We’ll get to my favourite bookshop in Lisbon, Livraria Sà da Costa, in a minute.

First, a word on Portuguese secondhand and antiquarian bookshops in general (called albufarristas in Portuguese) — I’ve never seen so many!  In both Lisbon and Porto, there seemed to be one everywhere I looked.  I’ve previously written about my favourite albufarrista in Porto, Livraria Moreira da Costa.

Livraria Moreira da Costa in Porto.  

I’ve since been informed by a Portuguese friend via Instagram that book publishing was an expensive undertaking in times past, and subject to heavy censorship for much of the 20th century while Portugal groaned under the Salazar dictatorship.  As a result, most people could only afford to buy secondhand books.  If anyone has another explanation, I’d love to hear from you in the comments below.

As princesses go, Maria Sofia von Neuburg was a very insignificant one at the time of her birth in 1666.  Her father, Duke Philipp Wilhelm, though a member of the illustrious house of Wittelsbach, was merely the Duke of Neuburg, a very small state on the banks of the Danube in southern Germany.  Other branches of the family ruled the larger, richer states of the Palatinate and Bavaria.  In fact, they were very nearly sovereigns, except that that they nominally owed allegiance to the Holy Roman Emperor in Vienna.  Diminishing Maria Sofia’s prospects even further, she was not even an heiress.  Women could not inherit the duchy, and in any case she was only one of seventeen children.

The ducal palace in Neuburg. Credit: Mendli at German Wikipedia – own work of Mendli, Originally from de.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1728849

Things began to look up for Maria Sofia and her siblings when their relative the Elector Palatine died sonless in 1685 and Duke Philipp Wilhelm succeeded him.  The family duly moved to the Palatine capital at Heidelberg.

Following on from last week’s post about the house, today we visit the beautiful gardens of the Palacio Fronteira in Lisbon.

The most famous part of the gardens is undoubtedly the tile-lined water tank.

The water tank at the Palacio Fronteira, Lisbon, in April, 2016.

The upper walk is known as the Gallery of Kings, after the busts of Portugal’s monarchs set in the niches of the blue-tiled wall.

The Palacio Fronteira is perhaps my favourite stately home anywhere.

The Palace of the Marquises of Fronteira, seen from the famous water tank in April, 2016.

I like stately homes a lot, so that’s a big statement.  I prefer occupied stately homes, and if they’re still occupied by the descendants of the builder, so much the better.  It’s very much in the Palacio Fronteira’s favour that the 13th Marquis of Fronteira, the direct descendant of the 1st Marquis who built the place, lives in it with his family.

The Basilica da Estrela with its elegant white façade is my favourite church in Lisbon — no small compliment in a city that fancies itself a second Rome.

The façade of the Basilica da Estrela in western Lisbon with tram #28 at bottom right.

If you’re starting from central Lisbon, it’s quite easy to find.  Just get on the famous #28 tram, heading westwards.  The terminal stop is right in front of the Basilica, as you can see in the photo above.

Jean Baptiste Claude Séné (1748-1803) was a master chair maker in Paris who was active from the later years of Louis XV’s reign through to the Revolution.

I photographed these chairs of his in the museum of the Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon last year.

Pair of fauteuils by J.B.C. Séné in the Gulbenkian Foundation museum in Lisbon.

Lisbon is a surprisingly good place to see French fine and decorative arts of the Versailles Century (1682-1789) period.  Apart from the Gulbenkian Foundation, there’s also the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga (MNAA) and various palace museums.  The Portuguese elite were such francophiles that many high quality pieces make their home in the city by the Tagus.  Apart from the chairs pictured above, there are many other items of French furniture in the Gulbenkian’s collection that I’ll share in future posts.

Tiepolo was the last great Venetian master, apart from the view painters Canaletto, Bellotto, and Guardi.  I was delighted to find 3 of Tiepolo’s smaller works in the collection of the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga (MNAA) in Lisbon when I visited there last April (2016).

Born in 1696, Giambattista Tiepolo trained in the studio of Lazzarini before being accepted into the Venetian painters guild in 1717.  He was also influenced by his study of the great Venetian masters of the past, such as Veronese and Tintoretto.  His success seems to have been almost immediate.  Eventually, his renown spread across Europe and he accepted commissions in Germany, notably in the Residenz at Würzburg, and later in Spain.  He died in Madrid in 1770.

Here is a view of the Tiepolo wall at the MNAA.

A trio of small Tiepolo works in the MNAA.

On this day in 1689 was born one of the longest-reigning kings of Portugal, Dom João V, or John V.

He was not yet 18 when he succeeded to the throne on the death his father, Dom Pedro II, in 1706.  His mother having died years before, he was close to his aunt, Caterina, the Dowager Queen of England, known to English speakers as Catherine of Braganza.  He relied heavily on her advice until her sudden death within a year of his father’s.

Catherine of Braganza, Dowager Queen of England.

Dom João married an Austrian archduchess and reigned until he was struck down by a stroke in 1750, when he was succeeded by his eldest son Dom José.   Dom João interests us here at Versailles Century because he was a great builder and patron of the arts.

In this edition of VC Museum Visits, we tour the Museum-School of Portuguese Decorative Arts in Lisbon.

Located in the shadow of an ancient Moorish wall in the hillside district of Alfama, this exquisite museum is run by the Ricardo Espirito de Santo Silva Foundation.*  It’s housed in the former palace of the Viscounts of Azurara, which the late Senhor Espirito do Santo Silva (1900-1955), a banker and lavish patron of the arts, purchased in 1947 specifically for the purpose of creating a museum.  A lifelong admirer of Alfama, Lisbon’s most historic district, he was also keen to preserve the skills and traditions of the artisans who lived in the area, hence the inclusion of a school in the foundation.

I knew I was going to love it as soon as I saw what was in the vestibule.

A Cinderella-like 18C carriage in the vestibule.

Today we pay another visit to Lisbon’s Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga (MNAA)* to have a look at Fragonard’s ‘The Two Cousins.’  As I’ve said in a previous post, Portugal is actually a great place to see French fine and decorative art because the Portuguese aristocracy collected it with such enthusiasm.

Fragonard’s ‘The Two Cousins’ as seen in the MNAA.