The six paintings were found outside their original context, distributed in rooms in the Paço de S. Vicente, in the homonymous convent of Lisbon, but most of the historiography has related them to the altar of Saint Vincent in the main chapel of the Lisbon Cathedral.
The set of Panels attributed to Nuno Gonçalves clearly individualizes Portuguese painting in relation to the great European schools, however participating in the great transformation of representation that occurred in that century in the main artistic centers of Europe. The restoration project for the Panels of St.Vincent was envisaged by the Ancient Art Museum because it became evident the levels of degradation of the paintings and particularly the restored areas treated in the old restorations. The project aims to allow a new intervention that could at the same time recover a more accurate image of the original painting, removing the most degraded aspects of previous restoration campaigns. And at the same time develop a material study of the works according to the technological resources now available, both with regard to the original painting, and in the knowledge of the methodology used in previous interventions, especially taking into account the pioneering character of the restoration of 1909-10 carried out by Luciano Freire.
The overall conservation project will be coordinated by the Ancient Art Museum director and the analytical study will be coordinated by the City U Macau Chair considering HERCULES Lab and Jose de Figueiredo Lab analytical setup and the collaboration with other international renowned specialists. The study will encompass diagnosis, in-situ imaging analysis, in-situ non-invasive elemental and molecular analysis, micro-sampling and further analysis using advanced chemical analysis techniques and microanalysis techniques.
The Panel of the Infants