André Soares Ribeiro da Silva, more commonly known as André Soares (30 November 1720 – 26 November 1769) was a leading Portuguese sculptor and architect active in Northern
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...
during the 18th century.
Born in
Braga
Braga (; ) is a cities of Portugal, city and a Municipalities of Portugal, municipality, capital of the northwestern Portugal, Portuguese Braga (district), district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality ...
, most of his work is found in and around this city. As a sculptor, he was responsible for designing the gilt woodwork (''talha dourada'')
altarpiece
An altarpiece is a painting or sculpture, including relief, of religious subject matter made for placing at the back of or behind the altar of a Christian church. Though most commonly used for a single work of art such as a painting or sculpture, ...
floorplan
In architecture and building engineering, a floor plan is a technical drawing to Scale (ratio), scale, showing a view from above, of the relationships between rooms, spaces, traffic patterns, and other physical features at one level of a struct ...
), the
Santos Passos Church
The Santos Passos Church (), officially called Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Consolação e dos Santos Passos and sometimes referred to as Igreja de São Gualter, is an 18th-century Baroque#Portuguese Baroque, Portuguese baroque Catholic church lo ...
in
Guimarães
Guimarães () is a city and municipality located in northern Portugal, in the district of Braga.
Its historic town centre has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2001, in recognition for being an "exceptionally well-preserved ...
Arco da Porta Nova
The Arch of the New Gate () is a Baroque and Neoclassical arch, designed by André Soares in the late 18th century, in the civil parish of Sé, municipality of Braga, in northern Portugal. The triumphal arch which decorates the western entranc ...
(City Gate) among many other structures.
The work of André Soares is characterised by the exuberant decoration and the use of
Rococo
Rococo, less commonly Roccoco ( , ; or ), also known as Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and dramatic style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpte ...
forms influenced by contemporary Northern European art. Lonely Planet Portugal Regis St. Louis - 2010 - Page 63 "Local artists such as André Soares built churches and palaces in a very decorative style, heavily influenced by Augsburg engravings..."