Glory of Lisbon

Produced by Portalegre Tapestry Manufacture from cartoons by António Lino (1914-1996) dated 1955, the piece was specially commissioned by Lisbon City Council, and is a one-off piece. The contract agreed between the council and the artist established an iconographic programme evoking the city of Lisbon and its hills, incorporating some buildings dating back to the early days of the founding of the nation and continuing into the mid-20th century. The figures of King Afonso Henriques, Saint Anthony and poet Luis de Camões are placed, strategically and respectively, next to São Jorge Castle, Lisbon Cathedral and the ‘city of the Discoveries,’ the latter represented by the Jerónimos Monastery. ‘Today’s city,’ as referred to in the contract, is illustrated by diverse ventures initiated during the period of the Estado Novo regime, such as the Presidential Grandstand at the National Stadium, the motorway linking Lisbon to Cascais flanked by the forest park of Monsanto, the Portuguese Mint and the Church of Nossa Senhora de Fátima.

António Lino was born in Guimarães and attended the Fine Arts School in Porto, where he studied drawing and painting and was a student of António Teixeira Lopes, Acácio Lino and Dórdio Gomes. He was a prolific and multifaceted artist in various disciplines of the visual arts: drawing, painting, watercolour, print-making, sculpture, ceramics, tile-making, tapestry, mosaic and stained glass.