Composition for veranda - azulejo panel with inner cut-outs

What makes this a particularly relevant panel in the context of production during the final rococo phase is its unusual inner cut-out, giving it transparency and space. It has the structure of a portico and above it enfolds an oval medallion with a frame made of a laurel wreath; at the centre on a pedestal is the bust of a bearded man, wearing classical garb and crowned with laurel leaves. Below, set onto a skirting imitating masonry is a low wall on which stands a flowered vase in trompe l’oeil. On the vase is a reserve inside which is a boat against a marine landscape. This complex composition adheres to the dominant principle of the application of colours characterising the return to polychromy which was affirmed in the second half of the 18th century: blue is used in the figurations, one of which subalternised to the decorative effect of the flower vase, with the rest of the colours used in the surrounding borders. Whilst we could imagine that it was designed to be applied in a garden, possibly on a wall or in a pergola, it is known that in fact it was placed on the veranda of a courtyard in Castelo quarter in Lisbon, and its measurements exactly coincide with the height of the doors and the width of the spaces between them. Lisbon production.