The Legend of Saint Francis Xavier, by Painter André Reinoso

Portuguese and English

Historical, aesthetic and iconological study of the cycle of paintings on the Life and Legend of Saint Francis Xavier, by André Reinoso, a baroque series in the Sacristy of Church of São Roque da Santa Casa da Misericórdia in Lisbon. This work is the result of a careful study carried out by Professor Doctor Vítor Serrão on the set of twenty canvases from the 17th century alluding to the missionary action of Saint Francis Xavier, executed for the Society of Jesus. In the words of the author, this pictorial cycle constitutes “one of the most illustrated testimonies of Portuguese painting in the narrative and devotional scope that exist in the entire Portuguese artistic heritage”, confirming André Reinoso as “one of the most prominent Lisbon painters within the scope of the first generation”. Portuguese Baroque”. Vítor Serrão adds that “the museological richness of the Church of São Roque is reinforced by the presence of this prodigious cycle of paintings with hagiographic narration, as highlighted in the quality of the brush as in the deep spirituality that exudes from its strategic discourse”. With a first edition dating from 1993, which had been out of print for a long time on the book market, an updated reprint of this work was carried out in 2006, on the occasion of the V Centenary of the Birth of São Francisco Xavier.

Access here the virtual tour of the Sacristy of the Church of São Roque.

Author: Vítor Serrão

Year of publication: 2006
Editor: SCML, São Roque Museum | Quetzal Editors
ISBN: 972564655 (PT), 9725646576 (ING)