Information about Rotterdam Bible tiles in the Museu Nacional do Azulejo Lisbon

It was the great tile specialist João Miguel dos Santos Simões (1907-1972) who brought the tile section from the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga to the former Convento da Madre de Deus, located in the eastern part of Lisbon, around 1965. The Museu do Azulejo was opened to the public in 1970. By decree, the name was changed in 1980 to the Museu Nacional do Azulejo.

J.M. dos Santos Simões, ‘Carreaux hollandais céramiques au Portugal et en Espagne’ (Den Haag 1959), p.73-74 and XVII

Museo Nacional do Azulejo, Inventar-Nr. 5450, 128 x 274 cm
Foto: INSTITUTO DOS MUSEUS E DA CONSERVAÇÃO, LISBOA
IFN. 10825/11/43
Fotograf: José Pessoa 1996

Holland and Lisbon, 1720-1730
Faience in manganese and blue on white
128 x 274 cm
Provenance: Palácio Mello, Alameda Santo António dos Capuchos,Lisboa
MNAz inv. no. 5450

This large Dutch tile panel consisting of individual tiles was painted in manganese and shows figures from the Old and New Testaments.

Holland and Lisbon, ca. 1720-1730
Faience in manganese
Provenance: Palácio Mello, Alameda Santo António dos Capuchos,Lisboa
MNAz inv. nr. 1681

This Dutch single figure tile wall-covering was painted with manganese and includes figures from the Old and New Testaments.
A manganese frame was created in Lisbon so as to guarantee great autonomy for the central compositions and to integrate them more successfully into the architectural surroundings.

Matthew 26:49
Judas walked right up to Jesus and said, “Hello, teacher.” Then Judas kissed him. Jesus replied, “My friend, why are you here?” The men seized Jesus and arrested him.

Luke 24:30
After Jesus sat down to eat, he took some bread. He blessed it and broke it. Then he gave it to them. At once they knew who he was, but he disappeared.

THE OLD TESTAMENT

GENESIS 3:6

THE FALL

GENESIS 3:24

THE EXPULSION FROM PARADISE

GENESIS 4:4,5

THE OFFERINGS OF CAIN AND ABEL

GENESIS 21:14

THE DISMISSAL OF HAGAR

GENESIS 21:15,16

HAGAR IN THE DESERT WITH ISHMAEL

GENESIS 22:9-11

ABRAHAM’S SACRIFICE

GENESIS 28:10-12

JACOB’S DREAM

GENESIS 39:11,12

POTIPHAR’S WIFE TRIES TO SEDUCE JOSEPH

GENESIS 41:42,43

JOSEPH BECOMES SECOND-IN-COMMAND IN EGYPT

EXODUS 2:5,6

MOSES FOUND BY PHARAOH’S DAUGHTER

NUMBERS 13:23

THE SPIES BRING BACK GRAPES

NUMBERS 21:8,9

THE COPPER SNAKE

NUMBERS 22:23,24

BALAAM AND THE DONKEY

JUDGES 11:34,35

JEPHTHA’S HOMECOMING

JUDGES 14:6

SAMSON KILLING THE LION

2 SAMUEL 18:14,15

THE DEATH OF ABSALOM

1 KINGS 17:6

ELIJAH FED BY THE RAVENS

2 KINGS 2:23, 24

ELISHA MOCKED BY THE YOUTHS OF BETHEL

ESTHER 5:1,2

ESTHER APPEARS UNANNOUNCED IN FRONT OF KING XERXES

DANIEL 3:24,25

THE THREE MEN IN THE FIERY FURNACE

TOBIT 6:1-3

TOBIAS CATCHES A BIG FISH

THE NEW TESTAMENT

LUKE 1:28-31

AN ANGEL ANNOUNCES THE BIRTH OF JESUS

LUKE 2:16

THE SHEPHERDS

LUKE 2:21

THE NAMING OF JESUS

MATTHEW 2:9

THE WISE MEN

MATTHEW 2:14

THE ESCAPE TO EGYPT

MATTHEW 3:16
MARK 1:10
LUKE 3:21b, 22

THE BAPTISM OF JESUS

MATTHEW 3:16
MARK 1:10
LUKE 3:21b, 22

THE BAPTISM OF JESUS

MATTHEW 4:3
MARK 1:13
LUKE 4:3

JESUS TEMPTD BY SATAN

JOHN 3:2

JESUS AND NICODEMUS

JOHN 4:7

JESUS AND THE SAMARITAN WOMAN

MARK 6:28
MATTHEW 14.11

THE DEATH OF JOHN THE BAPTIST

LUKE 9:23-26
MATTHEW 10:37-39
MARK 8:34

CHRIST PREACHING

LUKE 10:38-42

MARTHA AND MARY

LUKE 19:3-6

ZACCHAEUS

MATTHEW 7:3
LUKE 6:41

THE SPECK IN YOUR FRIND’S EYE

LUKE 15:20,21

THE PRODIGAL SON

LUKE 5:5-7

JESUS CHOOSES HIS FIRST DISCIPLES

JOHN 5:5-9

JESUS HEALS A SICK MAN

MATTHEW 8:5-8
LUKE 7:1-7

JESUS HEALS THE ROMAN OFFICER’S SERVANT

MATTHEW 9:20-22
MARK 5:27
LUKE 8:44

JESUS HEALS A SICK WOMAN

MATTHEW 15:24-28
MARK 7:24-30

THE CANAANITE WOMAN

MATTHEW 11:3-6

THE DEAF CAN HEAR

MATTHEW 21:8,9
MARK 11:8,9
LUKE 19:36
JOHN 12:12-15

JESUS ENTERS JERUSALEM

MATTHEW 21:12,13
MARK 11:15
LUKE 19:45,46
JOHN 2:14,15

THE CLEANSING OF THE TEMPLE.

