
Nuno Gonçalves
c. 1470
Nuno Gonçalves's 'Saint Vincent Panels' (c. 1470), a six-part altarpiece, is the single most important work of Portuguese Renaissance painting. Around the patron saint of Lisbon are gathered 58 portraits representing every class of 15th-century Portuguese society — the king and queen, knights, clergy, Jews, fishermen, monks — a collective portrait of Portugal on the verge of its global maritime expansion. The altarpiece is the cornerstone of the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga (MNAA) in Lisbon.
Image source: Wikimedia Commons