Tefaf: a Sequeira masterpiece returns to Portugal

15/3/24 - Museums - Lisbonne, Museus e Monumentos de Portugal - Although it is not yet known in which museum the work will soon be unveiled, the most important thing is to know that its repatriation is at least temporarily assured: the splendid Deposition of the Cross (ill. 1), which was the admiration of all visitors to the Maastricht fair, will soon be returning to Portugal! Hanging on the stand of the Colnaghi gallery at TEFAF, which has just closed its doors, this masterpiece painted in 1827 by Domingos António de Sequeira could have gone to any international museum, with several European and North American institutions expressing an interest.

1. Domingos António de Sequeira (1768-1837)
The Deposition from the Cross, 1827
Oil on canvas - 100 x 135 cm
Private collection, soon on long-term loan to a Portuguese museum
Photo: Colnaghi

See the image in its page

We could only be surprised to see this large canvas appear in Maastricht when we would quite naturally have imagined it banned from leaving Portugal, but the Colnaghi gallery immediately assured us that the necessary authorisation had been issued. The affair caused quite a stir, both before and during the fair, as the Portuguese press was quite understandably outraged to see a painting of such importance to the country offered at Maastricht, where curators and directors of institutions are naturally eager to enrich their collections in Portugal, The Louvre (see news item of 22/9/16) and the Detroit Institute of Arts (see news item of 1/11/19) have acquired works that have recently appeared on the market.

2. Domingos António de Sequeira (1768-1837)
The Adoration of the Magi, 1828
Oil on canvas - 100 x 140 cm
Lisbonne, Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga
Photo: Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga

See the image in its page

As it is never forbidden to dream, one might have wished for a similar museum fate for Sequeira’s The Deposition from the Cross, which would have worked…