Mr. Amor, the Portuguese Agent

This stunning portrait represents Antunes Amor, a friend of the painter and a school inspector assigned to Goa by the Portuguese Government. He lived in Goa and Macao intermittently between 1916 and 1930. Having studied in Germany, the pedagogue was an enthusiast of moving image and a great advocate of its introduction in the education system. To him we owe the first known films of Macao and Goa.
Mr. Amor is the epitome of a proper early 20th century gentleman. The similarities with António Xavier Trindade are evident, a well-tailored suit and bow tie, an upwards curved moustache. Amor emanates elegance in his clerical appearance. Nearly monochromatic in blue - grey tones, there seems to be an overlap of background and foreground that possibly points to Trindade’s venture outside the realm of naturalism.
References: Shihandi, Marcella, et al, António Xavier Trindade: An Indian Painter from Portuguese Goa (exhibition catalogue), Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia, 1996; Piçarra, Maria do Carmo, Cinema em Macau, Passado e Presente in Revista Oriente, Lisbon, Fundação Oriente n. 28, 2020.