The lost azulejo panel of the Church of Santo André, near Graça, in Lisbon

Abstract

The azulejo panel called Painel de Nossa Senhora da Vida (Panel of Our Lady of Life), once applied to a chapel in the now demolished Igreja de Santo André (Saint Andrew) near the Igreja da Graça in Lisbon, numbers among the earliest known references to azulejos from the 16th century in Portuguese architecture. The church had a gothic architecture with a main chapel and four small side chapels. The two chapels from the south side were dedicated to Saint Ambrosius and to Our Lady of Life, while on the North side to Our Lady of Conception and to All Souls. The azulejo panel of the chapel of Our Lady of Life was removed circa 1845 when it was decided to demolish the church, while a second panel located in front was abandoned due to a lack of resources to remove and preserve both. During the current year (2018) an archaeological digging discovered elements of the demolished Church of Saint Andrew among which five fragments of figurative majolica azulejos, maybe remains of the lost panel. This article discloses the newly found fragments and discusses the first analytical results of a study made on them.