Saturday morning. It's 10am sharp and Graça Alves, the Director of Funchal's Museum of Sacred Art, welcomes us with an open smile for a guided tour that will introduce us to the new configuration of this space's ex-libris: the Flemish Art ensemble.
Entering this museum is an absorbing sensory experience that leads you to believe that there is a kind of secret portal to another era. This journey into the past is corroborated by the soothing silence, the subtle smell of old wood and the masterful lighting that delicately surrounds each work with deep symbolism.
It is one of the oldest and most important museum spaces in Madeira's capital. As you walk around the various floors, you get the feeling that the pieces are in dialogue with each other and that they are communicating with those who look closely at them. Deep down, there seems to be a kind of secret life to these monumental works that give life to the old Episcopal Palace, founded by Bishop Luís Figueiredo de Lemos in 1594.
The last museum review of the Flemish Art collection took place in the mid-1990s. This overhaul, which took place in October 2024, came about through a programme to support the Portuguese Museum Network's ‘Pro-Museus 2023’.
The intervention was a commitment to preserving the rich collection, which includes Flemish paintings, sculpture and jewellery, present in Madeira due to the intense commercial contacts established with Flanders from the 15th to the mid-16th century.
This relationship can be explained by the fact that many producers and owners of sugar mills, as well as local merchants at the time, placed sumptuous orders in Flanders. It was the so-called ‘Economy of Heaven’, an expression coined by historian Alberto Vieira that explains the need to free the soul.
Graça Alves, Director of the Museum of Sacred Art in Funchal, emphasises that since harvesting sugar cane was ‘very hard work’ and linked to slavery, commissioning works ‘out of devotion’ was seen as a way of being closer to God. With this ensemble, we have the largest representation of Flemish art on the island and probably in Portugal.
This intervention placed the public's experience and involvement with the works at the centre. The communication structure has focused, for example, on introducing core texts on the wall, revising the graphic design and support for the captions, contextual information and curiosities distributed at different reading levels. In addition, visitors can now fully contemplate the panels and triptychs with two-sided paintings.
The quality of the large paintings, which is rare in European museums, is astonishing. An example of this is the Santiago painting, which represents St James the Less, the patron saint of Funchal. This was the image chosen to be venerated by the faithful and to go out in processions.
Another work full of detail is the Triptych of St Peter, St Paul and St Andrew, which originally belonged to the chapel of St Peter and St Paul. On the lower level, there are botanical notes, typical of Flemish art, which can be unveiled to the most discerning eye.
The Adoration of the Magi is another curious work. If you look closely, it is full of micro-narratives, where the exquisite representation of goldsmithery stands out.
A visit to the Museum of Sacred Art is synonymous with learning more about history, but it is also a moment of connection with art, in a space that is more democratic, interactive and modern, with a truly intimate atmosphere.
On the top floor, after a deep journey, we are treated to a superb view over Funchal and an 18th century tile panel that allegorically represents the trilogy ‘Faith, Hope and Charity’.
