Vasco Fernandes

Grão Vasco (German: "big Vasco ", actually Vasco Fernandes, * 1475 in Viseu, † 1542 in some sources: * 1480, † 1543 ) was a Portuguese painter.

Life and work

His work is marked by vividly colored paintings, influenced by Italian, Flemish and still more particularly the German Renaissance. The first noteworthy records of him are from the years 1501/1502, where he is mentioned as ( economically ) successful painter. 1514 he worked in the workshop of Jorge Afonso in Lisbon.

The Renaissance face, but he developed later in his style on. He was interested in the Antwerp Mannerist and contributed to the diffusion of the art of Albrecht Dürer in Portugal. For example, in his painting " Jesus in the House of Martha and Mary " (look at the Grão Vasco Museum, Viseu ) of 1530 to recognize characters from Durer's Melencolia I.

He worked mainly in Viseu, Lamego and Coimbra, where four of his works for the monastery of Santa Cruz, only a peony painting is preserved in the sacristy (which he signed with Velascus ). From about 1535 he increasingly developed Mannerist traits.

Importance

An extensive collection of his works can be seen in the Grão Vasco Museum, Viseu, which was founded next to the cathedral in 1916 in the former convent school and restored between 2001 and 2003 by the architect Eduardo Souto de Moura, was expanded and redesigned.

Some works are, inter alia, also in the Museum of Lamego, in the main church of Freixo de Espada à Cinta (1520 ) and seen in Salzedas monastery. The Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga in Lisbon his Assunção hangs there Virgem, and the Museu Nacional de Soares dos Reis in Porto is to see his Santa Luzia.

Schools, wine, hotels, and even an aircraft of TAP Portugal were named after him.