- Lisbon, Portugal
- Art History, History of Art, Art and Science, Painting, Scientific Illustration, Scientific Expeditions, and 28 more18th Century Art, Portuguese Discoveries and Expansion, 17th-century European Art, 18th & 19th Centuries, Natural History Illustration, Natural History, Art and Science Relationships, Science and Art, Interface of Art and Science/technology, History of scientific illustration of animals, Carl Linnaeus, Buffon, Rare Books and Manuscripts, Ornithology, History of Science, Visual Culture, História De Arte Em Portugal, Azulejo, History of Natural History, History of scientific instruments, History of Botany, Aby Warburg, Alexandre Rodrigues Ferreira, Early Modern History, History Portuguese and Spanish, História da arte, História do Brasil, and Enlightenmentedit
- Portuguese biologist (BS) and a PhD student in History of Art at Faculty of Letters of the University of Lisbon, now ... morePortuguese biologist (BS) and a PhD student in History of Art at Faculty of Letters of the University of Lisbon, now writing the doctoral thesis entitled "Art in Natural History and Natural History in Art (1770-1810)”.
My research is centered on the binomial Art-Science and in the interrelationship of Art and Natural History (botany and zoology), by studying fauna, flora, natural habitats and climate elements represented in scientific illustrations produced by Portuguese, Spanish and British artists and naturalists during the long 18th century.edit
There were knowledge gaps about the presumed disappearance of 11 “animalist” paintings of Bernardino da Costa Lemos in the tragic fire that occurred in 1978 at the Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon. Excluding Júlio Jesus (1928)... more
There were knowledge gaps about the presumed disappearance of 11 “animalist” paintings of Bernardino da Costa Lemos in the tragic fire that occurred in 1978 at the Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon. Excluding Júlio Jesus (1928) article, with ekphrastic-historical-artistic descriptions of each of the paintings, fifty years before they disappeared, Lemos subsists in the majority of historiography as a modest painter who flourished in the late 18th century, and a disciple of Joaquim Manuel da Rocha. The location of totally unknown imagery records and documents of Lemos's “animalistic” work required an interdisciplinary approach to Art History (micro and crypto-history of art, iconology), Literature (ekphrasis) and Biology (ecology and taxonomy). Therefore, we study these dead works; we review the biography of a “very skilled” painter, confirm the ill-fated destiny of the group and discuss the typology of the artistic program produced for the patron friar José Mayne's Natural History cabinet.
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This paper shows that in the final decades of the eighteenth century, beyond the diplomatic and military conflicts between Portugal and Spain, there were important scientific connections, which have been little studied. Having as a... more
This paper shows that in the final decades of the eighteenth century, beyond the diplomatic and military conflicts between
Portugal and Spain, there were important scientific connections, which have been little studied. Having as a starting point the
almost unknown Specimen Florae Americae Meridionalis (1780), a four volumes botanical work produced in Real Museu da Ajuda
(Lisbon), we will explore the interest aroused in the circles of scholars and amateur botanists the arrival in Lisbon of over two hundred
drawings of plants from the Royal Botanical Expedition to the Viceroyalty of Peru (1777-1788). Considering the Portuguese, Spanish
and English personalities who were involved in the presence of these drawings in Portugal we will recover some of the practices that
made possible in this period the circulation of scientific knowledge and the advancement of botany. In this sense, this study aims to
make a novel contribution to the History of Botany in Portugal and Spain, and point paths for future research.
Portugal and Spain, there were important scientific connections, which have been little studied. Having as a starting point the
almost unknown Specimen Florae Americae Meridionalis (1780), a four volumes botanical work produced in Real Museu da Ajuda
(Lisbon), we will explore the interest aroused in the circles of scholars and amateur botanists the arrival in Lisbon of over two hundred
drawings of plants from the Royal Botanical Expedition to the Viceroyalty of Peru (1777-1788). Considering the Portuguese, Spanish
and English personalities who were involved in the presence of these drawings in Portugal we will recover some of the practices that
made possible in this period the circulation of scientific knowledge and the advancement of botany. In this sense, this study aims to
make a novel contribution to the History of Botany in Portugal and Spain, and point paths for future research.
