Gomes (M. Teixeira)
Entry on Manuel Teixeira Gomes, Portuguese minister in London in 1921, who described Madeira in his book Cartas sem moral nenhuma and claimed to have discovered the triptych in São Pedro church.
He is Portugal’s current representative in England (1921). Some years ago he visited Madeira and travelled through part of the island, describing his excursions in the second edition of his book Cartas sem moral nenhuma, pp. 159–239. He speaks with great enthusiasm of the triptych in the sacristy of the church of São Pedro (St Peter), saying that ‘as types I know nothing superior in any painting, and the composition, the colouring and the drawing are certainly those of a most powerful artist’. The Viscount of Meireles, in articles published in the Heraldo da Madeira (‘Madeira Herald’), discussed Manuel Teixeira Gomes’s remarks, bringing out brilliantly the beauty of those paintings. Manuel Teixeira Gomes claims to have discovered this marvel, and indeed we know of no one before him who had referred to these unknown canvases.
In this article
Time
Years mentioned · 01Place
Places mentioned · 02
Abroad
- Church of St Peter
Funchal. Church whose sacristy holds the triptych praised by Teixeira Gomes.
The Igreja de São Pedro is a collegiate church in the parish of São Pedro, Funchal, where Padre Francisco de Castro was vicar and Manuel Soares founded a chapel. Its sacristy holds a triptych of classified panels, written about by the Visconde de Meireles and praised by Teixeira Gomes. It was also the seat of the confraternity supporting the Hospital de São Lázaro.
- England
United Kingdom. Country where he represented Portugal.
England appears in the Elucidário as the first main market for Madeira embroidery and the main importer of Madeiran wicker. It was also the source of most butter consumed in Funchal in the early nineteenth century. It was a chief refuge for liberal emigrants fleeing Miguelist persecution, and several Madeirans studied or served as diplomats there.
People
People mentioned · 02-
Portuguese representative in England (1921) who wrote about his Madeiran excursions and praised the São Pedro triptych.
- Viscount of Meirelesd. 1915
Wrote articles in the Heraldo da Madeira on Teixeira Gomes's remarks about the triptych.