Assim reza a encomenda: representações de Santiago na escultura portuguesa na Época Moderna

Abstract

In this paper we intend to introduce some Portuguese sculptural images of Saint James produced during the Modern Period. Based on the premise that the artistic practices of each time-period are directly related to their contemporary and previous contexts, we started this journey years earlier, developing what is known about the evolution of Portuguese veneration of saints and pilgrimage from the Middle Ages till the end of the Modern Period. Sculptural production devoted to Saint James, or to other saints can be discovered in the human and devotional landscape and also in social, cultural, political and economic fields. After sketching this contextual environment, some images of Saint James (Pilgrim, Apostle , Horseman and Moor-slayer) from 15th to 18th centuries, are examined and compared, in order to analyse the material influences, formal evolutions, preferences and iconographic models of a Saint who enjoyed immense popularity and variety of expression in the Iberian peninsula. This study allows us to conclude that, during this period, commissioners preferred representations of Saint James as pilgrim, despite the high degree of iconographic ambiguity reflected in the symbolic and devotional aspects of these representations.