Proto-Early Renaissance Depictions, Iconographic Analysis and Computerised Facial Similarity Assessment Connections: The 16th Century Mural Paintings of St. Leocadia Church (Chaves, North of Portugal)

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to analyse facial similarity and apply it to identify the individuals depicted in the mural paintings of the apse of St. Leocadia Church, located in Chaves Municipality (North of Portugal), which were painted during the first quarter of the 16th century. This study also compares the portraits of this mural paintings with the oil paintings by the Proto-Renaissance Portuguese painter Nuno Gonçalves. Through this research, the feasibility of face recognition technology is explored to answer many ambiguities about Manueline stylistic identity and iconography. Additionally, it aims to associate historical events, artistic discoveries, and the expansion of portraiture as propaganda of power during the Portuguese Proto-Renaissance and Early Renaissance. On the other hand, it focuses on the prevalence of the religious and devotional over the sacred in Manueline painting. A proposal was made to identify the characters that are fundamental to the meaning of the mural paintings. An experiment was conducted on seven characters from the paintings at St. Leocadia Church, which were then compared to Nuno Gonçalves’ portraits. Facial similarity analysis was conducted on the faces portrayed in the Panels of St. Vincent, a remarkable portrait gallery from 15th-century Portugal, which has been the subject of national and international research for 130 years. Other paintings that were analysed were the oil paintings of St. Peter and St. Paul and of Infanta St. Joana, which were created by the same Quattrocento master. The purpose of the mural paintings of St. Leocadia Church could be catechetical in nature or related to the ritual practices of royal ancestor worship in royal portrait apses of the churches. It could also be associated with the Portuguese maritime expansion and the macro-imperial ideology of D. Manuel I.