MUSEU DOS BISCAINHOS. Museu dos BiscaInhos. Guide

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2 CREDITS Contents title Museu dos Biscainhos. Guide editorial coordination Museu dos Biscainhos Teresa de Almeida d Eça Instituto dos Museus e da Conservação / Divisão de Documentação e Divulgação (Institute of Museums and Conservation / Documentation and Communication Unit) Clara Mineiro conception and texts Teresa de Almeida d Eça Collaboration Margarida Sotto-Mayor Moreira Translation Per Christopher Foster CRS Translations photography Instituto dos Museus e da Conservação / Divisão de Documentação Fotográfica (Institute of Museums and Conservation / Photographic Documentation Unit) Coordinated by Vitória Mesquita José Pessoa Photographer José Pessoa assisted by Carlos Pombo Arquivo de imagem do Museu dos Biscainhos (Museu dos Biscainhos Photographic Archive) Photographers Luis Ferreira Alves Miguel Louro João Paulo Sottomayor Jorge Barros graphic design Studio Andrew Howard pre-printing, printing and finishing Gráfica Maiadouro publisher Instituto dos Museus e da Conservação Palácio Nacional da Ajuda, Ala Sul, 4º Andar LISBON 1st Edition Lisbon, July 2007 paper Gardapat 150 gr Modigliani Insize 145 gr fonts Benton Sans Giza FFScala print run 1000 Exemplares isbn legal deposit /05 museu dos biscainhos Rua dos Biscainhos, BRAGA Tel: Fax: mbiscainhos@ipmuseus.pt Internet: acknowledgements The Museu dos Biscainhos would like to thank the following for their permission to reproduce the images contained in this Guide: Arquivo Distrital de Braga / Universidade do Minho Biblioteca Nacional da Ajuda / Instituto Português do Património Arquitectónico Biblioteca de Arte da Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian. Introduction 6 The Museum, History and Collectionss 10 Museum Tour Lobby and Staircase 18 Entrance Hall 24 Great Hall 28 Oratory 36 Dais Room 42 Music and Games Room 48 Office 54 Dining Room 58 Cloister 64 Private Chambers 68 Slave and Servants Quarters 72 Stables 76 Kitchen 80 Gardens 86 Notes 96 Bibliography 98

LEFT Casa dos Biscainhos. Ink and wash drawing on paper. From Mappa das Ruas de Braga (Map of the Streets of Braga). 1750. Arquivo Distrital de Braga.

4 LEFT Casa dos Biscainhos. Ink and wash drawing on paper. From Mappa das Ruas de Braga (Map of the Streets of Braga) Arquivo Distrital de Braga. FOLLOWING PAGE MAPPA/(D)A/CIDADE/DE/ BRAGA PRI/MAS. Circa André Ribeiro Soares da Silva (attrib.). IPPAR/Biblioteca da Ajuda. Introduction The Museu dos Biscainhos is housed in a distinguished property that consists of a building and its gardens constructed and enlarged during the 17th and 18th centuries making it a significant testimony to the Baroque period and improved during the first half of the 19th. It therefore allows us a continued and synthesizing insight into the society and culture of the era for the whole period in question. From the middle of the nineteen eighties, the museum opted to place the chief emphasis of its museological work on researching and disseminating information about daily life during the ancien régime, an era of remarkable importance for Portuguese history. This decision stemmed from a considered assessment of several factors: the relevant importance of the Baroque period for the Minho region and in particular for the city of Braga, the site of notable growth due to archiepiscopal power, in terms of a desired interrelationship between the museum and its surroundings; the preservation of the original structure of the palace and gardens and the characterisation of this heritage, which extends artistically from the Baroque to the neoclassical and Empire; consistency in the articulation of the above points with the museum s collections, namely, decorative arts, painting, sculpture and engravings dating from the centuries in question. The current contents of the museum are presented as an examination of the 17th to early 19th centuries as reflected in the inner world and domestic privacy of a seigneurial house. Within the scope of the museum s overall objective, the present guide provides a contextualized tour through the tastes, traditions, emotions, art, thought and life of Portuguese society during the period under analysis. Museu dos Biscainhos, Teresa de Almeida d Eça 6 7

