The Saviour, Jesus Christ

Author: Unknown

Date: 1500 – 1520

Material: Plaster and pigments

Dimensions (cm): H 172 x W 67,5

Provenance: Ponte da Barca, Igreja de São Salvador de Bravães

Inventory No.: MAS PD 5

The Saviour, Jesus Christ is standing and he is wearing a red tunic down to the feet and an also red mantle. His right hand is in a gesture of blessing while the left one is holding the globe of the world. This depiction follows the tradition of the representations of Christ, the Master and of the Good God. It is still possible to observe, in a fragmentary state, a legend that is impossible to read.

The theme – the Resurrected Jesus, the Saviour – follows the Constituições Sinodais ordered by the archbishop of Braga Dom Diogo de Sousa, from around 1506, which determined that the churches had images of their patron saints on the high altars, in this case, the Saviour.

As Paula Bessa informs the painting of The Saviour, Jesus Christ was detached in the 1930s from the centre of the back wall of the chancel of the parochial church of São Salvador de Bravães and it was part of the first campaign of mural painting that was executed there. This painting was covered by another fresco painting, executed over a new plasterwork, and depicting the same iconographic theme.