MEDIEVAL SCULPTOR, Portuguese
(active after 1517 in Lisbon)

West portal

c. 1517
Stone
Hieronymite monastery, Belém near Lisbon

The west portal of the monastery at Belém was executed by Nicolau Chanterene (Nicolas Chanterenne, c. 1485-1551), a French sculptor and architect who worked mainly in Portugal and Spain. The portal has kneeling figures of the founders, Manuel I and his second wife Maria of Castile. While the rich ornamentation still shows the characteristics of Late Gothic, the founders' portraits point forward to the Renaissance.