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6 The Museum, History and Collections The Context from Roman Empire to archiepiscopal fiefdom The city of Braga, whose roots lie deep in time, has a history going back two thousand years and predates the founding of the nation. It grew out of settlements inhabited by the Bracari who, at the end of the 3rd century BC, were subjugated by the power of the Roman Empire. Bracara Augusta, the Roman city, was elevated to the status of capital of the Roman province of Galecia in the 3rd century AD. Since that distant time, Christianity has woven the spiritual fabric of the city, whose first bishop was consecrated in the year 400. There followed a string of invasions, by the Suevi, Visigoths and Arabs, the latter arriving at the beginning of the eighth century. In reaction to these successive attacks, efforts were made to revive Braga in the 11th century. In the following century, the Count and Countess Dom Henrique and Dona Teresa, in gratitude for the assistance provided during the struggle to found the nation, handed control of the city and its surroundings to the archbishops, who governed with absolute rule. Over the centuries, several notable figures have stood out for their role in influencing the shape of the city, particularly Archbishop Dom Diogo de Sousa, who, in the 16th century, imposed a new scale on the city that was simultaneously humanist and grandiose, instigating the beginning of a process of growth that has been continuous ever since. In national terms, the 18th century represented a period of substantial economic prosperity stemming from the gold, diamonds and agricultural goods brought from the Brazilian colony. In addition, the expansion of corn maize cultivation in Portugal afforded significant growth, especially in the northwest. In the mid-seventeen hundreds, Braga had a population of around 17,000, robust trade and significant industry, producing bells, sails, silk and damask, pieces of goldsmithery, tinsmithery and tanning. Cabinet-making, sculpture, carving and painting workshops proliferated. In the heart of the Minho, and Braga in particular, favourable conditions existed for the special development of art. Stimulated by the desire to serve God, the archbishops, wielders of great power, intensively fomented the different expressions that enlarged the city structure. The prelates favoured buildings of a religious nature, to which were added several seigneurial houses belonging to the northern nobility, giving the city a monumental character that the 17th and 18th centuries, the golden age of the Baroque, consolidated in richness and opulence. In 1750, the cathedral chapter, in order to organise its vast built heritage, which included a significant part of Braga, conducted a series of surveys that today constitute, in global terms, a rare resource for understanding and interpreting life in an 18th century European city: the Índice dos Prazos das Casas do Cabido (Index of the Leases of the Houses in the Chapter) and the Mappa das Ruas de Braga (Map of the Streets of Braga) the latter of incalculable value for the study of sociology, urbanism, architecture and the history of art 1 which documents the design of the facades of 4,064 houses existing at the time. Dating from around 1755 is another document of great interest, the MAPPA (D)A CIDADE DE BRAGA PRI- MAS (MAP OF THE CITY OF BRAGA PRIMAS), attributed to André Soares. This is a highly detailed record of the urban layout and respective place names that identifies thirty places of worship, among them churches, chapels, convents and seminaries, as well as public and private buildings

7 Some of the many artists who lived or worked in Braga include, among many others, Manuel Fernandes da Silva, André Soares, Carlos Amarante, Frei José de Santo António Vilaça, Marceliano de Araújo, Manuel Furtado de Mendonça and Agostinho Marques. The period in focus was conspicuous for an extraordinary sense of pomp, grandeur, luxury and ostentation that manifested itself in the Baroque feast, a sacred and profane event that attained elevated levels of realization. In Braga, there were processions followed by gala cortèges, bullfights, tournaments and jousting, games, fancy-dress balls, comedies, light shows, bell-ringing, fireworks, theatre, assemblies and orchestras. 2 In sum, the Museu dos Biscainhos fits into a significant historical and artistic context that emphasises the importance of the museum s current programme. House and Gardens Nobility and splendour The house is an authentic document of the life of man... It sums up an entire style of life and for that reason is an extremely important element for the study of a society, whatever the era. Carlos de Azevedo The Casa dos Biscainhos is located outside the medieval walls of the city, in the street after which it is named 3 and that connects two important urban areas: campo da Vinha and campo das Hortas. Dr. Constantino Ribeiro do Lago was one of the notable figures of the age in which he lived ( ). He married Maria de Sousa e Silva on 21st September Inácio José Peixoto, an illustrious Braga native who lived in the 18th century, refers to him in his Memórias 5 in the following terms: He was a secular associate judge and special magistrate in this city and procurator-general of the diocese. This minister was a talented and worthy man as he was Court procurator in the year 1667 not only for the city but also for the province, unpaid and he managed to resolve various things... And it is through him that it can be said that this noble house first began to shine. 6. Francisco Pereira da Silva, the third son of the extremely powerful procurator and Dean of the cathedral chapter, was responsible for significantly enlarging the building 7, a project for which he invited Manuel Fernandes da Silva, one of the most skilled artisans working in Braga, where he produced a notable body of work, both as architect and master mason, from the end of the 17th century to the middle of the following. On 26th November 1712, the Dean signed an agreement 8 to enlarge his houses in Rua dos Biscainhos, and the actual L-shaped facade, a common feature of Baroque architecture from that century, was probably the work of the same artist. Of note is the fact that the master mason made a cardboard maquette for the job. The imposing Great Hall, dating from the first quarter of the 18th century and incorporating artistic styles characteristic of the Baroque period, was probably constructed at this time. Bearing in mind that the garden s central axis constitutes an extension of the main entrance to the new facade, we can assume that the garden area was also structured during this significant enhancement 9. It should be remembered that the commissioner, as Dean of the chapter, was the second most powerful person in Braga s religious hierarchy, and that this ambitious project would have been consistent with the representation of his power and influence. Still in the first half of the 18th century, the north wing of the palace, facing Rua dos Biscainhos, was extended upwards by a further floor that already registers some elements of a late Baroque style. The date of this work is verifiable by a drawing of the building noting the alteration in the aforementioned Mappa das Ruas de Braga (Map of the Streets of Braga) of If we look at the Mappa da Cidade de Braga Primas (Map of the City of Braga Primas) (circa 1755), we can see that the Biscainhos estate (building and gardens) emerges as one of Braga s most important seigneurial houses

