Portrait of António Breda

Ricardo Navarro Poves was a neorealist painter born in Valencia, Spain, that followed a classical structure but with a modern simplification, reaching its highest point in the portrait: he could imprint the very souls of the portrayed on canvas, making them fascinating and mysterious, specially in the feminine portraits. He also painted superb landscapes of Porto and Paris. Despite being a little known artist in his home country, he had some significance in the Porto arts scene. He lived with and portrayed Dionísio Pinheiro e Alice Cardoso Pinheiro. He died in the year of 1967 in Brazil.
In this artwork, the master Navarro Poves captured the soul of António Pereira Pinto Breda was born on the 27th April of 1880, in Sardão, Águeda municipality. He was an illustrious benefactor, great friend and companion in the magnificence of Dionísio Pinheiro, relationship that persists in the municipality in terms of Memory of a Friendship, mirrored in deeds that still exist today.
He graduated from the School Medicine of Porto in 1905 and then he specializes in Ophthalmologic of Acute Conjunctivitis in the Medical Surgical School of Porto. António Breda was one of founders of the Portuguese Republic but he always refused political positions to which he was invited. Before the inauguration of the Conde de Sucena Hospital, space served as Military Sanatorium for the Portuguese Expeditionary Corps since 1917. With it's opening in 1922 as hospital, António Breda, already renowned surgeon, was left with the task of giving a new orientation and training to the hospital staff, making it one hospital of reference in the center region of the country. He married Léa Emelin Breda in 1931 and he died on the 10th June of 1964.