Guided Tour

Season 1, Episode 5: Museu Grão Vasco, Viseu

Select Source

The first Indian in the history of Western art is Portuguese. Grão Vasco and his collaborators painted him on the panels of the altarpiece of the Sé de Viseu. A surprising fact: the Portuguese arrived in Brazil in 1500 and these panels began to be painted in 1501. Did Grão Vasco have access to the descriptions of the Indians of Brazil from the letter of Pêro Vaz de Caminha? A fantastic period that transformed European life and imagination.