Domingos António de Sequeira

A relatively rare example of Sequeira's draghtsmanship, this drawing shows the artist's considerable ability in the use of the pen. His style, as seen here, seems greatly influenced by Bolognese artists such as the Gandolfi, especially Gaetano (1734-1802), and also to some extent Mauro (1764-1834), and by Giuseppe Cades (1750-1799). Having matriculated from the Aula Régia de Disenho e de Figura in Lisbon, Sequeira left for Rome, where he entered the Capitoline Academy in 1788. He also made a tour of many Italian cities including Bologna. His most celebrated commission was for the series of 46 silver designs for the service known as the Wellington Plate, now in Apsley House, London, which, as Nicholas Turner observed, is 'one of the finest ensembles of Neo-classical silverwork in existence.'¹

A number of other drawings by Sequeira were included by Turner in his revelatory exhibition, European Master Drawings from Portuguese Collections, held at the Centro Cultural de Belèm in 2000.²

1. N. Turner, European Master Drawings from Portuguese Collections, exhib. cat., Centro Cultural de Belém, 2000, p. 270, no. 123
2. Ibid., cat. nos. 119-128, reproduced