O adágio de meter-me em botas tendo as pernas tortas: a trajetória do escultor del-rei Joaquim Machado de Castro (1731-1788)

Abstract

This dissertation presents as central focus the trajectory of the consecrated royal sculptor Joaquim Machado de Castro (1731-1822), within the framework of Iberian Modernity. We sought to point out contributions about the aulic uses of art and the social status of the artist at the 7th century Brigantine Court, as well as to reconstruct the contexts that marked the arise of Machado de Castro and the interlocution networks articulated by him during this course. We take as sources his vast intellectual production and private documentation, especially the compilation titled Joaquim Machado de Castro - Sculptor Conimbricense. Biographical News and Compilation of his Scattered Writings, organized by Henrique de Campos Ferreira Lima (1925). Among the most important writings we can mention: the Letter that one devoted to the arts of drawing wrote to a pupil of the sculpture (1780), the booklet Speech on the utilities of Drawing (1788) and his main work, Analytical description of the execution of the equestrian statue erected in Lisbon to the glory of His Most Faithful Majesty the King Joseph I (1810). The work on screen is part of several studies whose methodological approach takes as reference the notes of Pierre Bourdieu (1996) and Sabina Loriga (1998), for the mapping of trajectories. Given the longevity of Machado de Castro's professional performance, we opted for a fragmentary cut (1731-1788) that presents different facets of the character, from apprentice (1731-1770) to master of the sculptor's office (1770-1779), and finally a militant of the arts (1780-1788). Following his social trajectory he went on to explore his network of sociability in order to understand his contribution, as well as his relationship with the artists who worked together or parallel to his work in the Portuguese Court. In addition, it was interesting to reflect on the purposes for which the works of art commissioned by the Portuguese State at different times between the Johannine governments (1707-1750), Josephus (1750-1777) and the Marian (1777-1816), within the logic of the Ancien Régime. Finally, we sought to inquire about the possibility of the emergence of an incipient artistic field in Portugal from the emergence of the Academies of Nu (1780) and the Academy of the Intendant (1785), and how Machado de Castro worked to achieve the success of this movement of autonomy of the field.