8 The museum s origins It is assumed that for the occasion of the wedding of Maria Angelina de Eça Montenegro to Damião Pereira da Silva de Sousa de Meneses in 1791 from whose union would be born the 1st Count of Bertiandos the building would have undergone improvements, identifiable as the creation of the Dining Room, just as it appears to the public today, with paintings on the walls, neoclassical azulejo (tile) wainscots and ornamental ceilings featuring stucco and landscape paintings. From that period and entering the 19th century, some of the palace s other ceilings would have been decorated with artistic stucco closely associated with equally neoclassical paintings. The decorations to the interiors in the north-facing wing, with wall and ceiling paintings in the Empire style, featuring eagle, bee and laurel wreath motifs, among others, are thought to be from the beginning of the 19th century, This then is the heritage that history has provided us an opportunity to turn into a museum and to place at the service of one and all. On 24th February 1954, at a meeting of the Junta de Província do Minho (Minho Provincial Council), the then president, Dr. Felicíssimo do Vale Rego Campos, bearing in mind the healthy state of the body s finances and in the context of its respective duties, presented a proposal for the creation of a museum for which immediate approval was obtained. The project became reality nearly a decade later, on 25th March 1963, after the acquisition of the Palácio dos Biscainhos from the 3rd Viscount of Paço de Nespereira, Dr. Gaspar Lobo Machado do Amaral Cardoso de Meneses. Given the historical and artistic importance, size and central urban location of the estate, which had been classified as a listed building by Decree no of 5th April 1949, this was an extraordinary opportunity. The process advanced through the efforts in 1964 of the architect Alberto da Silva Bessa, then head of the Direcção Geral dos Edifícios e dos Monumentos Nacionais do Norte (Department of National Buildings and Monuments in the North), to draw up a plan to restore the building and adapt it to the role of a museum. Once the work had been completed, the canon Arlindo Ribeiro da Cunha, an integral member of the council s administration, strove to raise awareness of the museum within the local community in the aim of encouraging donations for the creation of the museum s future collection. For its inauguration, an Installation Committee was established made up of Mrs. Maria Emília Amaral Teixeira, Mrs. Maria Clementina Quaresma and the architect Mr. Roberto Leão. The Museu dos Biscainhos opened to the public on 11th February On 17th March 1987, Decree-Law no. 133 transferred responsibility for the technical and administrative running of the Museu dos Biscainhos from the Assembleia Distrital de Braga 10 to the then Instituto Português do Património Cultural and, in 1991, it was transferred again to the Instituto Português de Museus (Portuguese Institute of Museums), now Instituto dos Museus e da Conservação (Institute of Museums and Conservation), to which it is currently attached. Discovering the Collections The collections of the Museu dos Biscainhos have been structured around the donations and bequests of local benefactors, particularly those of Dr. José Maria da Costa Júnior and his wife, Mrs. Maria Celeste Ribeiro da Costa Júnior and Mrs. Maria Delfina Gomes da Silva e Matos de Sousa Cardoso. These have been progressively enlarged through systematic endowments and loans from private individuals and public bodies. The current collections fall within the category of decorative arts, reference being made, among others, to furniture, Portuguese, European and Chinese ceramics, Portuguese and European glassware, textiles, goldsmithery, and metalwork and weaponry. The collection also includes Portuguese and European painting, sculpture, drawings, engravings, means of transport and ethnography. The Archaeology section is currently on loan to the city s Museu Regional de Arqueologia D. Diogo de Sousa

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2018 World Leisure Study Tour to Sao Paulo, Brazil

2018 World Leisure Study Tour to Sao Paulo, Brazil From 24th to 26th August (Prior to the 15th World Leisure Congress) In partnership with: PRESENTATION 2018 WL Study Tour in the city of Sao Paulo (Brazil),