The Flemish Altarpiece of the Museu de Évora is a very important asset in the Portuguese collections of Flemish painting. It is composed of 19 paintings divided in two series, one about the Life of Virgin Mary (13 panels, the largest measuring 269,5 cm x 157 cm) and the other about the Life of Christ (6 panels).
This important altarpiece from the main altar of Évora’s Cathedral was commissioned in Bruges around 1500 by the Bishop D. Afonso de Portugal to a workshop related to the Flemish painter Gerard David. This is an unusual masterpiece for its quality and dimension as well as for its historical importance, as it was the first of several large painted altarpieces that were commissioned for Portuguese cathedrals and convents during the reign of King D. Manuel.
While the museum was closed for refurbishment and enlargement works, conservation and restoration of the altarpiece were undertaken by IMC’s services. A research and investigation project coordinated by the Museu de Évora and involving the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), the National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.) and the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga (Lisbon) was simultaneously developed. When the painting gallery of the museum is reopened to the public in December 2008, the altarpiece will have a new display, where the connection of all its parts to the whole is emphasized.
The photographic documentation about the altarpiece was extremely important in this project, especially as a documentary source to trace the history of this remarkable set of paintings from Évora’s Cathedral to the Museu de Évora.
Photographic documentation works, both on visible and invisible spectrum, on the Flemish altarpiece’s 35 m2 started in July 2003 and studies with infrared reflectography were undertaken on two of the panels for three days. The results suggested a systematic study of the altarpiece with ultraviolet fluorescence, infrared reflectography and radiography, which were completed from February to April 2004 at the Museu de Évora.
This online exhibition reveals the most important documents produced within that photographic campaign, part of it displayed in the exhibition “Olhar de Perto: os Primitivos Flamengos do Museu de Évora” (“Looking Closer: the Flemish Primitives of the Museu de Évora”), held at the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga from February to April 2008.
In this exhibition you can see more than 500 of the original 16.000 images, global or detailed, in visible or invisible spectrum, revealing inspiration or change of plans in the underlying drawing, only revealed by radiography and infrared reflectography. You will be able to admire all the real splendour and artistic excellence of this altarpiece at the Museu de Évora.