Francisco de Holanda (originally ''Francisco d'Olanda;'' 6 September 1517 – 19 June 1585) was a Portuguese court painter and sculptor for King John III of Portugal, and later for Sebastian of Portugal. He wrote what is regarded as the first treatise on portrait painting in Europe, '' Do tirar polo natural'' (1549). He is considered to be one of the most important figures of the

Portuguese Renaissance The Portuguese Renaissance refers to the cultural and artistic movement in Portugal during the 15th and 16th centuries. Though the movement coincided with the Spanish and Italian Renaissances, the Portuguese Renaissance was largely separate from o ...

, also being an essayist, architect and historian. He represented the intelligible reality of the Holy Trinity through a "hypothetical" syntax of geometrical figures. He insisted on the contrast between the ideal plane, the incorporeal form and the "imperfect copy in the terrestrial zone". His

visual language A visual language is a system of communication using visual elements. Speech as a means of communication cannot strictly be separated from the whole of human communicative activity which includes the visual and the term 'language' in relation to ...

demonstrated a mixture of

Neoplatonism Neoplatonism is a strand of Platonic philosophy that emerged in the 3rd century AD against the background of Hellenistic philosophy and religion. The term does not encapsulate a set of ideas as much as a chain of thinkers. But there are some i ...

Christian Kabbalah Christian Kabbalah arose during the Renaissance due to Christian scholars' interest in the mysticism of Jewish Kabbalah, which they interpreted according to Christian theology. It is often transliterated as Cabala (also ''Cabbala'') to disting ...

and finally Lullism. In education, Francisco de Holanda emphasized mathematics and geometry, subsequently anticipating

Clavius Christopher Clavius, SJ (25 March 1538 – 6 February 1612) was a Jesuit German mathematician, head of mathematicians at the Collegio Romano, and astronomer who was a member of the Vatican commission that accepted the proposed calendar inve ...

's reforms of the late 16th century. Sylvie Deswarte said that "Francisco de Holanda gives a privileged place to

cosmography The term cosmography has two distinct meanings: traditionally it has been the protoscience of mapping the general features of the cosmos, heaven and Earth; more recently, it has been used to describe the ongoing effort to determine the large-sca ...

and

astrology Astrology is a range of divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that claim to discern information about human affairs and terrestrial events by studying the apparent positions of celestial objects. Di ...

in the education of the painter. On par with geometry, mathematics and perspective, he recommended them… in order to reach the heavens in the hope of one day arriving to the

Empyrean In ancient cosmologies, the Empyrean Heaven, or simply the Empyrean, was the place in the highest heaven, which was supposed to be occupied by the element of fire (or aether in Aristotle's natural philosophy). The word derives from the Mediev ...

and realising celestial works."

Biography

Francisco de Holanda was born in Lisbon, Portugal on 6 September 1517, and began his career as an illuminator at the age of 20. His father, António de Holanda, was also a royal illuminator. Francisco studied in Italy between 1538 and 1547, where he frequented the circle of Vittoria Colonna, one of the notables of the Italian Renaissance. Colonna provided him with access to some of the greatest artists of the period such as

Parmigianino Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola (11 January 150324 August 1540), also known as Francesco Mazzola or, more commonly, as Parmigianino (, , ; "the little one from Parma"), was an Italian Mannerist painter and printmaker active in Florence, Rome, B ...

, Giambologna, and most importantly, Michelangelo, who introduced him to

Classicism Classicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for a classical period, classical antiquity in the Western tradition, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seek to emulate. In its purest form, classicism is an aesthet ...

. At the age of 30, he returned to Portugal and obtained various commissions from the reigning King of Portugal, the Cardinal-Archbishop of

Évora Évora ( , ) is a city and a municipality in Portugal. It has 53,591 inhabitants (2021), in an area of 1307.08 km2. It is the historic capital of the Alentejo and serves as the seat of the Évora District. Due to its well-preserved old ...

, and later from King John III (1521–57) and King Sebastian (1568–78). Francisco died in Lisbon, Portugal on June 19, 1585, at the age of 68.

Aesthetic values

Francisco de Holanda embraced the aesthetic values of the Renaissance. His paintings strongly expressed the desire to stimulate personal originality and provide a link between nature (the pure mirror of the Creator) and the ancients – immortal masters of greatness, symmetry, perfection and decorum. Most of these objectives can be seen in his three-part treatise on the nature of art, "On Ancient Painting" (''Da Pintura Antiga''), 1548. The second part of this treatise contains four dialogues, supposedly with Michelangelo. Here, his passion for Classicism was brought to the fore, as he communicated the essence of the work of Michelangelo and of the contemporary artistic movement in Rome. Francisco distinguished himself through his series of drawings at the command of the Portuguese king, João III. These drawings were devoted to the Antiquities of Italy and were sketched between 1540 and 1547, through his studies on the revival of the archaeological heritage of Rome and on Italian art in the first half of the 16th century. Francisco was the creator of the façade of the Church of Our Lady of Grace (''Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Graça'') in Évora. He also painted some portraits, not all of which survived. Francisco wrote the first essay on

urbanism Urbanism is the study of how inhabitants of urban areas, such as towns and cities, interact with the built environment. It is a direct component of disciplines such as urban planning, which is the profession focusing on the physical design and ...

in the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, def ...

, "On the construction lacking to the city of Lisbon" (''Da fábrica que falece à cidade de Lisboa '') and also created the structures of ''De aetatibus mundi imagines'' and ''Antigualhas''.

Francisco's works

Francisco de Holanda was the author of * '' De aetatibus mundi imagines'' (1543–73) * ''Da pintura antiga'' (Lisbon, 1548; in which he attributes the

Saint Vincent Panels The ''Saint Vincent Panels'', or the ''Adoration of Saint Vincent'' panels, are a polyptych consisting of six panels that were perhaps painted in the 1450s. They are attributed to the Portuguese painter Nuno Gonçalves, who was active from 1450 t ...

) ** Part II: ''Diálogos de Roma'' * ''Do tirar polo natural'' (1549) * ''Da fábrica que falece à cidade de Lisboa'' (Lisbon, 1571) * ''De quanto serve a ciência do desenho e entendimento da arte da pintura, na república christâ assim na paz como na guerra'' (Lisbon, 1571) * ''Antigualhas de Roma''

Notes

Bibliography

* Alves, José da Felicidade, ''Introdução ao estudo da obra de Francisco de Holanda'' (Lisbon, 1986) * Deswarte, Sylvie, ed. ''As Imagens das Idades do Mundo de Francisco de Holanda''. Lisboa: Imprensa Nacional-Casa de Moeda, 1987. * . * * Santos, Mariana Amélia Machado, ''Á Estética de Francisco de Holanda'', I Congresso do Mundo Português (Lisbon, 1940) * Segurado, Jorge, ''Francisco d'Ollanda'' (Lisbon, 1970) * Sousa, Ronald W., "The View of the Artist in Francisco de Holanda's ''Dialogues'': A Clash of Feudal Models," ''Luso-Brazilian Review'' 15 (1978), 43–58. * Vilela, José Stichini, ''Francisco de Holanda, Vida, Pensamento e Obra'' (Lisbon, 1982). * *

External links

Digital facsimile of ''De Aetatibus Mundi Imagines'' (Biblioteca Nacional de España)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Holanda, Francisco De 1517 births 1585 deaths Portuguese Renaissance humanists Portuguese Renaissance writers Portuguese art historians People from Lisbon 16th-century Portuguese people Portuguese Renaissance painters