Paper short abstract:

Manuel Pereira de Sampaio (1691-1750) was the last ambassador of John V in Rome. The approach made in this paper to this very interesting figure will present him not only as a diplomat – and a particularly able agent in buying works of art for his King – but also as a collector himself.

Paper long abstract:

Manuel Pereira de Sampaio (1691-1750) was the last and also the most roman of the ambassadors of Portugal in Rome during the reign of John V. The approach made in this paper to this very interesting personality will present him not only as a diplomat - and a particularly able agent in commissioning and buying works of art for his King - but also as a collector himself.

During the decade Sampaio performed the role of ambassador (1740-1750), commissioned in Rome a large number of important works of art: paintings, sculptures, silver and even an entire chapel (the chapel of St. John the Baptist of the church of S. Roque in Lisbon). Among his commissions, made in the name of the king of Portugal, we shall focus in a very particular one: the replicas, in their real size, of 3 of the altars of the basilica of St. Peter in Vatican. In fact, John V emulation of Rome went to the point of copying the religious ceremonial in great detail, so in Lisbon the Patriarch should celebrate the mass exactly as the Pope himself did it. These altar replicas were the perfect scenario to rehearsal or even stage such performances.

But Sampaio was also an art collector and we can learn about his artistic interests as collector through his will and the legacies he established in that document, that I shall discuss