HENRIQUES, Francisco
(active 1502-1518)

Biography

Painter probably of south Netherlandish origin, active in Portugal. His art shows both south and north Netherlandish influences. He would have known the great series of Netherlandish panels depicting the Life of the Virgin (1500) painted for the high altar of Évora Cathedral (Évora, Museu Évora), on which he may have collaborated.

From about 1502 to 1508 he painted the high altar of the church of S Francisco, Évora, an impressive work comprising sixteen panels in four thematically unrelated series: the Eucharist (the Fall of Manna, Abraham and Melchisedech, Mass of St Gregory, Last Supper), Franciscan Saints (Martyrs of Morocco, SS Bernardino of Siena and Francis, SS Bonaventura and Louis (all Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, Lisbon) and a fourth panel (untraced)), the Life of the Virgin (Annunciation, Nativity, Adoration of the Magi, Presentation of Christ in the Temple (All Alpiarça, Casa Museu Relvas)) and the Passion of Christ (Garden of Gethsemene, Road to Calvary, Descent from the Cross, Deposition (all Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, Lisbon)). There is marked Netherlandish influence in the work, and in the Last Supper the use of engravings by the Master IAM of Zwolle is apparent.