Statues - Hither & Thither

 

Description

Bronze statue of Afonso de Albuquerque appears with his left hand resting on the sword's hilt, and his right pointing at a bunch of guns at his feet, emphasizing his governmental and warlike abilities. It stands on a monumental column decorated with armillary spheres, coats-of-arms, cords and ropes.

At the base of the column sit four winged figures representing the main qualities of Albuquerque: Genius, Strength, Courage and Justice (identification is not sure). Below their feet the pedestal is decorated with elephants and between the statues are four identical reliefs with ships.

Genius: Seated, winged woman with a flag, holding a ribbon with the name AFONSO D'ALBUQUERQUE.	Justice (?): Seated, winged woman with a sword and the tablets with the Ten Commandments.
Courage (?): Seated, winged woman with a book and rudder	Strength (?): Seated, winged man man with sword and shield

Under the figure is a bronze portrait medaillon of the historian Simão José da Luz Soriano (Lisboa 1802 - 1891, Wikipedia), the initiator of the monument, with the text "por legado de simã iosé luz soritano erigido em 1901"

The base is octagonal and has on the faces reliefs of four of the glorious feats practiced by Afonso de Albuquerque:

The defeat of the army of the king of Hormuz	The entrance of Albuquerque in Goa and the handing over of the city keys;
The taking of Malacca.	The embassy to the king of Narcinga

Signature

Sculptor

• António Augusto da Costa Motta (tio) [uncle] (Coimbra 1862 - Lisboa 1930), Portuguese sculptor (for his eponymous nephew, see 'sobrinho') (Wikipedia).

Sources & Information

• Câmara Municipal de Lisboa, Equipamentos.
• Câmara Municipal de Lisboa, Arte Pública.
• Espaço e Tempo, revelar LX, Arte pública/Escultura.
• Wikipedia, Praça Afonso de Albuquerque.
• Sílvia Lucas Vieira de Almeida, Forma e conceito na escultura de oitocentos, Ph.D. Thesis Universidade Nova de Lisboa, 2012 (PDF on-line).

Tags

Locatie (N 38°41'47" - W 9°12'0") (Satellite view: Google Maps)

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