Artistic heritage

Several foreign works dealing with Madeira, the books Cartas Sem Moral Nenhuma by Teixeira Gomes and Ilha da Madeira by the Marquis of Jácome Correia, and various Funchal periodicals contain a number of laudatory references to certain works of art in some of the island’s churches, chiefly paintings of superior artistic workmanship on purely religious subjects. These references, however, were generally made in passing descriptions and not always with a thorough knowledge of the subject. They made no impression on the general public and drew the attention only of a small number of the most cultivated people in our society. It was only in 1933 and the following years that Dr Manuel de Almeida Cayola Zagalo, the distinguished curator of the Museum of Ancient Art (Museu de Arte Antiga) in Lisbon, revealed to us the existence of a rich heritage, remarkable both for the number of its treasures and for their artistic excellence, worthy of a place in a well-equipped museum. He did so, with the most profound knowledge of the subject, the most devoted admiration and the most disinterested affection, in various reports, in a paper given at the National Tourism Congress, in interesting articles in the Arquivo Historico da Madeira and above all in his valuable work A Pintura dos Séculos XV e XVI da Ilha da Madeira. This last work is a painstaking and highly expert historical and descriptive study, owed to the zeal and competence of Cayola Zagalo, and it deserves in particular the gratitude of all Madeirans who value the good name of their native land.

‘... What must be recorded and made known’, Cayola Zagalo tells us, ‘is that the revelation of the Artistic Heritage of Madeira forms one of the noble parts of the National Heritage.... An equal abundance is found in no less beautiful pieces of goldsmiths’ work, sculpture, ceramics, tapestry and furniture... The preponderance of the schools of Bruges and Antwerp and of the Portuguese school is such that I can point to only one exception: the small painting of St Jerome, presumably of Dutch provenance, belonging to the bishop's palace of Funchal (Paço Episcopal do Funchal). Gérard David, Jean Provost, Jean Gossart and other masters yet to be identified, but of equal merit, are the authors of the island’s beautiful Flemish altarpieces; some of the panels whose artistic affiliation is as yet unknown are executed in the style of great painters such as Van der Weyden, Hans Memling, Quentin Metsys, etc. The explanation for so large a percentage of paintings from Flanders and Brabant, together with many other items of similar origin, most of them now lost, among them sculptures, furniture, tapestries and most of the tombstones faced with bronze plates, rests almost exclusively on sugar cultivation...’

There are ample reasons for creating a Museum of Painting in Funchal, and it may be presumed that it will soon be set up. Meanwhile, a small museum of sacred art has been created in one of the rooms of the Cathedral (Sé Catedral). A fuller account of it and of the projected museum is given later in this article.

It would be interesting to follow pari passu all the research carried out by Cayola Zagalo and his critical and descriptive study of so large a number of paintings of superior artistic quality scattered throughout the island, and to give a brief account of them here, if the space, time and competence at our disposal allowed us to do so. We shall therefore confine ourselves to a summary record of the paintings reproduced in photographs in the exquisite book A Pintura dos Seculos XV e XVI da Ilha da Madeira, cited above:

The Cathedral: ‘Altarpiece of the High Altar’, painted on wood in fifteen panels, Portuguese School, early 16th century; four paintings on the altar of St Anthony and several paintings on the altar of Bom Jesus.

In the church of the Retreat of the Good Jesus (Recolhimento do Bom Jesus): ‘Annunciation’, early 16th century, Netherlandish School.

New church of São Martinho (‘St Martin’): ‘Nossa Senhora da Incarnação’ (Our Lady of the Incarnation), ‘Nativity’ and ‘St Joachim’, a triptych, first third of the 16th century, Netherlandish School.

The church of Our Lady of Succour (Socorro): ‘St James’, ‘St Philip’ and the ‘donors’, a triptych, first half of the 16th century, Portuguese School; ‘Apostles’, showing six apostles, 1st third of the 16th century, Portuguese School.

