In the year that celebrates the 5th centenary of the birth of Infanta Dona Maria (1521-1577), a distinguished figure of the 16th century Portuguese culture, the MNAA received from the outgoing Ambassador of the United States of America to Portugal, His Excellency George E. Glass, the donation of the painting Infanta Dona Maria Praying to the Image and Relics of Saint Vincent. A Portuguese work of art of the Mannerist cycle, it was probably painted around 1613, when the execution of the Princess’s will - whose assets, divided between Portugal and France, amounted to an enormous fortune - was completed. This painting has been attributed to Simão Rodrigues (1583-1629) and Domingos Vieira Serrão (1570-1632). However, it may perhaps be more directly related to the royal painter Amaro do Vale († 1619), who was the author of the large panels with the depiction of the miracles of Saint Vincent, which were painted for the Lisbon Cathedral’s choir stalls. It is, in any case, a painting of great iconographic interest about Princess Maria and the cult of the patron saint of the city of Lisbon.



Portuguese School
Infanta Dona Maria Praying to the Image and Relics of Saint Vincent
c. 1613
Oil on oak panel
168 × 85 cm
Prov: donation, George E. Glass, outgoing Ambassador of the United States of America to Portugal, 2021
MNAA, inv. 2215 Pint