Roof rafter (fragment)
Author: Unknown
Date: 15th century
Material: Polychromed wood
Dimensions (cm): H 6 x L 40,5 x D 19,5
Provenance: Guimarães, Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Oliveira
Inventory No.: MAS P 100
Fragment from the roof truss (triangular wooden framework used to support the beam of a roof) belonging to the ceiling of the Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Oliveira. This fragment is painted with an animal that resembles a horse or donkey, in profile.
On the roof beams of the church there are paintings, which may be coeval with the reform of the temple ordered by Dom João I, after the victory at the Battle of Aljubarrota. Painted with tempera, several scenes and decoration with religious representations, hunting episodes, war, dances, bestiaries, heraldry, etc. can still be seen there. They are considered to be the oldest testimony of painting on wood in the history of Portuguese art.