Domingos Sequeira, an artist in the transition from neoclassicism to romanticism, was one of the best of his era. He was born in Lisbon in 1768 and studied in Italy. Upon his return to Portugal, he received commissions from the royal family and the nobility, but he felt unappreciated. In 1802, he was appointed court painter by king João VI and was put in charge of producing paintings for the Ajuda Palace. He participated in the Salon de Paris of 1824 with Flight into Egyptand Death of Camões. Religious or historical themes predominated in his work. In Rome, where he died in 1837, he painted Adoration of the Magi, one of his best known works.
Bernardino António Gomes was a brilliant dermatologist who was also accomplished inthe eld of pharmacology, hygiene, chemistry,botany and parasitology. He was born in 1768 in Paredes de Coura. He recorded innumerablebotanic observations, stood out in the ghtagainst epidemics, such as typhus, and in the dissemination and application of the smallpox vaccine, promoting the creation of the Vaccine Institute in 1812 as a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Lisbon. He published anessay on cutaneous conditions, the rst manualof Dermatology in the Portuguese language. He died in Lisbon at the age of 54.
Tomás da Anunciação is a major name in Portuguese Romantic painting. He began by being a draughtsman at the Ajuda Natural History Museum. Later he was a student, and then professor and director of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. He advocated the teaching of painting outdoors. Paintings featuring animals and the reference to the rural environment aretraits that de ne his work. From his perspective,romanticism resided in nature, rather than in the spirit of men. O Sendeiro (‘the Path’) and A vista da Penha de França (‘View of Penha de França’) are works that distinguished him. He lived between 1818 and 1879.
The name José Vianna da Motta is inscribed in the history of Portuguese culture and music. He excelled as a pianist, educator, composer and cultural programmer.
He was born in São Tomé in 1868. After study-
ing in Portugal and Germany, he performed in the most prestigious venues in Europe and America. He directed the National Conservatory and was Principal Conductor of the Lisbon Symphony Orchestra. Passionate about composition, he incorporated Portuguese soul into his work. The symphony À Pátria (‘To the Fatherland’) is one of his most acclaimed works.
Manuel António Gomes, known as Father Himalaya, was a visionary and inventor in theelds of solar energy, eld irrigation, naturopathyand the manufacture of explosives. He was born in Cendufe, Arcos de Valdevez, in 1868, and, at the age of 15, he joined the Seminary in Braga.
A pioneer of renewable energies, his pyrelioph- orus, a prototype of a solar oven, was awarded a prize at the Universal Exposition in Saint Louis, USA. He also invented “smokeless gunpowder”. In Lisbon, he dedicated himself to naturopathy to help people in need. He died in Viana do Castelo at age 65.
The entrepreneur António Champalimaud is aninescapable gure of the Portuguese economy inthe twentieth century whose legacy extends to medical research. Admired for the strength of his character, he prospered in the areas of concrete,iron and steel, nancial markets, insurance andagriculture in Portugal, Africa and Brazil.
From his negotiating genius, coupled with an iron will, large industries were established that boosted the development of the country and generated thousands of jobs. He lived 86 years (1918-2004).
The historian Vitorino Magalhães Godinhowas a notable academic, author of a vast arrayof work in the eld of social sciences. In linewith the École des Annales, his contribution extended to the questions of methodology andconceptualisation. He in uenced the renewalof History studies and framed the Portuguese expansion within a global perspective. He published Os Descobrimentos e a Economia Mundial (‘The Discoveries and the World Economy’) on this subject. He was Minister of Education and Culture after 25 April 1974 and subsequently the director of the National Library. Born in Lisbon in 1918, he died at the age of 92.
