Simplício Rodrigues de Sá

At the Imperial Academy, he taught drawing and temporarily held the chair of history painting. Rodrigues de Sá worked closely with the Brazilian imperial family. He taught drawing and painting to Pedro II, Maria da Glória, the future queen of Portugal, and Empress Maria Leopoldina. His best-known work is the last portrait made of Pedro I while the emperor was still alive. He is the patron of the 33rd chair of the Brazilian Academy of Fine Arts.

The recorded working language is Portuguese. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are portrait. Places of work recorded in the authority are Rio de Janeiro. Positions recorded include court painter. Work by Simplício Rodrigues de Sá is recorded in the collections of Imperial Museum of Brazil, Museu Nacional de Belas Artes, São Paulo Museum of Sacred Art and Pinacoteca de São Paulo.

• Name — Simplício Rodrigues de Sá • Birth Name — Simplício João Rodrigues de Sá • Born — 1785 • Birthplace — São Nicolau Tolentino, Santiago, Portuguese Cape Verde • Died — 9 March 1839 (aged 53-54) • Place of death — Rio de Janeiro, Empire of Brazil • Field — Painting, drawing • Notable Works — Last portrait of Pedro I of Brazil • Awards — Order of Christ Order of the Southern Cross • Illustration — Pedro I of Brazil, often described as the last portrait made of the emperor during his lifetime

Simplício João Rodrigues de Sá was born in São Nicolau Tolentino, on the island of Santiago in Portuguese Cape Verde, in 1785; his exact date of birth is unknown and his baptismal name may have been Simplício João Rodrigues de Brito. His parents were João Rois de Brito and Margarida Rosa de Araújo; "Rois" is believed to be an abbreviation of Rodrigues, which may explain the later variation in one of his last names. Simplício was sent to Lisbon in 1794 and entered the Real Casa Pia de Lisboa the following year. In 1809 he moves to Rio de Janeiro, where the first records of his work as a portrait painter dates back to 1812. In 1815 he briefly moves to Buenos Aires, where he advertises his services of commissioned portraits in oil. In 1817, he marries Norberta Máxima de Jesus. The couple had four children.

• Illustration — Imperial appointment of the painter Simplício Rodrigues de Sá in 1826 Simplício was appointed painter to the Imperial House of Brazil and became art teacher to Princess Maria da Glória, the future queen of Portugal, under a decree of 30 October 1826. He also accepted a religious commission, painting a Last Supper for the chapel of the Church of the Third Order of Saint Francis of Penance in Rio de Janeiro. Rodrigues de Sá became one of the imperial family's portraitists, producing several paintings of Pedro I, his wife and his children. Between 1833 and 1835, he was chosen as drawing teacher to Pedro II and his sisters. His appointment drew on his reputation for character and feeling as well as skill. By 1835, illness had begun to limit his work at court. Félix Taunay offered to take over Sá's teaching duties for Pedro II and his sisters without taking the salary attached to the post, so that the pay would continue to go to Rodrigues de Sá. The Marquis of Itanhaém, tutor to the imperial princesses, accepted the arrangement on 1 January 1835. He also taught drawing and painting to Empress Maria Leopoldina. His continued presence as a teacher to the imperial family shows the strength of his position in Rio de Janeiro's artistic world. For his work, Pedro I granted him the habit of the Order of Christ on 27 June 1826 and made him a knight of the Imperial Order of the Cross on 12 October 1827. The documents are held by the National Archives of Brazil. Rodrigues de Sá painted several portraits of Pedro I and members of the imperial family. His principal work became known as the last portrait made of Pedro I during the emperor's lifetime. Rodrigues de Sá died blind in Rio de Janeiro on 9 March 1839.

Several works by or after Rodrigues de Sá are associated with the Museu Imperial in Petrópolis, including portraits of Pedro I, Maria da Glória, the Count of Rio Pardo and Pedro II. One surviving example is Retrato do conde do Rio Pardo, an 1830 oil on canvas measuring 113 x, now in the Tobias do Rego Monteiro collection. Another is an engraved portrait of Pedro I, made by Edward Smith in 1827 after a painting Rodrigues de Sá had completed the previous year. Around 1830, Rodrigues de Sá painted a small group of portraits of the daughters of Pedro I and Empress Leopoldina. The Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga in Lisbon holds portraits of Princess Januária, Princess Paula and Princess Francisca. Related portraits of the three princesses, signed and dated 1831, are held by the Oliveira Lima Library in Washington, D.C. The National Historical Museum holds O Chalaça, a portrait of Francisco Gomes da Silva, oil on canvas, measuring 31 x. His painting Irmão Pedinte ("Begging Friar") was shown in the Religious Painting Exhibition at the Museu Nacional de Belas Artes in Rio de Janeiro in 1943. The painting belongs to the museum's collection. Reis Júnior described Irmão Pedinte as a small canvas with dense handling and firm, assured drawing.

• Illustration — Marquis of Inhambupe, oil on canvas, 1825, 198 x. Collection of the Museu Nacional de Belas Artes. • Illustration — Count of Rio Pardo, oil on canvas, 1830, 113 x. Collection of the Museu Imperial. • Illustration — Gonçalves de Andrade, 5th Bishop of São Paulo, oil on canvas, 1828. Collection of the Museum of Sacred Art of São Paulo. • Illustration — Portrait of John VI of Portugal • Illustration — Princess Paula of Braganza, attributed to Rodrigues de Sá, c. 1830. Collection of the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, Lisbon. • Illustration — Princess Francisca of Braganza, attributed to Rodrigues de Sá, c. 1830. Collection of the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, Lisbon. • Illustration — Princess Januária of Braganza, attributed to Rodrigues de Sá, c. 1830. Collection of the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, Lisbon. • Illustration — Pedro, Prince Royal of Portugal, later Pedro I of Brazil, in São Paulo, 1822 • Illustration — Princess Paula Mariana of Brazil, 1831. Collection of the Oliveira Lima Library, Catholic University of America. • Illustration — Hipólito Vieytes, watercolor on ivory, 1815. Collection of the National Historical Museum of Argentina. • Illustration — Francisco Gomes da Silva, known as the Chalaça. Collection of the National Historical Museum, Rio de Janeiro.