Excerpt from Portugal Old and Young: An Historical Study
The Altar-Piece of San Vicente, by Nuno Gonsalvez, of which one panel is reproduced as a frontispiece to this book, is one of the few surviving masterpieces of Portuguese mediaeval painting, and gives us the portraits of some of the leading personages of the period when Portugal was a Great Power. The youth kneeling before St. Vincent in the foreground is Affonzo V, 'el rey cavalleiro' (b. 1432, k. 1438, d. 1481), and the lady opposite is his wife and niece, the Infante of Castile, through whom he claimed the Crown of Castile. The Castilians resisted the union, made Isabella her younger sister Queen, defeated the Portuguese at Toro, 1476, as completely as they had been defeated by the Portuguese at Aljubarrota in 1385, and founded the Kingdom of Spain by marrying Isabella to Ferdinand of Aragon. Affonzo was also involved in Moroccan adventures, which earned him the title of 'the African' and nothing much else. The child behind is his son, John II 'the Perfect' (b. 1433, k. 1481 d. 1495), and the careworn intellectual face in the background, under a large hat, is no other than Prince Henry the Navigator - uncle of Affonzo and son of John the Great and Philippa, daughter of John of Gaunt - the most illustrious and interesting personality of this Anglo-Portuguese dynasty.
These paintings were lost in dirt and darkness in a Lisbon church until the Revolution. After being most carefully cleaned, they can now be seen in the Museum. Their resplendence makes them a worthy record of Old Portugal, and Young Portugal is significantly symbolized in their resurrection.
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