Manueline

Characteristics

This decorative style is characterized by virtuoso complex ornamentation in portals, windows, columns and arcades. In its end period, it tended to become excessively exuberant as in Tomar.

Several elements appear regularly in these intricately carved stoneworks:

• elements used on ships: the armillary sphere (a navigational instrument and the personal emblem of Manuel I and also a symbol of the cosmos), spheres, anchors, anchor chains, ropes and cables.
• elements from the sea, such as shells, pearls and strings of seaweed.
• botanical motifs such as laurel branches, oak leaves, acorns, poppy capsules, corncobs, and thistles.
• symbols of Christianity such as the cross of the Order of Christ (former Knights Templar), the military order that played a prominent role and helped finance the first voyages of discovery. The cross of this order decorated the sails of the Portuguese ships.
• elements from newly discovered lands (such as the tracery in the Royal Cloister of the Batalha Monastery, suggesting Islamic filigree work, influenced by buildings in India)
• columns carved like twisted strands of rope
• semicircular arches (instead of Gothic pointed arches) of doors and windows, sometimes consisting of three or more convex curves
• multiple pillars
• eight-sided capitals
• lack of symmetry
• conical pinnacles
• bevelled crenellations
• ornate portals with niches or canopies.

Examples

When King Manuel I died in 1521, he funded 62 construction projects. However, much original Manueline architecture in Portugal was lost or damaged beyond restoration in the 1755 Lisbon earthquake and subsequent tsunami. In Lisbon, the Ribeira Palace, the residence of King Manuel I, and the Hospital Real de Todos os Santos were destroyed, along with several churches. The city, however, still has outstanding examples of the style in the Jerónimos Monastery (mainly designed by Diogo Boitac and João de Castilho) and in the small fortress of the Belém Tower (designed by Francisco de Arruda). Both are located close to each other in the Belém neighbourhood. The portal of the Church of Nossa Senhora da Conceição Velha, in downtown Lisbon, has also survived destruction.

Outside Lisbon, the church and chapter house of the Convent of Christ at Tomar (designed by Diogo de Arruda) is a major Manueline monument. In particular, the large window of the chapter house, with its fantastic sculptured organic and twisted rope forms, is one of the most extraordinary achievements of the Manueline style.

Other major Manueline monuments include the arcade screens of the Royal Cloister (designed by Diogo Boitac) and the Unfinished Chapels (designed by Mateus Fernandes) at the Monastery of Batalha and the Royal Palace of Sintra.

Other remarkable Manueline buildings include the church of the Monastery of Jesus of Setúbal (one of the earliest Manueline churches, also designed by Diogo Boitac), the Santa Cruz Monastery in Coimbra, the main churches in Golegã, Vila do Conde, Moura, Caminha, Olivença and portions of the cathedrals of Braga (main chapel), Viseu (rib vaulting of the nave) and Guarda (main portal, pillars, vaulting). Civil buildings in Manueline style exist in Évora (home to the Évora Royal Palace of 1525, by Pedro de Trillo, Diogo de Arruda and Francisco de Arruda) and the Castle of Évoramonte of 1531), Viana do Castelo, Guimarães and some other towns.

The style was extended to the decorative arts and spread throughout the Portuguese Empire, to the islands of the Azores, Madeira, enclaves in North Africa, Brazil, Goa in Portuguese India and even Macau, China. Its influence is apparent in southern Spain, the Canary Islands, North Africa and the former Spanish colonies of Peru and Mexico.

Famous Manueline artists

Architects

• Diogo Boitac
• Mateus Fernandes
• Diogo de Arruda
• Francisco de Arruda
• João de Castilho

Painters

• Vasco Fernandes
• Jorge Afonso
• Cristóvão de Figueiredo
• Garcia Fernandes
• Gregório Lopes

Gallery

File:Elvas-Nª Sª Asunción 17.jpg|Doorframe in a church in Elvas File:Igreja Matriz da Golega 96a.jpg|Doorframe of a church in Golegã File:Evora, Palace (3921100752).jpg|Royal palace at Évora File:Evora, Palace (3921098252).jpg|Royal palace at Évora, gallery File:Linhares - detalhe manuelino.jpg|Manueline furnishings of a 16th century Portuguese countryside house File:Portal manuelino - Ayuntamientro de Olivenza.jpg|Manueline doorframe in Olivença, Spain File:Manueline Window at Pinhel.jpg|Manueline windowframe in Pinhel File:Evora-ManuelineWindow.jpg|Windowframe in Évora File:Bottega di lisbona, fonte bicefala con teste coronate e stemmi regali del portogallo, 1510-25 ca. 01.jpg|"Bicephalous Fountain", displaying both the heads of King Manuel and the Queen, and an armillary sphere, the royal emblem File:1 Exterior da igreja manuelina Convento de Cristo IMG 9479.jpg|Decorative motifs in the Monastery of Tomar File:Goa-RosarioChurch.jpg|Manueline church in Goa, India File:Tracerías góticas (Claustro de D. João I, Monasterio de Batalha).jpg|Cloyster at the Batalha monastery File:Mosteiro da Batalha 19a.jpg|Detail of decorative motifs in the Batalha Monastery File:Mosteiro da Batalha 14a.jpg|Monastery of Batalha File:Vista geral da capela.jpg|Chapel in Belém, Lisbon File:Capela de São Jerónimo 7601.jpg|Detail of the chapel in Belém File:Castelo de Alvito (Portugal)2.jpg|Castle of Alvito, with Manueline elements File:Solar da Sempre Noiva - Portugal (297263101).jpg|Sempre Noiva manor File:Paço dos Henriques de Transtâmara - Alcáçovas -Portugal (5623992584).jpg|Manor of the Henriques de Trastámaras, in Alvor

References

• Atanázio, A Arte do Manuelino, Lisbon, Presença, 1984.
• Turner, J., Grove Dictionary of Art, Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1996;
• The Rough Guide to Portugal, March 2005, 11th edition,
• Smith, Robert C.,* The Art of Portugal 1500-1800*; Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1968