Gregório Lopes (''c.'' 1490 – 1550) was one of the most important

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

painters from

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

Biography

Gregório Lopes was educated in the workshop of Jorge Afonso, the court painter of King Manuel I. Later he himself became court painter for both Manuel I and for his successor, John III. In 1514, he married the daughter of Jorge Afonso, and in 1520 was knighted by Prince Jorge de Lencastre and entered the

Order of Santiago The Order of Santiago (; ) is a religious and military order founded in the 12th century. It owes its name to the patron saint of Spain, ''Santiago'' ( St. James the Greater). Its initial objective was to protect the pilgrims on the Way of S ...

. The work of Gregório Lopes mainly consists of painted religious

altarpiece An altarpiece is a painting or sculpture, including relief, of religious subject matter made for placing at the back of or behind the altar of a Christian church. Though most commonly used for a single work of art such as a painting or sculpture, ...

s for various churches and monasteries ( and ) in central Portugal. Between 1520 and 1525 he worked (together with ''Jorge Leal'') in painting altarpieces for the Saint Francis Convent of

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

(They also collaborated on '). Also in the 1520s he painted panels for the Church of Paraíso (Paradise), also in Lisbon. In his first fase, Gregório Lopes also worked in

Sesimbra Sesimbra () is a municipality of Portugal, in the Setúbal District, lying at the foothills of the ''Serra da Arrábida'', a mountain range between Setúbal and Sesimbra. Due to its particular position at the Península de Setúbal, Setúbal Bay, ...

Setúbal Setúbal ( , , ; ), officially the City of Setúbal (), is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The population of the entire municipality in 2014 was 118,166, occupying an area of . The city itself had 89,303 inhabitants in 2001. It lies withi ...

, and in the Monastery of Ferreirim, in this latter case together with Cristóvão de Figueiredo and Garcia Fernandes. The painter moved in the 1530s to the city of

Tomar Tomar (), also known in English as Thomar (the ancient name of Tomar), is a Portugal, Portuguese city and a municipality in the historical Ribatejo Portuguese Provinces of Portugal, province, and in Santarém District, Santarém district. The to ...

, where he painted various panels for the Round Church of the Convent of Christ (1536–1539) and the main altarpiece of the Church of Saint John the Baptist (1538–1539). His last known works include altarpieces for the Convent of Santos-o-Novo in Lisbon (1540) and the Valverde Convent, near

Évora Évora ( , ), officially the Very Noble and Ever Loyal City of Évora (), is a city and a municipalities of Portugal, municipality in Portugal. It has 53,591 inhabitants (2021), in an area of . It is the historic capital of the Alentejo reg ...

(1545). Many of Gregório Lopes' works can be seen in the National Museum of Ancient Art, in Lisbon. His son, Cristóvão Lopes (1516–1594), was also an artist and worked as a portrait painter for the Portuguese royal family.

References

Portuguese painting in the Age of Humanism (by Joaquim Oliveira Caetano).

Portuguese Renaissance painting (by Maria José Palla).

External links

Portuguese painters Portuguese male painters 1550 deaths Court painters 1490s births 16th-century Portuguese people Portuguese Renaissance painters Catholic painters {{Portugal-painter-stub