Cristóvão de Morais was a 16th-century
Portuguese court painter
A court painter was an artist who painted for the members of a royal or princely family, sometimes on a fixed salary and on an exclusive basis where the artist was not supposed to undertake other work. Painters were the most common, but the cour ...
for the kings
John III of Portugal
John III ( pt, João III ; 7 June 1502 – 11 June 1557), nicknamed The Pious ( Portuguese: ''o Piedoso''), was the King of Portugal and the Algarves from 1521 until his death in 1557. He was the son of King Manuel I and Maria of Aragon, the ...
and
Sebastian I of Portugal
Sebastian ( pt, Sebastião I ; 20 January 1554 – 4 August 1578) was King of Portugal from 11 June 1557 to 4 August 1578 and the penultimate Portuguese monarch of the House of Aviz.
He was the son of João Manuel, Prince of Portugal, and h ...
. He painted numerous portraits for the kings, queens, and princes of Portugal.
Life
When he was young, Morais studied in Antwerp. In 1554, he was appointed examiner of painters, an indicator of the degree of esteem in which he was taken by the court. In 1551, he decorated a bed for the queen's chamber D. Catherine, wife of D. John III, which was lost. In 1567 he painted the altarpiece of the church of the Convent of the Conception of Beja, also lost.
His best known works are the two portraits of King Sebastian, one located in Madrid and the other, very similar to the first, now located in the
National Museum of Ancient Art, Lisbon. The portrait of Madrid, full-body, is signed and dated "1565 Christoforus Morales faciebat", while Lisbon was probably performed in 1571 at the request of D. Catherine, grandmother of Sebastian. In these works the young king is represented with a cold and challenging, befitting his personality, and wears a splendid armor. According to Vítor Serrão, the portrait of the King "is one of the most transcendent landmarks of the
mannerist
Mannerism, which may also be known as Late Renaissance, is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Ita ...
movement".
Gallery
File:Joana, Princesa de Portugal - Cristóvão de Morais - 1551.jpg, Joanna of Austria; 1551
File:Dom sebastiao 1565.JPG, Sebastian; 1565
File:Sebastian, King of Portugal (c. 1565) - attributed to Cristóvão de Morais.png, Sebastian; 1565
File:Sebastião de Portugal, c. 1571-1574 - Cristóvão de Morais (Google Art Project).jpg, Sebastian; 1571
See also
*
Portuguese Renaissance
The Portuguese Renaissance refers to the cultural and artistic movement in Portugal during the 15th and 16th centuries. Though the movement coincided with the Spanish and Italian Renaissances, the Portuguese Renaissance was largely separate from ...
External links
WebMuseum entry
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morais, Cristovao de
Painters at the Portuguese royal court
Renaissance painters
Year of birth unknown
Year of death unknown
15th-century Portuguese painters
Portuguese male painters