and the Knights; and on the Epistle side, beside the altar of St Vincent, those of the Prince and the Archbishop. It may be inferred from his insistence on highlighting these panels that they were not only a novelty in the place but also, at the same time, worthy of admiration.
It should be recalled that the images, placed beside the tombs of King Afonso IV and his wife Queen Brites and mentioned by Pereira Pestana, cannot be confused with the sculptures that adorned these tombs because, according to the description by D. Rodrigo da Cunha (História Eclesiástica da Igreja de Lisboa, 1642), the tomb of King Afonso IV bore carved on its faces only scenes of the martyrdom of St Vincent.
In short: the Polyptych’s sojourn beside the Altarpiece of St Vincent was thus limited to some thirty-nine years (1531–1570). Thereafter, no document would refer to the Polyptych, which would only be observed again in 1882 upon its rediscovery in the Monastery of São Vicente de Fora.
Chancel of the Church of the Knights of the Tower and Sword – Marquis de Jácome Correia (1926)
Convent of the Lóios, or of St John the Evangelist, of Xabregas – Henrique Loureiro (1927)
Founder’s Chapel at Batalha – Almada Negreiros
The thesis that Almada Negreiros disseminated in the 1950s, as a result of the studies he had until then undertaken, maintained that the entire body of work attributed to Nuno Gonçalves came from a single altarpiece composed of 15 panels, designed for the Founder’s Chapel of the Monastery of Batalha.
Almada did not live to witness the collapse of his thesis, when the dendrochronological analyses carried out on the Ecce Homo, the central panel of the altarpiece as he conceived it, demonstrated that it had been painted about a century after the Polyptych.
Royal Chapel of St Michael of the Palace of the Alcáçova of Lisbon (2 triptychs) – Clemente Baeta (2012)
Palácio dos Estaus? – Clemente Baeta (2022)