VIEIRA, Jacinto - b. ~1700 Braga, d. ~1760 Braga

Portuguese sculptor. He was trained at Braga which, since the end of the 16th century, had replaced Coimbra as principal supplier of religious sculpture.

Between 1723 and 1725 he carved an important series of statues for the Convent of Santa Maria, Arouca, in northern Portugal; each was 2 m high and made of stone, not wood as was customary in this region. He did not adopt the Baroque style here but retained the spirit of monastic art in the tradition of the 17th century. This series depicts female saints of the Cistercian and Benedictine Orders, together with Queen St Mafalda, patron of the Convent of Santa Maria, Arouca. It was placed in niches high on the walls of the nave and choir of the convent church. The figures are posed, with slightly twisted torsos. The stylised folds of their habits fall tightly against their bodies, slightly undulating as if blown by the wind, and their shoulder-length veils stand out in sharp contrast. The faces reveal the artist’s preoccupation with carving variety and giving expression to each statue. Vieira also carved a kneeling Virgin of the Annunciation in the same church.

St Gertrude

With the gaps that still exist in present-day scholarship, the sculptors of these numerous 18th-century religious images decorating Portuguese churches are mainly anonymous. But we do know the author of the group of Benedictine female saints decorating the ‘coro’ of the Arouca monastery church. In 1725 payment for the figures was made to a sculptor from Braga, Jacinto Vieira. Carved in wood, the statues are painted white to simulate stone; they are exquisite examples of the cult of femininity that inspired so many 18th-century artists.