Lisbon - Northern Lisbon and the Gulbenkian Travel Guides | Lisbon | Sub Regions | Lisbon - Northern Lisbon and the Gulbenkian

The broad avenues of the ‘Estados Novos’ (New States) which stretch beyond Parque Eduardo VII bear the imperious imprint of fascist Prime Minister Salazar (1936-70). Thrusting 1940s office blocks and monolithic apartment buildings don't exactly secure the area an entry onto most vistors' hit lists but nestling in between there are fine examples of elegant prize-winning architecture. The Casa-Museu Dr Anastácio Gonçalves is an acclaimed decorative arts museum worth visiting for its swirling art nouveau façade alone. Lisbon's number one attraction, the Museu Calouste Gulbenkian, lies in its own serene, 17-acre garden housing an outstanding collection of Western and Eastern art. Further north is a clutch of niche museums, including the rather fusty Museu de Cidade. Unveiled for Euro 2004, Sporting Lisbon's new stadium straddles the busy transport nexus of Campo Grande and Benfica's over-hauled football shrine glimmers in its rather down-at-heel eponymous suburb. With an old-fashioned fun fair, zoo and toy museum within a 20-minute metro ride, the northern reaches of the city also offer plenty of child-friendly activities.

Sights

Av da Berna, 45-A, T 21 782 34 61. Wed-Sun 1000-1800, Tue 1400-1800. E5, free Sun. Metro São Sebastião.

As monumental in its scope as in its quality, the Gulbenkian covers the major periods of Western and Eastern art from 2,800 BC onwards. Armenian entrepreneur and art fanatic, Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian (1869-1955), bequeathed to Portugal some 6,000 works. When Turkish Petroleum Ltd was distributed among four oil companies, Gulbenkian secured for himself the 5 per cent of the capital, earning him the sobriquet ‘Mr Five Percent’. But his passion for the arts derived from the artistic and aesthetic beauty of each item rather than from its market value. His fervour, however, knew no bounds and each item had to be the best. If what he desired was not available on the open market he would simply approach the Rothchilds of the world and tenacious bartering would ensue.

Egyptian and classical antiquities This collection, although slender, spans all periods of the civilization from the Old Kingdom to the Roman period. Gulbenkian devoted great time and money to the aquisition of a bronze sculpture of the Torso of Pedubast, encrusted with copper and gold, from the reign of King Pedubast (818-791 BC), the Dynasty XXIII, Third Intermediate Kingdom. The Saite period (664-525 BC) is represented by a series of striking, amazingly preserved bronze cats. Bastet, the goddess of fertility, was one of the multiple deities in Egypt’s polytheist religion endowed with a cat’s head.

The collection of classical antiquities, presents a series of ancient Greek coins (575-75 BC) and the 3rd-century Roman head of Alexander the Great, or the Abouquir Medallion. Discovered in 1906, debate raged for decades as to its authenticity.

Decorative arts The decorative arts collection is dominated by the French Regency, revealing Gulbenkian’s fondness for the elegance characterized by the Louis XV and Louis XVI periods. Designs from the drawing board of France’s finest cabinet makers include Jean-Henri Riesener’s Louis XV-style cylinder desk, made in 1773 for the wife of the future Louis XVII.

Islamic art Gulbenkian’s interest in Islamic art developed from formative years in spent in Turkey. There are more than 250 pieces from the period spanning the Mongol invasions of Gengis Khan to the end of the 18th century, including ceramics, costumes, Isfahan carpets from Persia (16th to the 17th-century Ottoman periods), Persian silks and lustrous Ottoman azulejo tile panels (16th century), mosque lamps from the Mamluk period (14th century), as well as textiles, lacquer doors and remarkable jade. It’s an revealing insight into the fervent religious beliefs and unbridled luxury in which the upper classes lived. One of the highlights is the stunning mural relief from Assyria-Nimrud (884-859 BC), Mesopotamia.

Oriental art From the Far East, there is 18th-century porcelain from the Qing Dynasty, semi-precious stones from China and laquer work from Japan, reflecting the collector’s preference for the fanciful decoration of the porcelain of the T’sing Dynasty. The crowd puller is the ‘Coromandel screen’ from 17th-century China. Also alluring is the Japanese writing box, laquered with relief decoration and ornte inros (tobaco pouches).

