The 16th century azulejo Nativity panel called "de Nossa Senhora da Vida"

Abstract

One of the jewels in the collections of the Museu Nacional do Azulejo is a nativity painted in Renaissance style and colours, topped by an annunciation and flanked by the images of two apostles, originally from the Capela de Nossa Senhora da Vida (Chapel of Our Lady of Life) of the now demolished Igreja de Santo André (Church of Saint Andrew) in Lisbon. These azulejos were already specifically mentioned in 1721 for their exquisite quality in the important work Santuário Mariano, a collection of books by Fr. Agostinho de Santa Maria (1642-1728). The Igreja de Santo André was built between 1334 and 1340. The church had a top main chapel and four small side chapels, one of which dedicated to Our Lady of Life was decorated ca. 1580 with this panel. This communication reviews the oldest known written sources on the panel and presents the results of the first instrumental study done on the azulejos of one of the most important testimonies of a technological continuity respecting the first decades of the production of majolica tiles in Portugal.