Steps of the Life of Christ

In this panel, inspired by the work of Pénicaud II, in Limoges-style enameled copper (16th century), composed by 28 rectangular plates, each one of them containing an episode of the life of Christ, Lhano, in his modernist lines, largely overcome the limits of jewellery work by most enamellers and produced enough to catapult him to another level of recognition. Therefore, this is not a decal but an artistic reinvention of a rather common theme with the inclusion of “Raising of Larazus” and “Multiplication of the Fishes”; starting from a geometrical composition closer to classical Figurativism to obtain plastic effects expressive of execution, mastery and reading. On the chromatic value, the artist aims to find himself in order to obtain the rich palette of tones that makes his enamels real delights of colours. On the blue colour the artist made authentic prodigies, of an admirable clarity which further enriched the works. The same way, light is with beautiful effects and this can only be achieved thanks a highly developed technique. With all of this Lhano reached a degree of maturity that places him among the painters of the genre, working with fire, enamel on copper, as very few had done. This work is enriched by the presence of gold in every plate and by the decoration of the wooden frame with the “Crown of Thorns”.
This was the last piece acquired by Dionísio Pinheiro for our collection; to paraphrase Valter Hugo Mãe, “Enamel never expects to be like this, however enamel always dreams to be like this.”