Painting

The Painting collection of the Quinta das Cruzes Museum fits in with the interpretation of the other collections, enabling the visitor to put into context the information acquired during his museographical journey. The formation of this collection, restricted for many years to donations and legacies, has been subject, in recent years, to a renovation process which has involved the acquisition of various pieces, following a policy of reconciling the artistic value of the works and their heritage value for the Region.

This cluster includes various themes such as the paintings of religious nature, the portraits, the landscapes and the painting of customs, encompassing a chronological period chiefly situated between the 17th century and the mid-20th century, predominantly the 19th century.

The Museum estate is represented by various painters with a profusion of artists, with the following foreign contributors being of particular note: August Plum (1815-1876), J.C.Maggs (1819-1895), Johan Fredrick Eckersberg (1822-1870), L. Holst (1848-?) and W.C. James ( 1816-1893).

Worthy of special mention of the Portuguese artists to be found at the collection are Bento Coelho da Silveira (1620-1708), Luís Tomasini (1823-1902), Joaquim Leonardo da Rocha (1756-1825), Tomás José da Anunciação (1818-1879), José Rodrigues de Carvalho (1828-1887) and Alfredo Miguéis (1883-1943).

Of diverse types, the Painting cluster of the Museum has some copies of particular interest such as the Portrait of Francisco de Moura Corte Real – 3rd Marquis of Castelo Rodrigo (dating from the 17th century) and the Portrait of Anastácio Dias Grande by the author of the aforementioned José Rodrigues de Carvalho and dated 1869. The portrait named after the writer Luísa Susana Grande de Freitas Lomelino, who in turn was the owner of Nuno Freitas Lomelino, former owner and last morgado of Quinta das Cruzes property.

Also to be found in the collection are some clusters which constitute real references of the recent artistic past of the Madeira Region, the case of the group of paintings and watercolours by Max Römer (1878-1960) and Francisco Maya (1915-1993).