Research Interests:
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This article Increases knowledge about professional and amateur botanists in Lisbon and the amazing story of piracy that, in 1780, conveyed to Lisbon over two hundred drawings of plants from the Royal Botanical Expedition to the... more
This article Increases knowledge about professional and amateur botanists in Lisbon and the amazing story of piracy that, in 1780, conveyed to Lisbon over two hundred drawings of plants from the Royal Botanical Expedition to the Viceroyalty of Peru (1777-1788), inside the El Buen Consejo ship.
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Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-‐1882) was one of the leading artists of the Pre-‐Raphaelite Brotherhood, an art and literary movement founded in 1848 by a group of British intellectuals who aimed to respond to the social and cultural... more
Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-‐1882) was one of the leading artists of the Pre-‐Raphaelite Brotherhood, an art and literary movement founded in 1848 by a group of British intellectuals who aimed to respond to the social and cultural changes that were taking place in the United Kingdom, due to the consequences of the Industrial Revolution. They believed that the Victorian society was losing its moral foundations and ought to pursue values closer to Nature, as Classical Antiquity and the Middle Ages societies had done. They also believed that poetry, literature and art could guide Victorians to this desideratum. Rossetti art was mainly centered in the medieval revivalism, with poetry and image closely linked with each other. He was influenced by medieval poets, such as Dante Alighieri, and frequently wrote sonnets that were complements to his paintings. Rossetti represented plants in many of his paintings due to their symbolic meaning, and in our presentation we will explore some of the finest examples of this, such as in: The Girlhood of
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The Calouste Gulbenkian Museum (Lisbon) houses one of the finest private art collections in Europe. The collection (circa 6.500 items) was assembled by Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian (1869-‐ 1955) and reveals an eclectic and refined taste.... more
The Calouste Gulbenkian Museum (Lisbon) houses one of the finest private art collections in Europe. The collection (circa 6.500 items) was assembled by Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian (1869-‐ 1955) and reveals an eclectic and refined taste. It includes masterpieces from antiquity up to the early twentieth century, The team studied the Gulbenkian collection under an ethnobiological perspective, i.e., looking for plant and animal representations, with symbolic or allegorical. We also identified biological materials that were used to make some of these works of art. This study was done under the sponsorship of the Gulbenkian program DESCOBRIR, which aims to add new perspectives to the foundation's collections as well as support its educational and cultural activities. Our research showed that plants and animals are often present in the Gulbenkian Museum art collection. We have made a study of the Egyptian, Greek and Islamic collections and identified many plants and animals used with a symbolic purpose. Besides, we also found animal and plant products used in the objects, such as ivory, wool, cotton, madder and kermes dyes, among others. In our presentation we will explain the methodology employed by the team, together with some examples of the presence of Nature in the Gulbenkian collection. The information obtained from our study will be used for scientific and cultural education purposes and will also contribute to reinforce the understanding of the old bounds linking art and nature.
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Art objects can be used as a resource for science communication in various domains of Natural History. For instance a rock or metal sculpture can be used to transmit knowledge about Geosciences and a wood sculpture to speak about... more
Art objects can be used as a resource for science communication in various domains of Natural History. For instance a rock or metal sculpture can be used to transmit knowledge about Geosciences and a wood sculpture to speak about botanical aspects; a paint with representations of plants and animals can be a start to communicate about Biology issues like biodiversity, extinctions or ecology; a landscape in a painting can be a way to illustrate aspects of shapes of earth's surface which can tell us about the geological processes that originate them. All these aspects can be discovered and understood if we are able to read it. The promotion of these interpretations at the museum’s art collections could be used as a method to science communication and Natural History education in a non-formal approach.