European art This collection spans the period from the 15th-20th century. The 15th- and 16th-century Flemish and Italian schools are represented by a selection that includes works by Roger van der Weyden, Carpaccio and Ghirlandaio. There are many works by 17th-century Flemish and Dutch masters Peter Paul Rubens, Franz Hals, Anton van Dyck and Rembrandt van Rijn.

One of Gulbenkian’s paintings, Rubens’ Helena Fourment (1577-1640), is one of the highlights of the entire collection, a ravishing portait of the artist’s wife dressed in black satin, which constrasts with her silky rosy hue flesh. Gulbenkian acquired the painting from the Hermitage Museum, whipping it from right under the nose of legendary dealer Sir Joseph Duveen. The 18th century is also represented by an area devoted to the work of the Venetian painter Francesco Guardi (1712-93). The Veduta, considered one of Guardi’s masterpieces, shows the Piazza San Marco decorated for the Festa della Sensa. In Portrait of a Young Woman (1485), the alluring model dressed in a Florentine red dress and a coral necklace radiating from her neck, captures the essence of the quattrocento Florence, the realism and naturalism which defined the last half of the 15th century.

Another area focuses on the works of English painters and includes a collection of portaits by Thomas Gainsborough (1727-88). Throughout the collection, in paintings and sculpture, women in all their glory whether in naked liberation, or closed modesty, lithe or curvaceous fascinated Gulbenkian. Gainsborough’s full-length portrait of the youthful Elizabeth Garth, painted in celebration of her wedding to her cousin William Lowndes-Stone shows the Flemish influence upon 18th-century English portrait painting. But with dashing spontaneity and elegance this is considered to be one of Gainsborough’s finest portaits, earning him the title, the ‘ideal artist to portray the English woman’. There are also two Turners, windswept elemental masterpieces, including the turbulent, Wreck of a Transport Ship (1810).

Sculpture The collection focuses on French works from the 18th-19th century. From the 18th century there is the polemical masterpiece of Jean-Antoine Houdon, the marble statue of Diana, which belonged to Catherine of Russia. Running, quivering, naked, Houdon’s work caused a sensation at the time and was regarded as excessive and inappropriate.

Not to be missed is the magnificent Jean D’Aire sculpture by Rodin. Cast in bronze in the late 19th century it formed part of the sculptural group which was a monument to the valiant Burghers of Calais; the six martyrs who surrended themselves as hostages to Edward III of England, so he would raise the siege of the city and save the starving population during the Hundred Years’ War. Rodin immortalized the hostages as they prepare themselves for execution. Each figure embodies the different states of mind on facing martyrdom. The most valient of the group, holding the keys to the city, Jean d’Aire, has become the most famed of the six. August Rodin kept this piece in his possession until his death in 1917, when it was acquired by Gulbenkian.

Lalique Jewellery Gulbenkian was a great admirer and close friend of René Lalique and this glittering art nouveau collection is unrivalled anywhere in the world. As a child, Lalique felt a great affinity with nature and would observe the world around him in great detail. Green was one of his favourite colours and he frequently used birds of prey, associated with the darkness of night. A fine draughtsman, he produced the drawings for his jewels himself. Imbued with elegance and eroticism, the orchid was one of the flowers that symbolized the aesthetic movement of the late 19th century and featured in many of Lalique’s creations.

The exuberant Jewel for the eagles and pine choker (1889-1901) was bought directly from Lalique in 1901 when Gulbenkian was just 12 years old. Made in cast and chased gold and enamelled in green, its centrepiece is an enormous square cabochon opal. The rectangular plaque is quite sinister, harbouring glaring demonic eagles enamelled in dark blue.

Perhaps the most stunning piece of all is the Female Face Pendant featuring poppies, one of the most emblematic flowers of art nouveau, associated with dream worlds. A languid female face, another recurrent image in Lalique’s work, is surrounded by waves of silver hair, draped with a huge baroque pearl, and framed by a hood of four voluptuous poppies.

Gulbenkian Museum, Av da Berna, T 21 782 34 74, E3, E5 joint ticket with the Gulbenkian, free Sun. Wed-Sun 1000-1800, Tue 1400-1800, closed Mon. Metro São Sebastião.

