Museu de Grão Vasco
Inside the former Bishop’s palace next to the cathedral, the Museu de Grão Vasco is Viseu’s star attraction. It displays religious paintings and artefacts, including some beautiful Oriental porcelain and textiles, but the main draw here are the paintings by local boy Vasco Fernandes, better known as “The Great Vasco” (Grão Vasco), widely regarded as one of Portugal’s best painters . His earliest work on display here is the fourteen panels tracing the life of Christ (1501–06), which were commissioned for the altarpiece of Viseu cathedral – note the vivid Adoration of the Magi which topically presents Balthasar as a Brazilian-inspired Indian with feathered headdress (Brazil had been “discovered” by the Portuguese in 1500). His most famous work is St Peter on His Throne (1530–35) – the painting has a freestanding mounting that allows you to see how the original frame was dovetailed together. There are also many works created by Grão Vasco with collaborators, and several by Gaspar Vaz, mostly depicting the apostles.
Grão Vasco and Gaspar Vaz
Little is known about Vasco Fernandes, universally known as Grão Vasco; it can only be said that he was born in or near the city of Viseu, probably in 1475, and that he died in 1542 or 1543. There was no major artist living in Viseu at the time to mentor the young Vasco Fernandes, so it’s assumed that he trained in Lisbon or even abroad. Even more problematic for art historians is that virtually all the works associated with him – up to 100 by some counts – have had to be identified by comparisons with the only two that he definitely signed, and with his known work on the surviving altar panels for Lamego and Viseu cathedrals. In many cases, his attributed works are collaborations, particularly with his Viseu contemporary Gaspar Vaz (1490–1569).
The Great Vasco
Little is known about Vasco Fernandes, universally known as Grão Vasco ("The Great Vasco"); it can only be said that he was born in or near the city of Viseu, probably in 1475, and that he died in 1542 or 1543. There was no major artist living in Viseu at the time to mentor the young Vasco Fernandes, so it’s assumed that he trained in Lisbon or even abroad. Even more problematic for art historians is that virtually all the works associated with him – up to one hundred by some counts – have had to be identified by comparisons with the only two that he definitely signed, and with his known work on the surviving altar panels for Lamego and Viseu cathedrals. In many cases, his attributed works are collaborations, particularly with his Viseu contemporary Gaspar Vaz (1490–1569).