Dom Afonso Henriques praying to Nossa Senhora da Oliveira during the battle of Ourique (?)
Author: Simão Álvares (?)
Date: 17th century, middle
Material: Oil on canvas
Dimensions (cm): H 126,3 x W 144,5
Provenance: Guimarães, Colegiada de Nossa Senhora da Oliveira
Inventory No.: MAS P 46
In the upper left corner, there’s an image of Our Lady, before whom Afonso Henriques, in a complete armour, points with his right hand to a feathery helmet placed on the floor. Next to him but behind, one can see other figures of warriors. Almost completely hidden by one of them, there’s a flag with the arms of the kingdom.
This canvas, together with three others (MAS P 47, MAS P 48 and MAS P 49), originates from the decorative program of the Colegiada de Nossa Senhora da Oliveira, which was dismantled with the rebuilding works of 1675 and they are probably from the time of the prior Dom Diogo Lobo da Silveira, who, so vehemently, endowed the temple with explicit references to the mythical history of the place, in a context of nationalist representation. These canvases attest to propagandistic goals of the rhetoric of the Restoration, contributing to the nationalist exaltation motivated by the time of war against the Philippine troops.