Bento Coelho between praise and neglect

Abstract

Bento Coelho, an important seventeenth century Portuguese painter, was honored by the Academia dos Singulares, as illustrated by the publication of Homenagem (1670). His name is, however, inexplicably absent from the well known treatise by Félix da Costa, The Antiquity of the Art of Painting (1696). This fact betrays conflicting perspectives and invites us to question the circumstances that account for both praise and neglect of Bento Coelho’s work.