Panorama of Jerusalem

A gift from Emperor Maximilian I (r. 1508 – 1519) to his cousin D. Leonor, with whom he was on good terms despite the distance between the territories of present-day Austria and Portugal. Of all those linked to the date of the foundation of the Convent of Madre de Deus, this painting is probably the one that most expressively attests to the pious devotion of the "Perfect Queen". It is not only the theme of this amazing work that refers to the religiosity of the time, although it is a determining factor, for it represents the various stations of the Passion of Christ. In the urban landscape of Jerusalem, centred round the Temple of Solomon, following a typology fixed by European painting and engravings, the eyes of the viewer scan the streets and pause on the buildings, following Christ’s Via Dolorosa. A very detailed, almost miniature-like painting, as were many issuing from the Flemish workshops of the period. In it we are guided by groups of persons who are repeated several time and whose faces and attitudes point to models that were perpetuated by important painters such as Pieter Brueghel the Elder. Of the figures shown, note in the left lower corner a female figure in a nun’s habit, praying, in front of a pre-dieu on which stands an open book of hours. This is the Queen herself, who after receiving the painting in Lisbon, wished in this way to perpetuate her memory, having included her own self in this "via sacra", wherein lies the most profound meaning of this painting.