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Old Goa - The Paintings
& Gilt Woodwork
The Paintings
When the Portuguese started erecting magnificent Churches
soon after Goa's conquest, artists were required to
decorate them elaborately. It is only through the descriptions
of famous travelers such as Pyrard de Laval, Jean Tavernier,
Dr. Wilson, Cottineau de Kloguen that we come to know
about the existence of many beautiful paintings which
decorated the Churches in Old Goa. With the demolition
of the Churches, the paintings were also destroyed.
The few which escaped destruction will convey to us
a faint idea about the past; but many of these paintings
have been retouched and crudely over painted,so that
portraits of Vice-Roy and some paintings of Santa Catarina
which are in the sacristy of the SO Catedral were cleaned
at the Instituto de Restauro in Lisbon.
There are three types of paintings in Old Goa viz, those
on wood, those on canvas and the murals. The first paintings
of the first quarter of the XVth century started deteriorating
immediately, due to the local materials employed. So,
the paintings were imported from Portugal; but soon
after, the local artists improved their technique so
that all the big Churches which were erected at the
end of XVIIth and at the beginning of the XVIIth centuries
were decorated by them and the practice of importing
paintings from Portugal was almost stopped.
At present, we find in Old Goa paintings imported from
Portugal as well those done in Goa; but among the latter,
some were done by native artists and others by foreigners
who had settled in Goa, such as the members of the religious
congregations, etc. But according to art historian Carlos
de Azavedo, the majority of them belong to native artists.
There are many references to them. Almost all the mural
paintings which we admire in Old Goa, especially in
the Church of St. Francis of Assisi and the Convent
of St. Monica, are attributed to native artists. With
the increase of Christian population, their activity
developed extraordinarily. They became so famous that
orders for paintings came even from Cochin.
The paintings imported from Lisbon can be distinguished
from the local ones not only by their style but also
by the quality of the wooden base. The Portuguese employed
oak wood, while teak wood was common in Goa. In the
former category, we find a series of seven paintings
on oak wood, depicting different episodes from the life
and martyrdom of Santa Catarina, which are at present
in the sacristy of Se. A comparative study of the dressing
style and the sceneries in these paintings show that
they belong to the 2nd quarter of the XVlth century.
These paintings were evaluated and highly appreciated
when some of them were cleaned at the Instituto de Restauro
in Lisbon; this study revealed that there is much hidden
beauty in the portraits of Santa Catarina and other
feminine figures. If we compare them with the present
gilt altarpiece of the main altar of the Se, we will
find that the latter were patterned on the designs of
the former.
Besides this series, we have the paintings of St. Peter,
St. Paul and St. Joseph with Child Jesus in the sacristry
of Se. There is also a painting on wood depicting three
Saints in the Casa Professa of Bom Jesus.
Among the local paintings we can mention the following,
besides the famous gallery of the portraits of Vice-Roys:
a series of Apostles in the Se and another in the Born
Jesus Church (this last series was perhaps painted in
1694 as we find this date on the back of the painting
of the Apostle, St. Mathias); a painting of St. Francis
Xavier above the last door of the Chapel where we find
the tomb of the Saint. It is said that this painting
is a faithful likeness of the Saint. It carries the
following legend: Dimidiurn cernis, quern magnurn suscipit
orbis: Xavier est: toturn nulla tabella capit (The half
of him you see whom the world admires as great: he is
Xavier. No picture can hold him whole). Besides the
beautiful paintings which decorate the tomb of St. Francis,
the local artists painted also the murals in St. Monica's
Convent, St. Francis of Assisi's and the Se Catedral.
There are some vestiges in the Church of Rosario.
The mural paintings in Old Goa are very important because
they reveal the influence of Indian decoration even
in religious designs. Sta. Monica's and St. Francis
of Assisi's murals reveal a hybrid style which developed
in Goa, namely the blend of western elements with the
Indian ones. This is evident especially in the painting
of St. Michael at Sta. Monica's and that of Angels at
St. Francis of Assisi's and many other decorative murals.
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