The Baptism of Dom Afonso Henriques by Saint Gerald, Archbishop of Braga
Author: Simão Álvares (?)
Date: 17th century, middle
Material: Oil on canvas
Dimensions (cm): H 125,5 x W 148
Provenance: Guimarães, Colegiada de Nossa Senhora da Oliveira
Inventory No.: MAS P 47
A bishop vested and with a mitre, assisted by four priests with a cope (one of which holds an open book, another one holds the crosier and the other a candle) is extending the arms over a baptismal font. On the right side, a male figure holds a child in his arms, covered by a damasked cover. Four noblemen surround him. On the floor there are rugs with floral motifs.
This canvas, together with three others (MAS P 46, 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 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.