The Portrait of Afonso de Albuquerque is a 16th-century painting in the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga (MNAA) in Lisbon, traditionally identified as a portrait of the Portuguese governor Afonso de Albuquerque. Scientific examination has established that the painting was substantially altered, with the image of Albuquerque having been painted over an earlier portrait of Lopo Soares de Albergaria, while the original portrait of Albuquerque survives beneath a later portrait of .
Description The painting shows Afonso de Albuquerque standing in full-length, with the baton of command and framed by two explanatory inscriptions of his office and his notable actions. The inscriptions read as following:
The museum record classifies the work as a painting, measuring 182 × 108 cm, without an identified artist, and notes Goa as the manufacturing center.
Its present appearance is the result of later interventions over an earlier portrait of another governor, Lopo Soares de Albergaria.
History The portrait belonged to a group of 12 paintings from the Gallery of the Viceroys in the Government Palace at Pangim, which began during the tenure of D. João de Castro. According to Carlos de Azevedo, the portraits were made mainly by local artists. Maria Helena Mendes Pinto points out that this was the only portrait of the collection to leave Goa after the annexation by India.
In 1894, Manuel Gomes da Costa intervened in some of the viceroys' portraits, introducing alterations that are generally characterized as questionable. His overpaints were later removed following the 1951 mission of the Brigada de Estudo dos Monumentos da Índia Portuguesa (Study Squad for the Monuments of the Portuguese India). After the mission and the subsequent interventions of the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, the portraits of Afonso de Albuquerque and Francisco de Mascarenhas remained at the museum, while the others were returned to Velha Goa, where they are currently in the Archaeological Museum and Portrait Gallery.
In 1953, radiographic examination of the painting at the museum found that it had undergone a complete overpainting. The removal of the white beard exposed a shorter dark beard, while the underlying coat of arms identified the figure as Lopo Soares de Albergaria, who had succeeded Albuquerque as governor in 1515. The white beard and Albuquerque's coat of arms were later reinserted and the painting returned to Goa in 1960.
Scientific examination A 2024 study reports that previous research had already established that the portrait exhibited in Lisbon resulted from successive interventions over a painting of another governor. Thus, the study sought to identify the original portrait and to understand how the panel was reused over time.
The study states that the iconographic features traditionally associated with Albuquerque, including the long white beard and coat of arms, had been painted over the figure of Lopo Soares de Albergaria. These additions allegedly took place during an 18th century intervention that affected 50 portraits from the collection, and the overpaint was only removed in a 1953–1956 restoration at the former Instituto para o Exame e Restauro de Obras de Arte (IEROA). The overlap of two figures and two coats of arms was first identified in the Oficina de Beneficiação de Pintura Antiga (OBPA).
The study also concludes that the lost portrait of Afonso de Albuquerque survives only in remnants beneath a later composition of , which was itself modified in the 19th century. The authors argue that, because the figure of Lopo Soares de Albergaria was physically closer and in better condition, the most recognizable elements of Albuquerque were subsequently transferred to that portrait.
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