Franco de Sousa (Francisco) 1Training and early career
Franco de Sousa (Francisco)
Biography of the Funchal-born sculptor Francisco Franco de Sousa Júnior (b. 1885), trained in Lisbon and Paris. It lists his main works in Madeira, including monuments to the discoverer of the island and to the victims of the 1916 torpedo attacks.
1Training and early career
Francisco Franco de Sousa Júnior was born in Funchal on 9 October 1885, the son of Francisco Franco de Sousa and Dona Maria Carolina de Sousa. He began his studies in drawing under his father at the Funchal Industrial School (Escola Industrial do Funchal) and then enrolled at the former Royal Academy of Fine Arts (Academia Real de Belas-Artes), now the School of Fine Arts (Escola de Belas Artes), where he completed a brilliant course in sculpture under the distinguished master Simões de Almeida.
While still at the School of Fine Arts, he entered the competitions for the Peninsular War monument and the Barahona monument, receiving an honourable mention in each. Around the same time he made the bust of Manuel II, which was acquired for the Artillery Museum in Lisbon, as well as another work commissioned by the Grémio Literário of Lisbon.
In 1910 he passed the practical competitive examination for a scholarship of the Valmor Bequest (Legado Valmor) in Paris; his test piece, a bas-relief on a classical theme, was remarkable. That same year he left for Paris, where he studied under the French sculptor A. Mercier at the School of Fine Arts, and he made a study tour of Spain, Belgium and Holland.
2Works in Funchal
He returned to his homeland in 1911, but three years later he went back to Paris because of the war. Among the many works he has produced in Funchal from 1911 to the present, we shall mention the following:
- the busts of the Viscount of Cacongo, Mr H. Vieira de Castro and Mr Rocha Machado
- the bronze monument to the discoverer of Madeira, placed on the esplanade of Terreiro da Luta (‘ground of the fight’)
- the monumental statue for the tomb of the Rocha Machado family
- the bronze monument for the Angústias (‘sorrows’) cemetery, dedicated to the victims of the torpedo attacks of 3 December 1916
- the maquette for the monument to Gonçalves Zarco, commissioned by the District General Council (Junta Geral)
- the maquette for the monument to Christopher Columbus
- the bust of the President of the Republic, Sidónio Pais
- and the bronze monument dedicated to the aviators, for the Jardim Municipal do Funchal (1921).
In this article
Time
Years mentioned · 05-
The sculptor Francisco Franco de Sousa Júnior was born in Funchal.
-
Francisco Franco won the Valmor Bequest scholarship and went to study in Paris.
-
The sculptor Francisco Franco de Sousa returned to Funchal.
-
The German submarine U-38 torpedoed three ships in Funchal harbour, including the French gunboat Surprise (33 crew and 7 Portuguese killed), and shelled the city, causing widespread panic. The victims were later commemorated by a monument made by Francisco Franco.
-
Francisco Franco made a bronze aviators' monument for the Funchal Municipal Garden.
Place
Places mentioned · 05
Abroad
- Angústias Cemetery
Funchal. Cemetery holding Franco's monument to the victims of the 1916 torpedo attacks.
Funchal municipal cemetery, which grew from a small Misericórdia burial ground of 1818 and was built in 1836–38. It has a carved basalt portico, a mortuary and a 1917 monument to the victims of the German bombardment. The 2nd Count of Carvalhal and Dean Andrade are among those buried there.
- Funchal
Birthplace of the sculptor and the city where most of his works stand.
The capital of the archipelago and seat of the principal captaincy, where settlement began; it was made a vila c.1451–52. Its bay, the widest in the archipelago, lies between Ponta do Garajau and Ponta da Cruz and offers sheltered anchorage, though its harbour had never been studied oceanographically. The Elucidário discusses it as a health resort with climate data and records the January 1906 disturbances, the Danish prince's visit in May 1846 and recent volcanic cones in the area.
- Jardim Municipal do Funchal
Funchal. Garden where Franco's aviators' monument was placed in 1921.
The Municipal Garden of Funchal is a public garden laid out on the site of the former Franciscan convent, destroying the foundations of a planned town hall; it is flanked by streets named after Capelo and Ivens. It is notable for its palms, Pandanus and Dammara. It holds the aviators' monument, whose first stone was laid in 1921, and the João Fernandes Vieira monument, moved there in 1933.
- Paris
France. City where Franco studied as a Valmor Bequest scholar.
The French capital, where Franco de Sousa settled and painted 'Ar livre', and where Juvenal Honório de Ornelas took his medical doctorate in 1834. Padre Luiz Gonçalves da Câmara studied there and met Loyola, and the Barão de Ornelas graduated, practised and died there.
- Terreiro da Luta
Funchal. Site of Franco's bronze monument to the discoverer of Madeira.
The Terreiro da Luta is a scenic site in Monte parish at 850 m, where legend places an apparition of the Virgin. From 1912 it was the terminus of the Monte railway, with a restaurant, and official lunches for distinguished visitors were held there. It has a bronze statue of Zarco and the monument to Nossa Senhora da Paz, inaugurated in 1927.
People
People mentioned · 12-
Madeiran sculptor born in Funchal in 1885 and the subject of this entry.
- Francisco Francod. 1916
Father of the sculptor, who gave him his first drawing lessons at the Escola Industrial do Funchal.
-
French sculptor under whom Franco studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris.
-
Navigator for whose monument Franco made a maquette.
-
Person of whom Franco made a bust.
- João Gonçalves Zarcod. 1467
Discoverer of Madeira; Franco made a maquette for a monument to him, commissioned by the Junta Geral.
-
Person of whom Franco made a bust; Franco also made a funerary statue for the Rocha Machado family tomb.
-
King of Portugal whose bust by Franco was acquired by the Lisbon Artillery Museum.
-
Mother of the sculptor Francisco Franco.
-
Nobleman of whom Franco made a bust.
+ 2 more
-
President of the Portuguese Republic whose bust Franco sculpted.
-
Sculptor who taught Franco sculpture in Lisbon.