The Machado de Castro National Museum (Portuguese: Museu Nacional de Machado de Castro) is an art museum in Coimbra, Portugal, named after the renowned Portuguese sculptorJoaquim Machado de Castro. It first opened in 1913 and its latest renovation (2004–2012), which included the addition of a new building, was awarded the Piranesi/Prix de Rome Prize 2014.[1]
Building
The museum is housed in the former Bishop's Palace. This palace was built from the Middle Ages onwards roughly on the site where the Roman forum of Aeminium (Coimbra's Roman name) once stood. The remains of this distant past, the Cryptoporticus, can be visited on the lower floors of the museum.[2]
The bulk of the museum's collection is made up of items from churches and religious institutions in the area surrounding Coimbra. The collections of sculpture (the most extensive of all the national museums of Portugal), painting, precious metals, ceramics and textiles are especially noteworthy.[2]
Archaeology
Portrait of Agripina, 1st Century, 54 x 34 x 34 cm
Portrait of Trajan, 1st-2nd Century, 70 x 32 x 34 cm
Female Portrait, 1st Century, 32 x 32 x 22 cm
Sculpture
Master Pero, Medieval Knight, 14th Century, 72 x 65 x 19,5 cm
Unknown author, Black Christ, 14th Century, wood, 284,5 x 140 x 61 cm
Unknown author, Christ in His Tomb, 14th-15th Century, stone, 64 x 151 x 65 cm
Master of the Royal Tombs, Virgin of the Annunciation, 1500-1525
João de Ruão, Deposition of Christ, 1535-1540, 222 x 225 cm
João de Ruão, St. Bartholomew's Martyrdom, 16th Century
João de Ruão, St. John the Baptist, 16th Century
João de Ruão, St. Agnes, 16th Century, 110 x 46 x 25 cm
Altarpiece of the Nativity, Antwerp, 16th Century, 106,5 x 162 x 29,5 cm
Olivier de Gand, St. Geronimo and Pope St. Gregory, 16th Century
Paintings
Unknown Author, Madonna of the Rose, 15th Century, 209 x 128 cm
Santa Clara triptych, 16th Century, 297 x 342 cm
Sardoal Masters, The assumption of the Virgin, 16th Century, 168 x 135 cm
Quentin Metsys, Triptych of the passion of Christ, c. 1514-17
Quentin Metsys, Triptych of the passion of Christ, c. 1514-17