Gothic, and Renaissance Manueline
Gilded woodcarving in Portugal started during the Gothic period following architectural models, taken mainly from sculpture and goldsmithery, using the decorative vocabulary of the style. Gothic arches, pinnacles, columns, etc., are associated with sculpture or painting. The typical form was a wooden structure, with the gold carving kept for the architectural part of the “machine” and the rest of the elements left either in plain wood or covered with colour. In spite of the small number of surviving altarpieces (the overwhelming majority was replaced during the Baroque period), it is known that they followed the international taste, such as the main altarpiece in the old Cathedral of Coimbra.
The Manueline follows the vocabulary of architecture, using mainly the portal structure, giving importance to the heraldic, armillary sphere, Cross of Christ and sculpted naturalistic elements. The main examples, altarpiece and Choir Stalls, from Convent of the Order of Christ in Tomar and Monastery of Alcobaça, disappeared, but the monumental Choir Stalls from Santa Cruz Monastery in Coimbra remains. The wood gilt followed the approach of northern Europe, adjusted with the Portuguese aesthetic at the time and was made by Flemish master Machim.
The Renaissance followed the architectural decoration, but without golden carving, employing painting and sculpture and following the classic imagination from books of the time. The carved decoration in wood was close to the intended stone forms, visible in portals, tombs or even in goldsmithery. The preference for large altarpieces in stone or painting did not allow the development of woodcarving as an autonomous form of expression, leaving it a decorative art. The later Mannerism provided the necessary conditions for autonomous gilded woodcarving to arise.
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