Francisco Viera Portuense (1765-1805)

Francisco Vieira (Porto, 13 May 1765 – Funchal, 2 May 1805), who choose the artistic name of Viera Portuense, was a Portuguese painter, one of the introducers of Neoclassicism in Portuguese painting. He was, in the neoclassical style, one of the two great Portuguese painters of his generation, with Domingos Sequeira. He first studied in Lisbon, later moving to Rome. He traveled through Italy, Germany, Austria and England, before returning to Portugal, in 1800. He met Swiss painter Angelica Kauffman, from whom he seems to have received influences. He seems to anticipate some motives of the romantic painting in several of his historical paintings, like "Dona Filipa de Vilhena knighting her sons" (1801). He contracted tuberculosis, and moved to Madeira, where he died, aged only 39. He is represented at the National Museum of Ancient Art, in Lisbon, and at the National Museum Soares dos Reis, in Porto.