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U.Porto Memory

University of Porto Famous Alumni

Joaquim Vitorino Ribeiro

Joaquim Vitorino Ribeiro 1849-1928 Painter, curator, teacher and collector

Joaquim Vitorino Ribeiro, son of António Vitorino Ribeiro and Joaquina Rosa de Jesus, was born in Porto in 1849.
He attended the The Porto Academy of Fine Arts where he studied Drawing and Painting, and was taught by João Correia.

At the end of 1873, he pursued studies in Paris, at the National School of Fine Arts, first on a private scholarship and later on a state scholarship. In that period, he was taught by Alexandre Cabanel (1823-1889), earned medals and honourable mentions and was praised by masters Adolphe Yvon (1817-1893), Jean Leóne Gerôme (1824-1904) and Gustava Boulanger (1824-1888). He was friends with Armand Dayof (1851-1934), an art critic and inspector of Fine Arts, and his fellow colleagues were countrymen Soares dos Reis, Silva Porto, Marques de Oliveira, Henrique Pousão and Artur Loureiro.

During the ten years he spent in France, his master asked him to become a French citizen, which he declined.
He showed his work at various exhibitions, in particular the Salon, in 1879, with the painting "Cristo no túmulo", which earned him a favourable critique. In 1880, he exhibited "O Mártir Cristão", produced in 1879 and commented on in the newspaper "Le Figaro", a painting denoting symbolic influences, and "Camões e o Jau", both reproduced in the French magazines "l’ Illustration" and "L’ Universe Illustration".

On his return to Porto in 1889, he was appointed Curator of the Santa Casa da Misericórdia do Porto Art Gallery after a public competition, being responsible for the setting up of a museum in this gallery. This space had been planned for the indoor patio of the Misericórdia by Engineer António Maria Kopke de Carvalho and its purpose was to house the exhibition of 300 paintings belonging to the Misericórdia. Vitorino Ribeiro was also in charge of the museum’s maintenance and conservation, and to produce new paintings, in particular portraits of the patrons of the Misericórdia of Porto. To this end, he painted over two dozen portraits, among which the portrait of King Manuel II (1908).

His pictorial works done outside the Misericórdia included historical and religious compositions, among which the "Claustro da Sé do Porto", "Chegada de Vasco da Gama à Índia", "Portal de Paço de Sousa", "Igreja de S. Francisco", "Almeida Garrett de sentinela à porta do Convento dos Grilos", all original in terms of theme and aesthetics.
Alongside his activity as the curator of the Misericórdia, Joaquim Vitorino Ribeiro volunteered to teach, free of charge, at the Barão de Nova Sintra School, and later at the Araújo Porto Institute, where he stayed until 1904 when the General Meeting of Santa Casa da Misericórdia appointed him full staff member.

In 1907, after the death of António Bernardo Ferreira, who left a sizeable legacy to the institution, he was commissioned by the Misericórdia to paint an allegory ("Jesus Cristo dispensando protecção à pobreza") in honour of the deceased, who had in his will stated that it should not be part of the patron’s portrait collection. This canvas was exhibited in the meeting room in 1908.

Vitorino Ribeiro was also a great collector. In his home, he had a large number of pictures, drawings, engravings, rare china and other art objects, in addition to military objects and documents (fire-arms, flags, medals, uniforms, etc.), from the French Invasions and Liberal Struggles.
This last collection was displayed at the exhibition on the commemorations of the 100^th anniversary of the 1820 Revolution, in Porto, inaugurated on 24 August 1920 at the S. João Theatre, the success of which triggered the desire to build a historical and military museum in the city.

Vitorino Ribeiro was married to Lucinda Lucrécia de Freitas Ribeiro, and the couple had three children: Joaquim Pedro Vitorino Ribeiro (1882-1944), a radiologist enthusiastic about history, ethnography and art, Emanuel Paulo Vitorino Ribeiro (1884-1972), architect and ethnologist, and Maria Otília de Freitas Ribeiro.

He died in Porto in 1928.
Nine years after his death, his descendants, disappointed that the project for the Porto Military Museum had not been fulfilled, offered the collection of war history books that had belonged to their father to the Military Museum in Lisbon. However, at the end of the 50^s, the project was once again set in motion in Porto, with the construction of a museum later in the 70^s. The Museum opened after the 25 April 1974 Revolution, in the facilities of the extinct PIDE-DGS [Portuguese secret police] at Rua do Heroísmo. In 1981, the Museum received the Vitorino Ribeiro collection.
The rest of his collection was integrated in the National Museum of Ancient Art, in Lisbon, in the Municipal Public Library of Porto and in the Soares dos Reis National Museum, in Porto.
(Universidade Digital / Gestão de Informação, 2009)