cripple, called Antônio Francisco Lisboa, was a carver, sculptor and architect who lived in Vila Rica during the mining period, in the 18th century. He was noted for his sacred art and was one of the great masters of sculpture of the period. The last years of Aleijadinho's life were marked by an illness that brought him a lot of suffering.
Accessalso: Baroque art - general characteristics and main works
Youth
Antônio Francisco Lisboa, known as Aleijadinho, was born in Ouro Preto (Vila Rica, at the time), in first half of the 18th century. There is a controversy regarding his birth date. It is believed that the august 29 be assigned to the day he was born only as an approximate date. About the year, there are two proposals that are defended by scholars. One of them says that Aleijadinho was born in 1730, and it is based on your certificateinbaptism; the other says he was born in 1738, and it's based on your death certificate.
Aleijadinho was the illegitimate son of Manuel Francisco Lisbon, a Portuguese who moved to Minas Gerais in the 1720s. It was the result of an illegitimate relationship between his father and Isabel, an African enslaved woman about whom little is known. Aleijadinho, therefore, was born a slave and was black, but was manumitted by his father.
His father was the one who taught him the craft that engraved his name as one of the greatest artists in Brazilian history. Manuel Francisco Lisboa was a wood carver and architect who performed the role of foreman, working in the hiring of personnel for the major works taking place in Minas Gerais.
Aleijadinho had four half-brothers, the result of his father's marriage to a woman named Maria Antônia de São Pedro. Aleijadinho grew up among these brothers, but when his father died, he had no right to the inheritance because he was an illegitimate child. The paternal legacy he received was the profession he carried throughout his life.
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In addition to his father, it is said that Aleijadinho's training as a sculptor relied on advice from João Gomes Batista, draftsman and painter; Francisco Xavier de Brito, sculptor and woodcarver; and José Coelho de Noronha, also a sculptor and woodcarver. Aleijadinho started his craft in the 1750s, but it wasn't until the 1760s that he became respected by him.
The work performed by Aleijadinho was directly related to the height of mining in Minas Gerais, and without the gold, the need for sculptors and carvers, like him, would not have existed.
mining period
Finding gold in Brazil has always been the great desire of the Portuguese, and it was only at the end of the 17th century that this ore was found in large quantities. This discovery happened more precisely in 1695, when Paulistas spotted gold in the Rio das Velhas, in the vicinity of Sabará and Caeté, according to historian Boris Fausto|1|.
The discovery of gold attracted people from all over Portugal, and, of course, settlers established in various parts of Brazil flocked to Minas Gerais. Between 1700 and 1760, about 600 thousand people came from Portugal to Brazil, attracted by the possibility of enriching themselves with the exploration of gold|1|.
The region of Minas Gerais developed, and important urban centers began to form in this captaincy. The city of Vila Rica established itself as an administrative center from Minas Gerais, and, in the 18th century, the entire region of Vila Rica had 80 thousand inhabitants, of which around 20 thousand lived within the city itself.
The peak of mining in Minas Gerais extended from 1733 to 1748, and from the 1750s onwards, this activity began to decline. The cities of Minas Gerais formed complex societies with a very busy urban life, and not just miners settled in them, but merchants, farmers, lawyers, soldiers, architects, artisans etc.
Gold attracted all these people to Minas Gerais, and many prospered by meeting the demands and needs of the local population.. The merchants themselves exploited the lack of basic necessities, and thus everything was much more expensive in the region. Historians Lília Schwarcz and Heloísa Starling point out that, at the beginning of the mining cycle, a chicken, which was worth 160 réis in São Paulo, in Minhas Gerais it was worth 4000 réis, for example|2|.
Many of the goods came from São Paulo, but mostly from Rio de Janeiro, as a road connecting it to Vila Rica was established and called PathNew. In addition to economic and urban growth, Minas Gerais has undergone a great cultural and artistic development which allowed names like Aleijadinho to become notable.
Accessalso: Discover the life of Father Antônio de Vieira
The art in Minas Gerais
We know that a large part of the gold extracted from Minas Gerais ended up in Portugal or in English coffers, but a part of it remained here. This gold generated prosperity and allowed a remarkable artistic and intellectual development to take place. first in intellectual field, that's because the children of the Minas elite they were sent to study in Europe.
There they had contact with the most up-to-date intellectual discussions that existed in places like Coimbra, for example. This intellectual development allowed the arts in Minas Gerais to advance, and so we can highlight the poetry of the time, which had names that marked Brazil, such as Cláudio Manuel da Costa and Alvarenga Peixoto.
