Frei Pedro da Cruz e o pintor fresquista José de Escovar: uma relação de trabalho em São Bento de Cástris em Outubro de 1605

Despite the changes it underwent over the centuries, the old Cistercian Monastery of S. Bento de Cástris preserves an important historical and artistic legacy. We know that in 1605, during Abbess D. Mécia de Melo's term of office, the monastery’s Refectory was decorated with frescoes painted by José de Escovar, one of the most active artists in the Archdiocese. This work, which has already been praised by Túlio Espanca, represents the Months of the Year, themes from the Zodiac and the Astral Calendar, inspired by Mannerist engravings made in Antwerp. Escovar painted numerous sanctuaries and chapels in the Alentejo between 1583 and 1622, probably due to the strength of his decorative scenography, and despite the general naïveté of his style. In this case, we can appreciate a programme with a cosmological, allegoric and symbolic nature that was materialized using stuccoes and mortars and resulted in a coherently designed and iconographically enlightened whole. In São Bento de Cástris there are other frescoes painted by different authors in the early 17 th century.