JOHN 13:8b, 9

JESUS WASHES THE FEET OF HIS DISCIPLES

MATTHEW 26:21
MARK 14:18
LUKE 22:21

JESUS EATS THE PASSOVER MEAL WITH HIS DISCIPLES

MATTHEW 26:39
MARK 14:35
LUKE 22:41,42

JESUS PRAYS IN GETHSEMANE

MATTHEW 26:49
MARK 14:45
LUKE 2:47,48

JUDAS BETRAYS JESUS

MATTHEW 26:75a
MARK 14:72
LUKE 22:60
JOHN 18:27

PETER DENIES JESUS

MATTHEW 27:19

PILATE’S WIFE DREAMS

JOHN 19:1
MATTHEW 27:26
MARK 15:15

PILATE ORDERED HIS SOLDIERS TO SCOURGE JESUS

MATTHEW 27:29b
MARK 1:18, 19
JOHN 19:3

THE SOLDIERS MOCK JESUS

MATTHEW 27:24

PILATE WASHES HIS HANDS

MATTHEW 27:31b
MARK 15:21
LUKE 23:26
JOHN 19:17

SIMON OF CYRENE FORCED TO CARRY JESUS’ CROSS

JOHN 19:26, 27

JESUS IS NAILED TO THE CROSS

MATTHEW 28:2-4

THE STONE ROLLED AWAY

MATTHEW 28:5
MARK 16:6
LUKE 24:5

WOMEN GO TO THE TOMB

JOHN 20:14-17a
MARK 16:9

JESUS APPEARS TO MARY MAGDALENE

LUKE 24:30, 31

JESUS APPEARS TO TWO DISCIPLES

ACTS. 1:9
MARK 16:19
LUKE 24:50, 51

THE ASCENSION OF CHRIST

ACTS. 7:58-60

THE STONING OF STEPHEN

ACTS. 9:3-6

THE ROAD TO DAMASCUS

João Miguel dos Santos Simões was born in Lisbon in 1907. His father, José Rodrigues Simões, had a strong cultural background and a remarkable library with rare specimens. He was also the treasurer of the Archaeologists Society for several years. Meanwhile, the young Santos Simões had the opportunity to contact the most important Art History scholars of that time, including Garcez Teixeira and Vergílio Correia. However, José Queiroz, an eminent ceramic researcher, was the figure who influenced him most to develop his studies of tiles and ceramics.
In 1929, Santos Simões graduated in Textile Engineering at the École Superieure de Filature et Tissage at Mulhouse, because his father owned a textile factory in Tomar. In the 30’s, Santos Simões travelled in Europe and visited the main monuments and museums of the important cities, which contributed to his artistic and historical knowledge. His first essay on tiles was published in 1942 in the well-known periodical “A Cidade de Évora”.
The year of 1944 was significant in his tile researches because he had an important theoretical grounding in Madrid and a practical training at the Ruiz de la Luna factory (Talavera de la Reina), where he became aware of the technical procedures of making tiles. This period of training influenced him strongly and soon he set up a small laboratory at home to both study and examine the clay used in tiles and ceramics. The technical approach and the systematic knowledge inherited from his Sciences degree were applied to the study of tiles. These methods were fundamental in creating a typology of tile patterns studies, which are used by present researchers.
From 1944 until 1972, Santos Simões continuously published many books, articles and reviews in Portugal and abroad, such as “Antwerpesche tegels van omstrecks 1558 in Portugal”, in collaboration with Van Herck, for the Antwerpens Koninklijke Oudheidkundige Kring; “Maioliche flamminghe e spagnole in Portogallo”, in Faenza; “Le role de la décoration céramique dans l’architecture portugaise dês XVII-XVIII siécles”, published in the proceedings of XVI Congrés International d’Histoire de l’Art; the highly awarded foundation study « Le carreaux ceramiques hollandais au Portugal et en Espagne » and finally the important contribution to tiles with articles like “The tiles of Spain and Portugal” and “The influence of Dutch tiles in Portugal and Brazil”
Santos Simões is the most distinguished author of tile and ceramic studies, leaving us a heritage of tile dissemination characteristic of Portuguese culture.

J.M. dos Santos Simões, Cárreaux céramiques Hollandais au Portugal et en Espagne (Martinus Nijhoff, Den Haag, 1959)
Jan Pluis‚ BIJBELTEGELS – Bijbelse voorstellingen op Nederlandse wandtegels van de 17e tot de 20e eeuw
BIBELFLIESEN – Biblische Darstellungen auf niederländischen Wandfliesen vom 17. bis zum 20. Jahrhundert
(Ardey - Verlag, Münster, 1994)

Information about Rotterdam Bible tiles in the Museu Nacional do Azulejo, Lisbon

THE OLD TESTAMENT

THE NEW TESTAMENT

Information about Rotterdam Bible tiles
in the Museu Nacional do Azulejo, Lisbon