The Soares dos Reis National Museum has just received a self-portrait by the painter Raul Maria Pereira, as a private bequest from Mariele Delucchi Pereira (the painter’s granddaughter) and her family.
It’s an oil on canvas, signed and dated 1914, which now enriches the Museum’s painting collection.
Born in Sabrosa municipality, Raul Maria Pereira was a contemporary of Aurélia de Souza at the Academy of Fine Arts in Porto, and was a disciple and friend of Marques de Oliveira.
In Porto, he also attended the studio of João Augusto Ribeiro, a painter from Trás-os-Montes, who, in addition to painting classes, sparked his interests in literature, history and philosophy. He was also a pensioner in Rome on a scholarship sponsored by the Viscount of São João da Pesqueira.
A painter, architect and diplomat, Raul Maria Pereira was a highly regarded figure in Peru and Ecuador, where he moved in 1908 at the invitation of the director of that city’s School of Fine Arts to teach there.
He had a long career as an architect in that city and in Lima, Peru, where he moved in 1917, working on numerous projects for public buildings, alongside his career as a portrait painter. In the 1920s, he was Consul and Consul General of Portugal in Peru.