Henrique César de Araújo Pousão (

Vila Viçosa Vila Viçosa () is a town and a municipality in the Évora (district), District of Évora, Alentejo in Portugal. The population in 2011 was 8,319, in an area of 194.86 km². The municipal holiday is August 16. Parishes Administratively, th ...

, 1 January 1859 -

, 20 March 1884) was a Portuguese painter.

Life

Henrique Pousão was the son of a judge, from a wealthy family of

Alentejo Alentejo ( , , ) is a geographical, historical, and cultural region of south–central and southern Portugal. In Portuguese, its name means "beyond the Tagus" (). Alentejo includes the regions of Alto Alentejo Province, Alto Alentejo and Bai ...

. His early talent manifested at the age of ten, when he copied a portrait of

Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens ( ; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat. He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque tradition. Rubens' highly charged compositions reference erudite aspects of clas ...

. In 1872 he enrolled in the Fine Arts Academy of

Porto Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...

, graduating in 1879 with excellent grades and numerous prizes. After graduation, Pousão travelled to France with fellow student

José Júlio de Souza Pinto José Júlio de Souza Pinto (15 September 1856 – 14 April 1939) was a Portuguese painter in the naturalist style.Luciano, Migliaccio. José Júlio de Souza Pinto. In: Marques, Luiz (org.) ''Catálogo do Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaub ...

and studied at the

École des Beaux-arts ; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth centu ...

in Paris under

Adolphe Yvon Adolphe Yvon (30 January 1817 – 11 September 1893) was a French painter known for his paintings of the Napoleonic Wars. Yvon studied under Paul Delaroche, rose to fame during the Second Empire, then finished his career as a teacher. Career Ad ...

and

Alexandre Cabanel Alexandre Cabanel (; 28 September 1823 – 23 January 1889) was a French Painting, painter. He painted historical, classical and religious subjects in the Academic art, academic style. He was also well known as a portrait painter. He was Napoleon ...

. But he suffered from

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

, and under his doctor's advice left Paris for Italy, hoping that the warmer climate might relieve his condition. In 1882 he established a studio in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

on the ''Via dei Portoghesi'', moving later to

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

and

Capri Capri ( , ; ) is an island located in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the Sorrento Peninsula, on the south side of the Gulf of Naples in the Campania region of Italy. A popular resort destination since the time of the Roman Republic, its natural beauty ...

. Some of his major works were painted during his time in Italy. In 1884, still unwell, he returned to Portugal, where he died that year.

Work

Pousão belonged to the

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

generation, like António Silva Porto and

João Marques de Oliveira João Joaquim Marques da Silva Oliveira (23 August 1853 – 9 October 1927) was a Portuguese painter in the Naturalism (visual art), Naturalist style. Biography Oliveira was born in Porto. In 1864, when he was only eleven, he entered the . Five ...

, though his work is more related than theirs to

impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

. In Paris he appears to have been influenced by Manet, especially in his use of black in equal proportion to other colours. Some critics have seen in his landscape works, rendered in a looser, expressive style, a prelude to

modern art Modern art includes artistic work produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the styles and philosophies of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the tradit ...

and

abstraction Abstraction is a process where general rules and concepts are derived from the use and classifying of specific examples, literal (reality, real or Abstract and concrete, concrete) signifiers, first principles, or other methods. "An abstraction" ...

. This approach appears in the abstract plains of colour and textures of his 1882 paintings ''Miragem'' and ''Fachada de Porta Soterrada''. Some of his best works were painted on small wood panels no bigger than 100mm x 160mm in a poetic, luminous style. The best collection of his work is at the

National Museum Soares dos Reis Soares dos Reis National Museum () is a museum, currently housed in the Carrancas Palace situated in the civil parish of Cedofeita, Santo Ildefonso, Sé, Miragaia, São Nicolau e Vitória, in the northern Portuguese city of Porto. Founded in ...

, in

, which houses ' (Landscape, St Sauves) ; ' ; ''Senhora Vestida de Negro'' (Lady in Black) ; ''Autoretrato'' ; ''Un patio'' ; ''Escadas de um pardieiro'' (Stairs to a barn), Roma ; ''Ramada e muro com vasos'' (Trellis and vases on a low wall) and ''Rapariga deitada no tronco de uma árvore'' (Girl lying on a tree trunk), 1883. More paintings on Arts and Culture (Google).

Gallery

File:Henrique Pousao - Model painting.jpg, Model painting (1880) File:Pousao persianas1.jpg, Shutters (1883) File:Pousao cecilia1.jpg, Cecilia (1882) File:Pousao cansada-1.jpg, Tired (1882) File:Pousao napolitana-1.jpg, Neapolitan (1882) File:Pousao casas-brancas1.jpg, White Houses (1882) File:Pousao st.sauves-1.jpg, St.Sauves (1881) File:Pousao-rapaz napolitano-1a.jpg, Neapolitan Boy (1880s)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pousao, Henrique 1859 births 1884 deaths University of Porto alumni People from Vila Viçosa 19th-century Portuguese painters 19th-century Portuguese male artists Portuguese male painters 19th-century deaths from tuberculosis Tuberculosis deaths in Portugal