Antônio Francisco Lisboa,

the Aleijadinho (the “little cripple”), prominent Brazilian artist, was born in 1738 to a Portuguese architect father, Manoel Francisco Lisboa, and his Brazilian slave, Isabel. He died in 1814, in his native state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, poor and unknown. A foremost representative of the Brazilian Baroque, Aleijadinho worked under severe constraints, as he suffered grave physical deformities due to illness (possibly leprosy or syphilis), requiring that his working tools be tied to his hand. Taught mostly by his father, Aleijadinho left an impressive body of religious art: architectural designs and sculptures in churches, convents, and monasteries.

Aleijadinho lived and worked in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. As the name indicated, this was an extremely wealthy mining region, which, at its peak, remitted about 25,000 kilos of gold to Portugal per year. The combination of wealth, the religiosity of its inhabitants, and geographical isolation (Minas is located inland in Brazil and its colonization occurred around two centuries after the coastal area), contributed to the development of a unique sculptural and architectural style, as seen in Aleijadinho’s legacy.

The main body of Aleijadinho’s work concentrated in a few important mining towns of his time: Ouro Preto, São João del Rei, Sabará, and Congonhas. Combining elements of the Gothic and Renaissance into the language of the Baroque, Aleijadinho developed a powerful artistic language – sculpture and architecture blend masterfully in his work. Famous examples of his sculptural work included the life size rendering of 12 prophets, standing on the stairway of Bom Jesus de Matosinhos Church, in the city of Congonhas do Campo. The Churches of San Francis de Assis, in São João Del Rei and in Ouro Preto, well illustrated his abilities as an architect.

Aleijadinho died at 76, poor and forgotten. It was during the 1920s that his art received closer attention, in the context of the Brazilian Modern Art week. He has since been considered a master in his craft and one of the first to contribute to a genuinely Brazilian artistic language. 

Sources:
Mirian Andrade Ribeiro de Oliveira, “Aleijadinho and Baroque Art in Brazil,” in Art and Architecture in Brazil, from Aleijadinho to Niemeyer (Chicago: Illinois Institute of Technology, Department of Architecture, 1984; New York: United Nations Headquarters, 1983); Sunil Bald, “In Aleijadinho’s Shadow: Writing National Origins in Brazilian Architecture, available at architecture.mit.edu/.../23/bald23/bald23.htm

Contributor(s):
Martins, Ana Nina
Independent Historian

One of the rare paintings of Aleijadinho



One of his prophets sculptures EZEQUIEL


painting by Henrique Bernadelli


angel


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short story by Wayn Pieters

Congonhas, Minas Gerais, Brazil 1800

"I must go on, even once, perhaps my last final work!" His eyes could not longer bear the daylight, the little man's body was trembling, while the old working room was lit up by torches. "Master, your are sick, you can't go on, think of your health, por favor!" said the young student Olimpio.
"Bind the tools to my wrist! I have to complete this work, mankind will be a witness, just as Our lady of Immaculate Conception!" The litlle man yelled.

Aleijadinho, 62 now, referred to this job the 12 soapstone prophets, which would shine on pilars in front of the church of "Bom Jesus de Matozinhos", and from there to see over the hills. He walked with diffuculty and his feet were dying, his legs and arms were without any feeling. His face was ravaged, his viscous skin yellow and rotten, his theeth were allready disappeared, mucus ran from his mouth and his eyes were dark, undeniable and wet, just suitable to create his last project. The people saw him as a munster, a bantling. They named the disease 'lepra' whom reveal to him at his 47th year. He was born as son of a Portugese architect and a black slave woman Isabel. Some years earlier he made his 64 wooden figures, which represented the Calvary road and the showpiece was the Savior himself in which you could see the veins in his neck throbbing. A masterpiecee. 

Aleijadinho's arms were like two stumps where his tools were tied to. This way he completed his masterpiece, the pinnacle of the Minas Gerais Baroque architecture. Now he worked like a possessed one on his 12 prophets and it seemed that he putted all his anger and feelings in it. It had to be perfect, because one of the images was his own image: Isaiah, his body resemblance, a selfs-portrait, a little man, a slighly curved body and with pain chiseled on his face. At that time his meal was just a bit of rice and beans, the meal of a man who knew that the end was near. The 12 prophets were his ultimate desire, chiseled out of soapstone with the silhouettes of human shape: Jeremias, Daniel, Joel, Amos, Naum, Abdias, Baruc, Ezequiel, after they say the most pure image, and Jesaja, his spirit. And now he worked on his last prophet, Habacuc.

"If God's willing!" he screamed fanatical: "If the good LOrd is willing!" and his arm-stumps moved with craft-full rhythm. Rain was falling in Congonhas, sweat drippng from his face and tears from eyes. He tought of his youth in Ouro Preto, where he was born, his love for the region, the hills of Minas, his love for art. He cried while finishing his last prophet.

Antonio Francisco Lisboa, Aleijadinho, died on 18th November 1814, in a shack on the outskirts of Ouro Preto, like a poor hermit.
rare portrait of unknown artist

Wayn   (2002 c)