José Silos Franco (Sobreiro,

Mafra Mafra is a Czech media group that publishes printed and internet media, headquartered in Prague, Czech Republic. It is a subsidiary of Agrofert holding conglomerate owned by trust of Andrej Babiš, the former Prime Minister of the Czech Repu ...

, 19 March 1920 - Lisbon, 14 April 2009) was a Portuguese potter and sculptor. He came from a humble family of potters and started developing his artistic style since a very young age. He was influenced both by the popular art of pottery as by more high level clay artists, like Joaquim Machado de Castro. He cultivated also religious art, making many Nativity Scenes. The greatest accomplishment of José Franco was his "Aldeia Típica de José Franco" ("Typical Village of José Franco"), an open air museum that recreates a village from the Mafra region at the first decades of the 20th century, in Sobreiro. In his last years, he asked to the Rotary Club of Mafra to help him create a José Franco Foundation and a School for Arts and Works. His art was admired in Portugal and abroad, by people like actor

Raul Solnado Raul Augusto de Almeida Solnado (19 October 1929 - 8 August 2009) was a popular Portuguese actor and comedian. He was born in Lisbon's Madragoa neighborhood, and first appeared on stage there. In his long career, he developed many comic pieces ...

and the Brazilian writer

Jorge Amado Jorge Leal Amado de Faria (10 August 1912 – 6 August 2001) was a Brazilian writer of the modernist school. He remains the best known of modern Brazilian writers, with his work having been translated into some 49 languages and popularized in ...

, who had a collection of his works. One of his Nativity Scenes was offered to

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

, who blessed it.

References

1920 births 2009 deaths Portuguese potters Portuguese Roman Catholics 20th-century Portuguese sculptors Male sculptors 20th-century male artists 20th-century ceramists {{Portugal-sculptor-stub