St. Onuphrius

The work of José de Almeida is situated between the Portuguese tradition of sculpted religious images and the classicist statuary of the late baroque period, which he learned in Rome, around 1718-1728, where drawing was considered to be the very basis of the creative process. This St. Onuphrius, sculpted after his return to Lisbon, is a wooden carving of the hermit left in its raw state without any polychrome or estofado work, and displaying complete mastery of the composition of the body. The carvings — of the palm-leaves work in the garments, of the hair and of the head of the saint — are, in turn, aesthetic essays about the use of light in sculpture, which quality granted the piece the function of a model to be used in the Sculpture Lesson at the Academy of Fine Arts of Lisbon.