Opened in 1983, this museum houses the best collection of 20th- century Portuguese modern art in the country, as well as an important collection of British art since the 1960s. Just to the left of the entrance is Pintura (1917), the abstract work of one of the gallery’s most prominent artists Amadeu de Souza-Cardosa (1887-1919), Portugal’s most influential figure in transcending conventional forms and introducing modern art schools already established in Europe. In 1906 he studied in Paris, immersing himself in the bohemian gatherings of the cubists; the influence of his friend Picasso is clear. Working through the major avant garde trends from abstractionism, cubism, futurism and expressionism, his exhuberant work was characterized by splashes of fanciful colour and inventive subject matter. Just short of his 31st birthday, Souza-Cardosa died in the great influenza epidemic that swept across Portugal.

On the first floor there are works by Almada Negreiros, the father of Portuguese modernism, including his self portrait which was displayed in Café A Brasileira, until the 1970s. On the lower ground floor, there are monochrome canvases by Helena de Almeida (1934). The 1960s are represented by an almost fetishistic obsession with the human body, apparent in the powerful portrayals of internationally acclaimed artist Paulo Rego, artist in residence at London’s National Gallery during the 1990s. Also on the lower ground floor, the slender British contingent includes Bridget Riley’s Metamorphosis, David Hockney’s Renaissance Head and Harold Cohen’s Quadratic.

Avenida 5 de Outubro, 6-8, T 35 40 823/09 23. Tue 1400-1800, Wed-Sun 1000-1800. E2. Metro Saldanha/Picoas.

War veteran, renowned ophthalmologist and friend of Gulbenkian, Anastácio Gonçalves (1889-1965) devoted his life to a profound appreciation of the arts. During his life he amassed some 2,000 works, demonstrating a collector’s zeal refreshingly driven by personal taste and aesthetic stimulation rather than commerce.

While the collection is phemonenal, the Valmor prize-winning building that houses it is a visual feast in itself. Casa Malhoa was built in 1904 by one of the most revered architects of the period, Manoel Joaquim Norte Júnior. In the shadows of the Sheraton monolith, it is a delightful neoclassical anachronism. The austerity of the neo-Romanesque windows is set off by azulejo friezes, ornate borders and exuberant motifs.

The exhibition begins with a mesmerizing collection of Chinese porcelain, which includes many blue and white porcelain pieces from the Zhengde and Jiajing periods of the Ming Dynasty (1506-1566), as well as lustrous Wucai (five colours) pieces from the transitional period (1620-1683) and enamelled pieces from the famille verte and famille rose of the Qing dynasty.

A large part of the collection is dedicated to 18th-century Portuguese furniture and provides an insight into its evolution from the austere 17th-century designs to a more flamboyant French style. The collection includes the works of some of France’s most renowned cabinet makers, including JL Cossen and M Ohneburg.

Gonçalves was particulary enamoured of the naturalist paintings of the “Grupo de Leão” especially the work of António Silva Porto, the pioneer of Portuguese naturalism, the majority of whose works are displayed in Malhoa’s original studio. Notable highlights are A Ciefa (The Harvest, 1884) and Raparigas do Paço de Lumiar. Another of Gonçalves’s favoured landscape artists was João Vaz (1859-1931) and his ethereal A Praia, (The Beach, 1890) dominates the studio.

Largo São Domingos de Benfica, T 21 778 20 23. Guided tours must be booked in advance: Jul-Sep 1030, 1100, 1130, 1200. Oct-May 1100, 1200.

Built in 1640 as a hunting pavilion for João de Mascarenhas, the first Marquês de Fronteira, this charming palace is on the edge of the bucolic idyll of Monsanto forest. The interior is delightful with a profusion of lustrous azulejos and 18th-century rocaille stucco, suffused with the colonial exoticism of Indo- Portuguese furniture, paintings and tapestries. Even more crowd pleasing are the two beautiful romantic gardens, heavy with Pre-Raphaelite languour. Laid out in 1660, they are considered to be the finest example of the original Portuguese approach to gardening, despite being more representative of the 16th-century Italian Renaissance style.

Travel Guides | Lisbon | Sub Regions | Lisbon - Northern Lisbon and the Gulbenkian
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