page_title: Nicolas Chantereine
section_title: Belém (1517- 1518)
hierarchical_section_title: Nicolas Chantereine / Belém (1517- 1518)
caption_attribution_description: Western portal of the church of the Jerónimos Monastery, Belém, Portugal; under the balcony&#160;: King Manuel and his second wife Maria of Aragon
context_page_description: Nicolau Chantereine was a French sculptor and architect who worked mainly in Portugal and Spain.
  It is assumed that he was born in Normandy, France. It is not clear whether he got his training in France or Italy. However his style is essentially French, notwithstanding his use of Lombard ornaments.
context_section_description: By January 1517 he and an assistant were at work as master contractors at the western portal of the Jerónimos Monastery in Belém. This was probably his first assignment in Portugal.  When he arrived, the supporting corbels had already been decorated  in Late Gothic style with small angels holding the coat-of-arms and, at the side of the king, an armillary sphere and, at the side of the queen, three blooming twigs. 
  He filled the splays on each side of the portal with statues, among them king Manuel I and his second wife Maria of Aragón, both kneeling in a niche under a lavishly decorated baldachin. They are flanked by their patron saints St. Jerome and John the Baptist. He then decorated the tympanum with the Annunciation, the Nativity, and the Epiphany, each scene set in a tiny niche. Two angels, holdings the arms of Portugal, close the archivolt.
caption: The kneeling queen Maria of Aragon 
  western portal of the Jerónimos Monastery in Belém
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