Josefa de Ayala, dita Josefa de Óbidos (1630-1684)

O Menino Jesus Salvador do Mundo (c. 1660-1679, MNAA).

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Anunciação (1676, MNAA).

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Cordeiro Pascal (c. 1660-70, Museu Regional Évora).

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 Natureza-morta com frutos e flores (c. 1670, MNAA).

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Natureza-morta [caixa com potes] (c. 1660, MNAA).

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Josefa de Óbidos, nascida Josefa de Ayala Figueira (Sevilha, Fevereiro de 1630 - Óbidos, 22 de Julho de 1684), foi uma pintora nascida na Espanha que viveu e produziu em Portugal. Era filha de Baltazar Gomes Figueira, pintor português natural de Óbidos, com obra em Évora, que fora trabalhar em Sevilha, onde veio a desposar D. Catarina de Ayala Camacho Cabrera Romero, natural da Andaluzia. Josefa foi apadrinhada pelo pintor Francisco Herrera, El Viejo. Em 1634, quando tinha apenas quatro anos de idade, os pais de Josefa regressam a Portugal, onde se vieram a estabelecer na Quinta da Chapeleira, em Óbidos, quando ela já tinha seis anos de idade. Ali se educou, manifestando desde cedo, vocação para a pintura e para a gravura em metal, em lâminas de cobre e prata, num género denominado como pontinho. Em 1653, aos 19 anos de idade, fez a gravura da edição dos Estatutos de Coimbra. Trabalhou em seguida como pintora para diversos conventos e igrejas. Ficou sobretudo conhecida pelas pinturas religiosas, nomeadamente algumas que figuram o Menino Jesus, mas também pelas naturezas mortas, mostrando uma clara inspiração na pintura tenebrista do seu tempo.

In Wikipedia.

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Josefa de Óbidos (1630–1684) was a Spanish-born, Portuguese painter from the seventeenth century. Her birth name was Josefa de Ayala Figueira, but she signed her work as, "Josefa em Óbidos" or, "Josefa de Ayalla". She was born in Seville, Spain. Her father, Baltazar Gomes Figueira, was a Portuguese painter from the village of Óbidos. He went to Seville in the 1620s to improve his painting technique and, while there, married Catarina de Ayala y Cabrera, a native Andalusian, who would become the mother of Josefa. The family returned to Portugal in 1634. They first settled in Peniche, where Baltazar continued his work as a painter. It is known that by 1644, at the age of fourteen, Josefa, was in Coimbra in the Convent of The Grace (Convento da Graça), where her father painted the main altarpiece of the church. Josefa's first known works are engravings, executed in 1646. Sometime before 1653, she and her family left Coimbra and settled in Óbidos. While in Óbidos, she drew an allegory of Wisdom for the Book of Rules of the University of Coimbra, which was being decorated by her father. Highly esteemed as a painter by that time, her father Baltazar is considered to be the main influence upon her. He possessed a great number of engravings among his collection that made Josefa familiar with the art of her time.

During the decades that followed, Josefa executed several religious altarpieces for churches and convents in central Portugal, as well as, paintings of portraits and still-life for private customers. Among her chief religious works are the five panels for the Saint Catherine altarpiece of the Church of the Holy Mary (Santa Maria) in Óbidos, in 1661. During 1672-1673 she painted the altarpiece of Saint Theresa of Ávila for the Carmelite Convent of Cascais. In 1679 she completed an altarpiece for the Church of the Mercy of Peniche. Her best known portrait is that of Faustino das Neves, dated c.1670, which is in the Municipal Museum of Óbidos. Many of her still-life paintings, considered her specialty, are among other works by her that are now in the National Museum of Ancient Art in (Lisbon). Her work appears in several other museums and as well as in private collections.

In Wikipedia. 

Para saber mais:
Vítor Serrão, «Josefa de Ayala ou o Elogio da Inocência».