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U.Porto Memory

University of Porto Famous Alumni

Manuel António de Moura

Manuel António de Moura 1838-1921 Painter and restorer

Manuel António de Moura was born in Vila Flor, in Terra Quente Transmontana, on 22 March 1838. He was the son of Domingos José de Moura and Emília Raquel.

His potential for drawing led him to settle in Porto to take a Historical Painting course at the Porto Academy of Fine Arts.
While he was still a student, he participated in the IX and X Triennial Exhibition of the Academy in 1866 and 1869 respectively, and after finishing the course he associated with the XII edition of this event. Later on, he integrated the exhibition of the Group of the Salon (1893), held in Palácio de Cristal, where he received the 1^st Visconde da Trindade Award (gold medal) with the work "Cristo Crucificado", currently the property of Santa Casa da Misericórdia do Porto.

As a restorer he recovered, for this institution, the 15^th century Flemish canvas - "Fons Vitae" -, considered to be one of the most important works of art in the city of Porto, having been photographed by Manuel António de Moura before beginning his work. Besides Fons Vitae, Manuel António Moura rehabilitated three fifteenth century oil paintings by Diogo Teixeira (among the five forming the primitive retable of the Church of Misericórdia) and the image of Nossa Senhora da Misericórdia which he stuffed again in 1885. Manuel Moura carried out other works for numerous religious institutions, such as Irmandade da Lapa, Irmandade do Terço, Ordem Terceira do Carmo, Ordem dos Clérigos and Ordem Terceira de S. Francisco. For the latter he restored the copy of the painting of Santa Maria de Cortona. He also restored a portrait of D. Carlos, which had been damaged during the uprising of the 31^st January 1891.

Regarding pictorial production, Manuel Moura became known as a portrait painter. Among his most famous portraits is the one of D. Antónia Adelaide Ferreira (1811-1896), known as "Ferreirinha" or "Ferreirinha-da-Régua", still used today as the image of the brands "Porto Ferreira" and "Casa Ferreirinha" of the company Sogrape Vinhos.

In his homeland, Manuel Moura left canvases in the town Church (a representation of Nossa Senhora da Conceição, dating from 1878) and in Dr.ª Berta Cabral Municipal Museum. His work is also represented in the museum of the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Porto, in Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Mirandela and in private collections.

Manuel António de Moura, the patriarch of a family of illustrious artists – father of the painter Tomaz de Moura (1873-1955) and grandfather of the painter and restorer Abel de Moura (1911-2003), who portrayed him for posterity, died in Porto on 8 December 1921.
(Universidade Digital / Gestão de Informação, 2012)