Born on 18 April 1842, Antero de Quental became the symbol of a generation (the 70s Generation). He is an obligatory reference in poetry, philosophical and literary essays, journalism, but also in the battles for freedom of thought and social justice, where he established himself as an outstanding ideologue.
He is represented in the collection of the Soares dos Reis National Museum in a drawing by António Carneiro, dated 1913.
‘Coming from one of the oldest colonising families in the island, aligned with the liberal sectors of society, Antero continued this tradition, like his grandfather, André da Ponte de Quental, a signatory of the 1822 Constitution, and his father, Fernando de Quental, one of the “7,500 brave men of Mindelo”.
Disembarking in Lisbon at the age of 10 to study at António Feliciano de Castilho’s school, he entered the Faculty of Law at the University of Coimbra in 1859, quickly becoming the leader of the students and their spokesman, and the author of several protests against the intellectual and socio-political conservatism of the time. The poems and articles of literary and political criticism he wrote for Coimbra newspapers and magazines contributed to his prestige.
The most stimulating period of his public life culminated in the organisation, together with Batalha Reis, of the Casino Conferences, which opened in 1871 at the Casino Lisbonense. Their aim was to reflect on the political, religious and economic conditions of Portuguese society in the European context’(source).
The painter António Carneiro is one of the biggest names in painting and drawing in Portugal and is represented in the collection of the Soares dos Reis National Museum.
Last year, on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of his birth, the Soares dos Reis National Museum (in partnership with the Faculty of Letters of the University of Porto) dedicated a temporary exhibition to him.
Part of the collaborative travelling project Outros lugares (Other Places), the temporary exhibition Desenhos de António Carneiro para o Inferno de Dante (Drawings by António Carneiro for Dante’s Inferno ) was shown at Casa dos Livros, a newly created space in the city of Porto, and more recently at the Lionesa Business Hub.
Forty-two drawings by António Carneiro, which are in the Soares dos Reis National Museum and reveal the best of his talent as a visionary poet, were produced to illustrate Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy Inferno.
Painter, professor at the Porto School of Fine Arts, artistic director of the magazine Águia and linked to the Portuguese Renaissance movement, António Teixeira Carneiro was a notable figure in northern culture. He was born in 1872 in Amarante and died in 1930 in Porto.
He was a disciple of Soares dos Reis and Marques de Oliveira at the Academia Portuense de Belas-Artes.
Image Credits: @Museu Nacional Soares dos Reis (433 Pin Dep/ MNSR)