The Legend of Saint Francis Xavier, by the Painter André Reinoso

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 located in the Sacristy of the Church of São Roque of the Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa. This work results from the careful study developed by Professor Doctor Vítor Serrão on the set of twenty paintings from the seventeenth century related to the missionary work of Saint Francis Xavier, executed for the Society of Jesus. In the author's words, 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 of the first generation of 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 hagiographic narrative paintings, as remarkable in the quality of the brush as in the deep spirituality that emanates from its strategic discourse.” With a first edition dated 1993, long out of print in the book market, an updated reissue of this work was made in 2006, on the occasion of the 5th Centenary of the Birth of Saint Francis Xavier.

Access the virtual visit to the Sacristy of the Church of São Roque here.

Author: Vítor Serrão

Year of publication: 2006
Publisher: SCML, Museum of São Roque | Quetzal Publishers
ISBN: 972564655 (PT), 9725646576 (ENG)