Francisco de Holanda and the portrait in Portugal

Abstract

This article has as a starting point the textual production of Francisco de Holanda, Portuguese artist that lived between the second quarter and the end of the XVIth century. The objects of analysis are the writings that praises Portuguese artists in the field of portrait making, as Nuno Gonçalves and the author’s father, Antônio de Holanda, as written in the texts “Da pintura antiga” (1548) e “Do tirar pelo natural” (1549). Along with these affirmations, it was necessary to make a study about the relations between these writings and the production of portraits in Portugal during the Renaissance. It’s intended here to reflect about the relation between image and text inside the portraiture field in this cultural-historical context.