Chafariz do Convento de São Bento de Avé Maria, a work by the master of fountains
João Lopes, the Elder, was born in the late 15th century in Arcos de Valdevez, belonging to an important family of stone artists, and died in the middle of the following century. He was responsible for the stonework at the Convent of São Bento de Avé Maria, built by King Manuel I on the site now occupied by São Bento Railway Station. It is therefore assumed that he was the designer of the fountain in the convent cloister.
Under the master, João Lopes, the Elder, there was a workshop in Ponte de Lima that remained active from the 1540s until the middle of the following century, with activity in Amarante, Vila do Conde, Ponte de Lima, Arcos de Valdevez, Guimarães, Vila Pouca de Aguiar, Travanca, and Porto. The workshop's regional prominence was due to the introduction of imported decorative motifs applied to architecture. The master was a pioneer in introducing the “Roman” or Renaissance style, marking the gradual transition from the Gothic style. He was familiar with the classical language learned from the Plateresque Biscayans, Spanish artists from Galicia who worked during this period in Braga, Vila do Conde, Viana do Castelo, and Lamego. And with Pêro Galego, his father-in-law, a master mason renowned throughout northern Portugal and the Galicia region of Spain.
The master's training in “Lombard” motifs and “grotesque” ornamentation dates back to his apprenticeship under Pero Galego, when he joined the team of Biscayan craftsmen working on the portals of the parish church of Caminha in 1508. It was this experience and learning that later created a clientele eager for the new style in his workshop, which would tend to see it as a counterpoint to the decorative repertoire usually associated with the “Manueline” style, which would please the emerging bourgeoisie that would dictate the status of the workshop.
The evolution towards the forms of the new “Romanesque style” came about through the adoption of new ornamental motifs studied in treatises, molded to vernacular taste, in architecture in continuity with the Gothic style. João Lopes is understood as the heir and representative of the Gothic construction system, continuing the “Romanesque” taste, with influences from the Hispano-Flemish style, anchored in the northern and Galician tradition.
The convent already reflects the Romanesque style that was becoming apparent in the Manueline style, in the capitals, shafts, bases, and cymatia. The decorative program is austere and restrained, respecting the female cloister. Although the work was entrusted to the master on the sole condition that it be “(...) good work that looks good (...),” the fountain already points to the “new taste.” Of particular note are the decorative frieze of ovules and dentils, the fluted column that supports the first bowl, the budded bowl, and the figurative elements, in the case of the first bowl, faces flanked by two wings, which appear to be winged putti, denoting a knowledge of classical language and, in particular, the Ionic order. The figurative elements decorating the smaller bowl and the top can be understood as gargoyles, in comparative analysis with fountains by the same author. Such as the Fountain of Praça da Rainha in Viana do Castelo (1554)406, the fountain in the Municipal Square in Caminha (1551) and the fountain in the Plaza de la Herrería in Pontevedra (1549), with the exception of the fountain of São Domingos in Porto (1544), which has not survived, except for traces reused in the Chafariz do Laranjal.
João Lopes, the Elder, was credited with this model of bowl fountain, which combines the two styles and marked the transition to the “new style” in northern Portugal and Galicia. A tradition that his son, João Lopes, the Younger, perpetuated, with the risk of fountains already in the “Mannerist” style.
To learn more about the Chafariz do Laranjal, click here.
Under the master, João Lopes, the Elder, there was a workshop in Ponte de Lima that remained active from the 1540s until the middle of the following century, with activity in Amarante, Vila do Conde, Ponte de Lima, Arcos de Valdevez, Guimarães, Vila Pouca de Aguiar, Travanca, and Porto. The workshop's regional prominence was due to the introduction of imported decorative motifs applied to architecture. The master was a pioneer in introducing the “Roman” or Renaissance style, marking the gradual transition from the Gothic style. He was familiar with the classical language learned from the Plateresque Biscayans, Spanish artists from Galicia who worked during this period in Braga, Vila do Conde, Viana do Castelo, and Lamego. And with Pêro Galego, his father-in-law, a master mason renowned throughout northern Portugal and the Galicia region of Spain.
The master's training in “Lombard” motifs and “grotesque” ornamentation dates back to his apprenticeship under Pero Galego, when he joined the team of Biscayan craftsmen working on the portals of the parish church of Caminha in 1508. It was this experience and learning that later created a clientele eager for the new style in his workshop, which would tend to see it as a counterpoint to the decorative repertoire usually associated with the “Manueline” style, which would please the emerging bourgeoisie that would dictate the status of the workshop.
The evolution towards the forms of the new “Romanesque style” came about through the adoption of new ornamental motifs studied in treatises, molded to vernacular taste, in architecture in continuity with the Gothic style. João Lopes is understood as the heir and representative of the Gothic construction system, continuing the “Romanesque” taste, with influences from the Hispano-Flemish style, anchored in the northern and Galician tradition.
The convent already reflects the Romanesque style that was becoming apparent in the Manueline style, in the capitals, shafts, bases, and cymatia. The decorative program is austere and restrained, respecting the female cloister. Although the work was entrusted to the master on the sole condition that it be “(...) good work that looks good (...),” the fountain already points to the “new taste.” Of particular note are the decorative frieze of ovules and dentils, the fluted column that supports the first bowl, the budded bowl, and the figurative elements, in the case of the first bowl, faces flanked by two wings, which appear to be winged putti, denoting a knowledge of classical language and, in particular, the Ionic order. The figurative elements decorating the smaller bowl and the top can be understood as gargoyles, in comparative analysis with fountains by the same author. Such as the Fountain of Praça da Rainha in Viana do Castelo (1554)406, the fountain in the Municipal Square in Caminha (1551) and the fountain in the Plaza de la Herrería in Pontevedra (1549), with the exception of the fountain of São Domingos in Porto (1544), which has not survived, except for traces reused in the Chafariz do Laranjal.
João Lopes, the Elder, was credited with this model of bowl fountain, which combines the two styles and marked the transition to the “new style” in northern Portugal and Galicia. A tradition that his son, João Lopes, the Younger, perpetuated, with the risk of fountains already in the “Mannerist” style.
To learn more about the Chafariz do Laranjal, click here.
