Tomás José da Anunciação, (26 October 1821 – 3 April 1879) was a Portuguese painter.

Life

He was born at

Ajuda Ajuda () is a ''freguesia'' (civil parish) and district of Lisbon, the capital of Portugal. Ajuda is located in western Lisbon, northeast of Belém and west of Alcântara. The population in 2011 was 15,617.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 ...

and learned his art in the academy of that city. Afterwards he travelled through Spain and France. Principally an animal painter, he was considered the best artist in that branch of art in the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, comprisin ...

; but he occasionally executed genre pictures. He was Director of the in Lisbon, where he died in 1879. The following are some of his most noteworthy works: Lisbon. Galeria Nacional. ''View of Amora'', ''Two Women at a Fountain'', ''View of the Penhade Franca'', ''Oxen treading out Corn at Ribatejo'', ''After pasture — View on the Tagus'', and ''The Shepherd's Rest'' (1852). In 1884, the ''Prémio Anunciação'' award was established in his honor. It was presented until 1983. While still a student at the Academy of Fine Arts, where he was accepted in 1837 and later quit for a brief period in protest over the academic teaching method, the artist acquired an interest in

landscape painting Landscape painting, also known as landscape art, is the depiction in painting of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, rivers, trees, and forests, especially where the main subject is a wide view—with its elements arranged into a cohe ...

. Anunciaço, together with a group of young students, rebelled and stood up to the teachers in a nonviolent revolution of techniques and practices, probably because he was the oldest among them. Painting 'from nature', recording

landscape A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or human-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes th ...

elements and discovering distinctive regional characteristics and local traditions was crucial, a notion influenced by Almeida Garrett's 1846 book Viagens na minha terra ravels in My Homeland He immediately earned the respect of his peers. While this was thought to inspire Romantic painting en plein air, documentary evidence shows that the studio remained the primary location for

painting Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

, leading to these works being referred to as "Landscapes behind closed doors".

Style

Did the

Romantics Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. The purpose of the movement was to advocate for the importance of subjec ...

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 ...

paint outside? Or did they, on the contrary, recreate idyllic vistas in the privacy of their own studios? To answer these problems, "The Crossing Borders Project", an interdisciplinary study that includes modern sources as well as art historical and scientific examination, began research on this period in

. The findings currently show that the

Romantic paintings Romantic may refer to: Genres and eras * The Romantic era, an artistic, literary, musical and intellectual movement of the 18th and 19th centuries ** Romantic music, of that era ** Romantic poetry, of that era ** Romanticism in science, of that e ...

studied in this study were unlikely to have been painted outside. The importance he placed on drawing as a preparatory study for painting – the detailed representation of reality on paper – was decisive in his work, and it was a fundamental element learned in his introductory classes in

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...

at the Arsenal's Sala do Risco and in draughtsman ship at the Natural History Museum. Beginning as a defiant Academy student, Anunciaço went on to advocate for the painting of

landscapes A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or human-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes the ...

, customs, and

animals Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the biological kingdom Animalia (). With few exceptions, animals consume organic material, breathe oxygen, have myocytes and are able to move, can reproduce sexually, and grow from a ...

, and was regarded as the leader of the new romantic generation, which included Francisco Metrass, Joo Cristino da Silva,

José Rodrigues José Rodrigues de Carvalho (16 July 1828 – 19 October 1887) was a Portuguese painter. '' O Pobre Rabequista'' (''The poor rabequista''), painted in 1855 and considered Rodriques' most famous work, was first shown in Paris at the Universal Ex ...

, and Victor Bastos, and was drawn to painting 'd'après nature', such as in the case of Na eira

n the Sea N, or n, is the fourteenth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages, and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''. History ...

His enthusiasm for painting

and customs persisted in

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 ...

, as well as in the works and lectures of Silva Porto, who succeeded Anunciaço as a teacher at the

Academy of Fine Arts The following is a list of notable art schools. Accredited non-profit art and design colleges * Adelaide Central School of Art * Alberta College of Art and Design * Art Academy of Cincinnati * Art Center College of Design * The Art Institute ...

after his death. The two most important parts of Anunciaço's artistic imagery are

animal art An animal painter is an artist who specialises in (or is known for their skill in) the portrayal of animals. The '' OED'' dates the first express use of the term "animal painter" to the mid-18th century: by English physician, naturalist and wri ...

and

, through which he established his "silent revolution". The environment is reduced to a

scenography Scenography is the practice of crafting stage environments or atmospheres. In the contemporary English usage, scenography can be defined as the combination of technological and material stagecrafts to represent, enact, and produce a sense of plac ...

backdrop that was captured "in nature" but created in the studio. Anunciaço grew in this area, particularly following his only brief time in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, which came near the end of a lauded career (1867). He encountered outstanding French animal artists like R. Bonheur and, in particular, Troyon there. His good effect can be seen in this artwork, in which the light takes on a positive meaning. The vista broadens as the small clearing to the right opens up, and the picture takes on a more "

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 ...

" feel. This is one of the first Portuguese representations of the Barbizon style, which would only be adopted by the following generation with better knowledge and a modern attitude.

Work

Tomás da Anunciaço's work has been auctioned several times, with realized prices ranging from $319 to $8,535

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish silver dollar, divided it int ...

depending on the size and medium of the piece. Coq et poules picorant ; Poules et canards s'abreuvant, sold at Kapandji Morhange in 2017, set the record for this artist at auction since 2013. In 1879, the artist passed away.

Past career

According to Joo Vaz (1859-1931), a student of Anunciaço, Academy students were not encouraged to paint outside. Indeed, according to Vaz, one tree in the Academy's courtyard served as a model for far too many landscape paintings as well as in archival records from the Fine Arts Academy of Lisbon, a shed was built in the academy's courtyard to house hired models such as cows, horses, lambs, and goats. Anunciaço and da Silva had their own studios at the Academy because they were teachers. Despite the fact that it was characterized as dimly lighted and lacking in heat, it was there that they spent the majority of their time. Plein-air painting, as Ann Hoeningswald points out, necessitated a high level of speed in order to capture the moment and the changing quality of light. As can be seen from the cross sections of Anunciaço's painting Vista da Penha de França and observations of the painting surface, it was created using a defined layering process in accordance with current painting manual recommendations. The final paint and glazes are applied after a layer of a consistent, neutral colour.

Death

In 1879, the artist passed away. He died of a apoplexy at the age of 60, single and childless, at his home in Rua dos Mouros, number 64, in

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 ...

. The funeral was held on the 5th in the Alto de So Joo Cemetery, where he was buried in the number 1416. The event made the front pages of most Portuguese newspapers at the time.

References

* *MNAC - Museu Arte Contemporanea: TOMÁS DA ANUNCIAÇÃO (1818 - 2018) BICENTENNIAL OF THE BIRTH OF THE ARTIST. MNAC. Retrieved 16 October 2021. *Rui M. Jesus. "‘Landscapes behind closed doors’: artist’s studio practices in nineteenth century Portugal". FCT. Archived from the original on 16 November 2019

* * *

External links

1821 births 1879 deaths Artists from Lisbon 19th-century Portuguese painters 19th-century Portuguese male artists Portuguese male painters {{Portugal-painter-stub