The artistic expression that most marked the mining period was the Minas baroque, dominating the sculpture and architecture of the time. It was the development of baroque in Minas Gerais that made names like Aleijadinho famous.
The development of this style is related to the lay religious associations who settled in the captaincy. As brotherhoods, third orders and brotherhoods of lay people, these associations emerged in the vacuum left by religious orders, prohibited from establishing themselves in Minas Gerais by the Portuguese Crown.
These associations, which also prospered, used their money to invest in building churches, many of which were made in strategic locations such as the highest parts of cities. For the construction and decoration of these institutions, a number of architects, sculptors, carvers and painters were hired.
Great works by Aleijadinho
![The 12 prophets of the Bom Jesus de Matosinhos sanctuary churchyard is one of Aleijadinho's great works.[1]](/f/2efe53ff1656a4fb3add1ef5978a4f3a.jpg)
Aleijadinho's first project dates back to 1752 and was the fountain at the Governors' Palace, in Vila Rica. A few years later, in 1758, he worked at another fountain, the Hospicio da Terra Santa. In 1760, Aleijadinho was already consideredteacher in his craft, and from then on he became quite well known, with his work being much in demand.
The work done by him and other sculptors and cleavers of the time worked on the basis of order. A religious institution ordered a type of work, and Aleijadinho passed him the price for his labor. In general, his work cost half an octave of gold a day (about 600 réis), but in some cases he could charge more than that. There are reports that he even charged an octave (1200 réis) per day of service.
The two main materials used by Aleijadinho were the soap stone, used in his sculptures, and the pink cedar, used in the wooden sculptures he carved and which were inside churches. His art has largely been included in what is known as artsacred, for addressing religious topics.
Aleijadinho's work is considered one of the great symbols of Minas Gerais baroque, but specialists in art history point out that a large part of the works of the Minas Gerais sculptor is associated with another style: O rococo.
From the 1760s onwards, Aleijadinho prospered and managed to set up a workshop where he kept three slaves who helped in his work and where he hired other sculptors who were apprentices to help him with the orders that received.
Aleijadinho worked for several cities in Minas Gerais, and his works are in villagerich (Black gold), São João del Rei, Tiradentes, Congonhas, sabara, Caete, Mariana, among others. Experts always point out that his two main works were:
- Church of St. Francis of Assisi, church in Ouro Preto, which had a project and decoration elaborated by Aleijadinho;
- Bom Jesus de Matosinhos Sanctuary, church, in Congonhas, where Aleijadinho built the 12 prophets in the churchyard and sculptures that portray the Passion of Christ.
Accessalso: Inconfidencia Mineira – the revolt of miners against the Portuguese Crown
Last years
![Wooden sculptures depicting the Passion of Christ.[2]](/f/f60027e53342aaee602ee4a5184a6c2a.jpg)
Aleijadinho's biographers say that he had a outgoing personality, being a fan of dances, parties and drinks. In the 1770s, he had a relationship with a woman named Narcisa Rodrigues da Conceição, having a son with her called Manuel Francisco Lisbon, in honor of his father.
In 1777, Aleijadinho began to show the first symptoms of a illnessserious that stayed with him for the rest of his life. Historians to this day do not know what it was that affected the sculptor from Minas Gerais and that caused him so much physical suffering. It is speculated that the disease that affected him may have been leprosy, syphilis or porphyria.
The disease caused the deformation of Aleijadinho's body. The fingers of his fingers and toes were destroyed by the disease, which caused him to lose his mobility, having to walk on his knees or be carried. To continue working, Aleijadinho tied his tools to his hands and wrist, as his fingers had been deformed.
The term "aleijadinho" is believed to be a reference to loss of sculptor's locomotion. he still had his deformed face, getting an appearance considered ugly. This affected his personality, and it is said that he would have become more morose and moody after manifesting the illness. There are those who say that the disease affected the sculptor's artistic style.
It is believed that, in order to hide the deformities caused by the disease, Aleijadinho chose to do much of his work at night and started to wear loose-fitting clothes that hid his wounds. He lived with this disease until the end of his days, and there are reports that, in recent years, he could no longer stand the pain and suffering that the disease brought him. He died on November 18, 1814, in Vila Rica.
Note
|1| FAUSTO, Boris. concise history of Brazil. São Paulo: Edusp, 2018. for. 52.
|2| SCHWARCZ, Lilia Moritz and STARLING, Heloísa Murgel. Brazil: a biography. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2015. for. 117.
Image credits
[1] Caio Flints and Shutterstock
[2] ryoshi and Shutterstock
by Daniel Neves
History teacher
