Cycle Paintings I

In the sacristy are two large valuable 17 century chests of drawers made of jacaranda and of rose wood overlaidwith ebony and inlaid with ivory. The walls are almost completely covered with threerows of valuable paintings laid out in superimposed friezes up the vaulted ceiling.
The lowest row of twenty paintings, considered to be the most important, recounts incidents and miracles in the life of St. Francis Xavier, especially his travels to the Far East. They were executed by the 17 century Portuguese Manneirist painter André Reinoso (ca.1590-after 1641) and his collaborators.
The middle row dating back to the 18 century is attributed to André Gonçalves (1687-1762). It depicts various stages of the Passion of Christ interlaced with allegoric paintings captioned with Biblical passags. These pieces were old processional banners, commisioned in 1761 by the House of Charity of Lisbon from Gonçalves; later on they were taken apart and arranged as pictures in the sacristy.
In the upper frieze the paintings are of scenes from the life of St. Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus. They came here from the now-defunct Jesuit novitiate at Cotovia and are attributed to Domingos da Cunha, the "Cabrinha".