Archaeology

Southern-most region of mainland Portugal. Its name is derived from ‘the West’ in Arabic. This region has relatively few medieval buildings: devastating earthquakes in 1722 and 1755 contributed to these losses, though many buildings were deliberately destroyed during the Middle Ages. For example, in the 12th century the Almoravids likely razed a pilgrimage church, described in Arabic sources, at the tip of the cape of S Vicente. Mosques at Faro, Silves and Tavira, among others, appear to have been levelled to make room for church construction after the Reconquest of the region, completed in 1249. Further excavations could shed much light on this history.

Highlights in the Algarve include remains at Milreu of a villa with elaborate mosaics that rank among the most substantial Roman sites in the region. The site further preserves foundations of a basilica, likely constructed in the 5th century, and traces of what may be a baptistery, perhaps added during the period of Byzantine occupation in the 6th and 7th centuries. The period of Islamic rule, from the 8th century through to the 13th, witnessed the construction of many fortifications, including examples at Aljezur, Loulé and Salir, which were mostly levelled by earthquakes. Silves, a city with origins in the Bronze Age, preserves a substantial concentration of relatively well-preserved Islamic monuments. These include a bridge, carved inscriptions, a castle, cistern and fortified walls, along which numerous ceramics have been excavated. Most extant medieval churches in Algarve date to the period after the Reconquest. These tend to be modest in design and small in scale, such as the 13th-century Vera Cruz de Marmelar, built over Visigothic or Mozarabic foundations. The relatively large cathedrals at Silves and at Faro preserve substantial portions dating to the 13th century, as well as fabric from subsequent medieval campaigns. Renaissance and Baroque churches and ecclesiastical furnishings can be found throughout Algarve....

Dutch, 17th century, male.

Born 1583, in Brussels; died 1660, in Frankfurt am Main.

Painter, engraver, archaeologist.

Frankenthal School.

Hendrik van der Borcht the Elder left his native country with his parents in 1586, because of war, and went to Germany, where he was the pupil of Gillis von Valkenburg. According to other biographers, he was the pupil of the elderly Martin von Valkenburg, in Frankfurt. Later he went to Italy, where he devoted himself to archaeology. He lived until 1627 in Frankenthal, and thereafter in Frankfurt am Main. He had also been to England. The engravings for which he is remembered include: ...

Italian, 16th – 17th century, male.

Born c. 1560, in Bologna; died 7 January 1623, in Rome.

Priest, archaeologist, draughtsman.

Appointed notary to the Pope and archivist of St Peter's in 1581, Jacopo Grimaldi wrote documents that have never been published in which he described the restoration, destruction or relocation of the art works of Christian Rome. These writings were decorated with pen drawings that were mainly his own work. The first document is dated ...

(b Vic, 1872; d Vic, 1931).

Spanish art historian, archaeologist and museum curator. He was deeply involved in the nationalist cultural renaissance that took place in Catalonia at the end of the 19th century. His publications include a monograph on 14th-century Catalan art, a companion to an earlier study by S. Sanpere i Miquel on 15th-century Catalan art. Much of the work of Gudiol i Cunill was, however, centred on the Museu Arqueologic Artistic Episcopal, Vic, founded in 1889 and inaugurated in 1891 with a superb collection of 1300 objects, most of which are examples of medieval Catalan art. Appointed curator in 1898, Gudiol i Cunill worked there until his death. He wrote extensively about the museum, as well as producing various guides to the collection.

Spanish, 17th century, male.

Active in Sevillec.1669.

Painter, archaeologist.

Juan de Loaysa y Giron was one of the founders of the Seville academy. He was canon at Seville Cathedral and a painter of considerable taste.

(b Dresden, Jan 7, 1847; d Lugano, Aug 25, 1937).

German art historian, collector and dealer. The son of a Lutheran clergyman, he first studied theology at Leipzig but while travelling in Italy in 1869 became interested in early Christian archaeology, in which field he determined to continue. His first publications were on the sources of Byzantine art history and the mosaics of Ravenna. In 1876 he met Giovanni Morelli, whose disciple he became. Their lengthy correspondence constitutes an important source for the early history of connoisseurship. Richter published a short biography of Leonardo in 1880, then a series of articles in the Zeitschrift für bildende Kunst and finally his edition of the Literary Works of Leonardo (1883), the work that established his reputation as a scholar. This was the first scholarly edition of Leonardo’s writings, illustrated, moreover, with a selection of mostly authentic drawings at a time when books on Leonardo were normally illustrated by his pupils’ works....