Another reason to focus on Lisbon is the impressive Museu de São Roque/Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa. This museum contains a treasure trove of liturgical art of the sort of quality and variety one might only typically expect to run into in a place such as Rome or the Holy Land. Today I wished to show you three sets of vestments, all coming from the mid 1700's, that are contained by the museum. It is not entirely clear to me if these sets were in use by the Patriarch of Lisbon himself, though certainly their quality suggests that they at least could have been.
We are fortunate to know the makers of some of these vestments -- all of which were produced in Rome. First, the rose and green sets you will see below were made by Filippo Salandri and Francesco Giuliani; Guliani was also involved in the production of the violet set along with Cosimo Paternostro. Finally there is the outlier (design wise) in the white set, made by Nicolo Bovi. All of the sets are estimated to have been made in the period of 1744-1749.
Each of the sets is characterized by a copious use of gold threat embroidery done in the floriated, naturalistic motifs that were popular throughout the renaissance and baroque ages. The quality is second to none. Noteworthy as well is the fact most of these sets include not only the usual parts and and pieces, but also included matching missal cushions and antependia (thereby suggesting these were likely parts of full-fledged solemn Mass sets).
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