Chapel of Our Lady of Consolation (Consolação), Levada de Santa Luzia (‘St Lucy’s channel’): ‘Monograph of Jesus and Angels’, early 16th century.

Bishop's palace: ‘St Jerome’, 1st half of the 16th century, Netherlandish School, and ‘St Anne and St Joachim’, first half of the 16th century, Netherlandish School.

The church of St John the Evangelist (São João Evangelista), the Colégio church: ‘Appearance of Christ to St Peter’, 2nd half of the 16th century, Portuguese School.

Chapel of St Elmo (Corpo Santo): ‘St Peter Gonzalez Telmo’, ‘St Anthony’, ‘Our Lady’, ‘St Peter’, ‘A King and a Female Saint’, ‘St Vincent’, ‘St Paul’, ‘St Lawrence’ and others besides, all from the mid-16th century, Portuguese School.

Parish church of Ribeira Brava (‘wild river’): ‘Descent from the Cross’, ‘Mary Magdalene’ and ‘Joseph of Arimathea’, a triptych from the early 16th century; ‘Adoration of the Magi’, 1st third of the 16th century; and ‘Nativity’, Netherlandish School.

Parish church of Ponta do Sol (‘point of the sun’): ‘Santa Maria del Popolo’, ‘St Barbara’ and ‘St Catherine of Alexandria’, a triptych from the 1st third of the 16th century.

Parish church of São Brás, Arco da Calheta (‘arc of Calheta’): ‘St Blaise and the Donors’, 2nd quarter of the 16th century, Portuguese School; ‘Presentation of the Child in the Temple’, 2nd quarter of the 16th century, and other paintings besides. Chapel of the Magi (Reis Magos), Estreito da Calheta: ‘Adoration of the Magi’ and ‘Veronica’.

Church of Espírito Santo (Holy Spirit), Calheta: ‘The Angel and the Virgin’, ‘St Anthony’ and ‘St Francis’, a triptych whose panels are described as ‘extremely valuable’, first third of the 16th century, Netherlandish School.

Chapel of the Mother of God (Madre de Deus), Caniço (‘reed’): an altarpiece showing ‘St James the Great’, ‘St John the Baptist’, ‘St Catherine of Alexandria’ and ‘St Anthony’, later than 1536, Portuguese School.

Igreja Paroquial of the town (vila) of Santa Cruz: six paintings adorning the chancel, showing the ‘Annunciation’, the ‘Nativity’, the ‘Adoration of the Magi’, ‘Calvary’, the ‘Descent from the Cross’ and the ‘Resurrection’, 1st half of the 16th century, Portuguese School.

Igreja Paroquial of the town of Machico: ‘Adoration of the Magi’, early 16th century, described as a splendid altarpiece that has drawn the greatest admiration from eminent art critics; and also ‘Christ and the Apostles’, 2nd quarter of the 16th century, Portuguese School.

The article ‘National Monuments’ (II-394) mentioned the buildings and works of art in this archipelago that are classified as ‘National Monuments’ (monumentos nacionais) and as ‘properties of public interest’, most of which are referred to in the list given above.

The revelation that this abundant and precious artistic heritage existed created a favourable climate for organising and installing a small but interesting and valuable museum of sacred art. This was due above all to the efforts of the governor José Nosolini and the unconditional support of the diocesan prelate. For this purpose two rooms of the chapter house of the Cathedral were used; they adjoin the church, which has long been classified as a National Monument. The museum was solemnly inaugurated on 6 October 1940.

We also wish to stress here that Cayola Zagalo’s work deals in some detail with the paintings listed above, not only in terms of their artistic value and the most striking features that distinguish them, but also of their history, their state of conservation and the pressing need to create a Museum of Painting. It is a valuable and highly interesting study of the rich and abundant heritage scattered across many places in our archipelago, as was briefly mentioned above.

On this important subject, and also on other interesting specimens of various artistic forms, the information gathered in the pages of the second volume of the esteemed work ‘Zargo’s Islands’ by Father Eduardo Clemente Nunes Pereira can be read with profit.