A Arte em Portugal
Portuguese Art from Past to Present
domingo, 20 de outubro de 2024
José Luís Monteiro (1848-1942)
domingo, 29 de setembro de 2024
Marcelino Vespeira (1925-2002)
domingo, 25 de agosto de 2024
Manuel da Maia (1677-1768)
domingo, 4 de agosto de 2024
Maria Luísa de Sousa Holstein, 3ª Duquesa de Palmela (1841-1909)
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Fernando de
Pamplona, Dicionário de Pintores e Escultores Portugueses, Vol. IV,
Barcelos, Livraria Civilização, 1988; pp. 258-259; Sandra Costa Saldanha,
«Filantropia e Arte, A Obra de Escultura da 3.ª Duquesa de Palmela», Cidade
Solidária, Julho de 2007, pp. 76-80 [https://estudogeral.uc.pt/bitstream/10316/92339/1/2007%20-%20Filantropia%20e%20Arte.pdf]; Teresa Campos dos Santos, «Maria Luísa
de Sousa Holstein (1841-1909): Construtora de uma obra social», in Revista
de História da Arte e da Cultura, Campinas, SP, N.º 18,, 2021, pp. 115–136
[https://econtents.bc.unicamp.br/inpec/index.php/rhac/article/view/15429].
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Maria Luísa de Sousa Holstein, 3rd Duchess of Palmela, was
born in Lisbon on 4 August 1841 and died in Rio do Porto (Sintra) on 2
September 1909. She was a disciple of the sculptor Anatole Célestin Calmels
since 1858. Among her early works, The Fisherman (1870) stands
out, in which the influence of Romanticism received from her master can be
observed. This work was exhibited in 1874, at the 10th exhibition of the
Sociedade Promotora de Belas-Artes, together with the relief portrait of the
Countess of Ficalho. Among her most notable works is Diógenes (1883),
the original in marble of which is in the Palácio Palmela (Rato, Lisbon). It
was very successful, and several reduced versions in bronze were produced. The
work was exhibited in 1884 at the Salon de la Société des Artistes Français.
She participated in the same event again in 1886 with the work Sainte-Thérèse (1885),
which earned her an honorable mention. Portraits constitute an important part
of her work, examples being the busts of the Marquis of Sá da Bandeira (c.
1870, Museum of the Geographical Society of Lisbon) and of the Duke of Terceira
(Military Museum). Progressively moving towards Naturalism, a work worth
highlighting is the bust of Negra (1885), also exhibited at
the Paris Salon of 1886, which portrays Maria José dos Santos, maid to the
Duchess of Palmela and daughter of her parents' cooks. Shortly afterwards, she
sculpted one of his most acclaimed works, the Fiat Lux, which is an
allegorical representation of the Genius of the Progress of Medicine.
Originally made of bronze, the work was given to António de Lencastre, her
personal doctor. With the aim of becoming an academic of merit at the Royal
Academy of Fine Arts in Lisbon, the Duchess of Palmela created a version in
Carrara marble in 1900, which today belongs to the collection of the National
Museum of Contemporary Art. Another important achievement was the
sculpture Mater Admirabilis. The Duchess of Palmela was also a
ceramist, having founded, with the Countess of Ficalho, the Ratinho Ceramics
Workshop (or Factory) in the Palmela Palace.