Abstract
Giuseppe Trono’s painting in the Bemposta chapel, produced in 1791-1792, is the most representative artwork related to the social policies implemented by the Queen Mary I. This article focuses on the historical and artistic analyses to frame the political and religious context, and to clarify its misunderstood iconography. The cult of the Sacred Heart, instituted in 1779 by Pope Pius VI, is crucial to reframe the meaning of the painting. The new approach offers an original interpretation of the black woman who is represented in it. Her identity and biography are brought to the light. Her subjectivity is compared to the more known biographies of the enslaved black dwarfs, who lived at the Portuguese royal court, mainly the female dwarf Rosa of the Sacred Heart, portraited in Mascarada Nupcial by José Conrado Roza (1788). Her in/visibility is compared, also, to the ‘silence’ about the black presence in the painting The earthquake of 1755 by João Glama (2nd half of 18th century).
Highlights
Giuseppe Trono’s painting in the Bemposta chapel, produced in 1791-1792, is the most representative artwork related to the social policies implemented by the Queen Mary I
The painting’s iconography is very unusual. It is not based on recognizable patterns and it shows, on the right, Queen Mary I and the royal family; on the left, a group of people in which women and children prevail; above, Our Lady of Immaculate Conception who gazes at the Sacred Heart of Jesus
The Sacred Heart and the politics of charity: the people of Lisbon city In 1784, Queen Maria I sought in Italy a good painter of portraits, and chose Giuseppe Trono from Turin
Summary
Giuseppe Trono’s painting in the Bemposta chapel, produced in 1791-1792, is the most representative artwork related to the social policies implemented by the Queen Mary I. It is not based on recognizable patterns and it shows, on the right, Queen Mary I and the royal family; on the left, a group of people in which women and children prevail; above, Our Lady of Immaculate Conception who gazes at the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
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