Page 137 - Art In The Age Of Exploration (Great Section on Chinese Art Ming Dynasty)

in the imaginatio (imagination). These images
then take rational forms and are submitted to the PORTUGAL AND THE SEA ROUTE SOUTH
sensus communis (common sense), which accepts The Age of Exploration began in Europe with
them as real. Fray Jose de Sigiienza was clearly Portugal's voyages down the African coast in divide up the entire non-Christian world with
Spain.
thinking of some such process when he discussed the 14305. In the century that followed, the
the function of the temptations of Saint Anthony Portuguese artistic monuments of this
as painted by Bosch: "In one place one observes Portuguese revolutionized navigation. They period—whether produced in Portugal or com-
this Saint, the prince of hermits, with his serene, sailed as far west as Brazil and as far east as missioned abroad, in the Low Countries or
devout, contemplative face, his soul calm and full the Indian Ocean, which Vasco da Gama Italy —reveal the deep religious faith that lay
of peace; elsewhere he is surrounded by the end- opened to European commerce in 1498. The behind its expansionist foreign policy, as well as
less fantasies and monsters that the archfiend small kingdom quickly developed into a major pride in the country's remarkable political and
creates in order to confuse, worry and disturb that world power; in 1494 Portugal presumed to economic success.
pious soul and his steadfast love. For this purpose
Bosch conjures up animals, wild chimeras, mon-
sters, conflagrations, images of death, screams,
threats, vipers, lions, dragons, and horrible birds 19 sacred character. In fact, following the Council of
of so many kinds that one must admire him for Nuno Gon^alves Trent, the paintings were taken out of use because
his ability to give shape to so many ideas. And all of what was judged to be the excessive number of
this he did in order to prove that a soul that is Portuguese, active c. 1450-1491 laymen represented (Markl 1988).
supported by the grace of God and elevated by His PANEL OF THE INFANTE (FROM THE In the panel displayed here, facing the figure of
hand to a like way of life cannot at all be dislodged ALTARPIECE OF THE VENERATION OF Saint Vincent, at the observer's right, is the bene-
or diverted from its goal even though, in the SAINT VINCENT) factor— Dom Afonso v, shown on his knees.
imagination and to the outer and inner eye, the While the painting is influenced by religious
devil depicts that which cannot excite laughter or 1471-1481 themes, the presence of the court and lay figures
vain delight or anger or other inordinate pas- oil on oak panel 3 shows the intention of communicating on a his-
5
sions." Moreover, Sigiienza appears to have con- 220 X 124 (86 /8 X 4# /4J 1895; Figueiredo 1910; torical level, as well as of creating a true collective
references:
Vasconcelos
sidered Bosch's message especially relevant to Saraiva 1925; Cortesdo 1925; Motta Alves 1936; portrait of the age. While the votive intent of the
him: "He made variations on this theme so many Jirmounsky 1940; Huyghe 1949; Lambert 1951; composition is clear, there is also a secondary
times and with such invention that it arouses Santos 1955; Gusmdo 1956; Belard da Fonseca meaning, the king's loving dedication to his first
admiration in me that he could find so much to 1957-1967; Gusmdo 1957; Botelho 1957; Vieira wife. Though she had died in 1455, he had her
deal with, and it makes me stop to consider my Santos 1959; Franga 1960; Sterling 1968; Cortesdo represented in the panel (Dom Afonso v's
own misery and weakness and how far I am from 1971; Markl and Pereira 1986; Freitas and motto—JAMAYS [never] — inscribed in the Pastrana
that perfection when I become upset and lose my Gongalves 1987; Osorio de Castro 1988; Markl 1988 tapestries [see cat. 20], stresses his intention
composure because of unimportant trifles, as Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, Lisbon never to forget her). This emphasis on family
when I lose my solitude, my silence, my shelter, harmony is directed to the young Prince Dom
and even my patience. And all the ingenuity of The polemic that has surrounded the celebrated Joao (later King Dom Joao n) — seen at the right as
the devil and hell could accomplish so little in altarpiece to which this panel belongs could be a delicate adolescent, his restrained seriousness
deceiving this saint that I feel the Lord is just as said to approach, in its intensity, the controversies characteristic of images of that period —
ready to help me as him, if I would only have the that have long enveloped Leonardo's Mona Lisa. It a message made all the more important by the
courage to go out and do battle/' (For the various has led to the publication of literally hundreds of tragic struggles that had taken place during the
translations from Spanish, see Snyder 1973, espe- books and articles, to violent fights, and even to regency, while Dom Afonso was a minor, which in
an
cially pages 28-29 d 34~37-) Viewers such as one suicide. When the panels were discovered in 1446 cost the life of his uncle and father-in-law,
Felipe de Guevara, Ambrosio de Morales, and 1882, at the monastery of S. Vicente de Fora in the Infante Dom Pedro.
Sigiienza would certainly have understood many Lisbon, they were being used as scaffolding by The altarpiece also celebrates the Discoveries,
of the details that Bosch included — for example, workmen. Their recovery brought about one of the project which galvanized the efforts of the
the burning houses in the background that refer the most complex debates in all of Portuguese art. entire nation, symbolized by the figure of the
to the ignis sacer or Saint Anthony's fire, an ill- Sixty portraits confront us in the altarpiece, Infante Dom Henrique (Prince Henry the Naviga-
ness (ergotism) thought to be propagated by the masks of the dramatis personae in a spectacle, tor), seen in sober garb behind the prince at the
devil and cured by the saint; both the desiccated calling upon us to interpret the action. The closed right. Dona Isabel, the daughter of Dom Joao i,
foot and the cup of wine held by the woman next composition recalls Italian narrative frescoes of appears at the left in her widow's garb as a Fran-
to the saint allude to this disease. They would also the Quattrocento. In the background are a series ciscan nun or as a member of the order of Santa
have recognized that the artist's general intention of faces, like the chorus in a tragedy. In the fore- Clara. She focuses attention on the historic role
was moral, since Bosch illustrated in his work the ground the principal figures are singled out, in an of the House of Avis in the pursuit of navigation
devil's role in disseminating various vices and exaggerated way, to emphasize their importance and conquest and on its international policies,
especially the Deadly Sins. J.M.M. as protagonists. The strength of the composition which led to her marriage to Philip the Good of
stems from its unique combination of the reli- Burgundy.
gious and the worldly. It attests to a pivotal The altarpiece consists of five other panels in
moment in the transition between sacred and addition to the Panel of the Infante: the Panel of
secular, a time of great uncertainty. It represents the Friars, the Panel of the Relic, the Panel of the
the final moments of a world order defined by Archbishop, the Panel of Sailors and Fisherman,
theology, which governs the iconic and architecto- and the Panel of the Noblemen. The first two,
nic structure of the work, but it also affirms secu- though each half the width (61 cm.) of the Panel
lar references and a structure that is devoid of of the Infante, are related to it. The friars, in

136 CIRCA 1492