Soon after, together with Almada de Negreiros, he defined the correct positioning of the panels, according to the geometrisation and perspective of the tiles in the painting, grounds for naming both as authors of the discovery. This sparked a public dispute in the press, culminating in a fight scene in Chiado square and public recognition of the discovery for Negreiros. Finally, in 1961, he returned to the matter in the pages of the Diário Popular newspaper, attributing its authorship to Grão Vasco or another national painter other than Nuno Gonçalves, also challenging the veracity of various historical documents about the work of art, according to his observations and handwritten notes. In other Art History studies he devoted his attention to the work and styles of the major Portuguese painters of the 16th century and wrote an unpublished monograph on the works of the National Museum of Contemporary Art of Lisbon, continuously encountering a lack of support for the publication of his work.

Until his death on 30 October 1982, at his home in Estoril, José de Bragança organized a significant estate of art historiography, with studies involving modern methods of identification and contextualisation of works of art and a rich photographic archive, currently in the possession of the Archive of Contemporary Portuguese Culture-BNP, allowing a partial rescue of his reflections on Portuguese culture and history, gravely forgotten during the Estado Novo.

/  Works by the author : AZURARA, Gomes Eanes, Crónica do descobrimento e conquista da Guiné [edição crítica]. Porto, Livraria Civilização, 1937; GALVÃO, Duarte, Crónica de D. Afonso Henriques, segundo o manuscrito da Torre do Tombo [edição crítica]. Lisboa, Portugália, 1954; Os Pergaminhos Históricos do Senhorio da Guiné. Lisboa, Edição de autor, 1955; Lisboa antiga nos desenhos de Zuzarte arquitecto e abridor de gravuras. Lisboa, Museu Nacional de Arte Contemporânea, 1956; PINA, Rui de, Crónicas de D. Sancho I e de D. Afonso II [edição crítica]. Lisboa, Portugália, 1964.

/  Works with references to the author : “Bragança, José de”. Grande Enciclopédia Portuguesa e Brasileira. Lisboa-Rio de Janeiro, vol. 5, 1953, p. 15; PINA, Luís de, “Faculdade de Letras do Porto: breve história”. Cale – Revista da Faculdade de Letras do Porto. Porto, vol. 1, 1966, pp. 59-172; ALMEIDA, Jorge Filipe e ALBUQUERQUE, Manuela, Os painéis de Nuno Gonçalves, Lisboa, Verbo, 2000.

Francisco Miguel Araújo

1 | 2 | 3 | (Pdf)