Our Lady of the Rose

The most consensual date for this work links it to the first half of the 15th century, it is therefore the earliest painting in the Museum.
The main characteristics of Portuguese painting surviving from the 15th century are evident here: the theme of the Virgin in majesty; vibrant colors, with strong contrasts and lack of perspective despite the side windows; the accentuated stiffness in the treatment of garments and the larger scale of the sacred figures in comparison with the mortals, emphasised by the coronation.
Executed in tempera on chestnut panel, the painting is, undoubtedly, from a workshop in the Coimbra region. According to legend, it reached the Museum collections by way of the Colégio de S. Jerónimo, therefore its origin is unknown. The theme of the rose, from the pagan cult of Esther, was popular in the Lower Mondego region until the 15th century, appearing in several sculptures in stone from Ançã.
In the late 16th century, probably due to dogmatic reasons following the Council of Trent, this work received another pictorial composition which was later removed.