On 16 December of this year, the new building of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon was inaugurated and named Reynaldo dos Santos as a tribute to the eminent physician, scientist, writer, historian, and great personality of the Portuguese cultural world.
Reynaldo dos Santos, in addition to being notable as a doctor, pedagogue, scientist and writer, also distinguished himself as a historian and art critic, a universal, moving being.
Considered one of the most illustrious citizens of Vila Franca de Xira, where his name appears in the hospital of this locality, Reynaldo dos Santos, his full name, was born in this city on 3 December 1880 in Rua dos Varinos and died in Lisbon on 6 May 1970.
It is in a domestic and cultural environment that Reynaldo dos Santos, the youngest of the five children of Maria Amélia Pinheiro dos Santos and Clemente José dos Santos, a respectable doctor from Vila Franca de Xira, grew up. He was the only one who followed his father's profession. It was thanks to the latter and to his paternal grandfather, his namesake, both with great prestige, that Reynaldo dos Santos acquired the most important guidance and influences that shaped his personality, both in the medical field and with regard to the Arts.
Clemente José dos Santos, Reynaldo dos Santos’ father, owned a magnificent library and was referred to as a “doctor-surgeon” and often honoured by the local press, although years before he had sparked controversy by denouncing, with some of his colleagues, like Professors Sousa Martins and May Figueira, the deplorable conditions of São José Hospital.
On the other hand, Reynaldo dos Santos' paternal grandfather, Clemente José dos Santos, a person with a vast culture and a partner of the Royal Academy of Sciences, had a huge reputation as a shorthand officer at S. Bento, where he recorded the discussions of the MPs. He was the Parliament's chief librarian and wrote the history of the institution in several volumes.
He received the noble title of Baron of S. Clemente as a reward for his work, dedication to the public cause, and continued requests to remain in office despite his advanced age.
Reynaldo dos Santos, considered a good student, attended primary and secondary education in Vila Franca de Xira.
As his mother was ill, the children were distributed by the homes of godparents and family members. Reynaldo dos Santos went to live in the home of his paternal grandfather, which gave him the opportunity to attend school on Machadinho Street, where he met Constantino Fernandes, a famous painter and draftsman. Meeting many parliamentarians who visited his grandfather's house and accessed his admirable library on the political and parliamentary history of liberalism, also influenced his taste for the arts.
In 1898 he entered the Lisbon Medical-Surgical School. According to his words, he considered most of the lecturers to be authoritarian, monotonous and boring. After taking classes with Professor Ricardo Jorge, he commented, "For the first time I understood what a Master's lessons were".
After completing his degree in 1903, at the age of 23, a friend of his grandfather, João Afonso de Carvalho, gave him some money that allowed him to go to Paris to train, where he met various personalities such as Theodore Tuffier, Carrel and Cushing, which was crucial for the development of his personality in terms of human relations, as Reynaldo dos Santos himself acknowledged.
In honour of João Afonso de Carvalho, his patron, he named his first son João Afonso Cid dos Santos, born in 1907. João Cid dos Santos was also a doctor, surgeon, researcher and professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon.
Between 1909 and 1914, he carried out various internships and visited several clinics in cities in the United States, such as Philadelphia, New York and Baltimore.
In 1906, he completed his doctoral thesis with the title “Surgical Aspects of Chronic Pancreatitis”. He devoted himself with great enthusiasm to surgery and carried out interesting medical teaching programmes. Following the completion of the contest and approval by absolute merit, he was appointed Professor of Surgery and Urology, starting teaching at the Faculty of Medicine in 1907.
Also in December of that year, he conceived and developed the urorhytmographo, which according to the Charter aims to “graphically record the value and rhythm of renal excretion as well as the functioning of the ureters”. This invention was presented in Lisbon and later in Paris.
Between 1909 and 1914, he carried out several internships in various European cities such as Berlin, Kummel, Venice, Vienna, Austria, London, Hamburg, Bremen, Bonn, and Brussels.
In 1910, he organized the Free Urology Course at Desterro Hospital, where he introduced the urorithmography method.
During World War I, he participated in various government missions to the Allied armies (French, English and Belgian). He was a Member of the Inter-Allied Committee for the Study of War Surgery.
Between 1917 and 1918, he was in France as a surgeon at the English Hospitals of Northern France and later at the Wimereux Hospital. He was also a surgery consultant for the Portuguese Expeditionary Corps (C.E.P.), as Captain (Portuguese) and Major (English).
In 1919, he participated as a Portuguese delegate at the Conférence Chirurgicalle InterAlliée and as an Advisory member at the Erasmus Prize Foundation in Amsterdam. He was awarded the Gold Medal of Good Service in the Great War and the Distinguished Servicer Order (D.S.O.). In 1922, he was distinguished as a Knight of the National Order of the Legion of Honour.
Back in Portugal and due to his critical positions regarding the education and hospital organization system that prevailed then, he fell out with one of the oldest professors and was suspended from duties at the Faculty of Medicine in 1916. He then began teaching at the Arroios Hospital, where he boosted experimental research. In 1925, he was appointed director of the General Surgery Service of this Hospital.
Continuing the research on cerebral arteriography performed by Egas Moniz in 1927, Reynaldo dos Santos expanded it to the level of the peripheral arteries, performing his first aortography in 1929, an examination that contributed to a better and deeper study of tumours, kidney anomalies and trauma following translumbar aortography.
In 1930, he was given the newly created Urology Chair at the Santa Marta School Hospital and in 1941 the Pathology and Surgical Therapy Chair of the Faculty of Medicine of Lisbon, becoming the director of the Faculty the following year.
Here he was a full professor of Surgical Clinic from 1948 to 1950, the year he retired. He was the president of the Lisbon Academy of Sciences between 1961 and 1963.
Reynaldo dos Santos and the Arts
Alongside the practice of his profession, Reynaldo dos Santos had a huge fascination for the arts, and is still considered today as one of the greatest Portuguese art historians of the twentieth century. His love for the Fine Arts began in his youth, during the holidays spent in Figueira da Foz, a favourite summer resort, when, in the company of Henrique de Vilhena, he participated in various archaeological campaigns coordinated by António Santos Rocha who advised him to read Taine, an author who had a major influence in the field of art studies.
His interest in art encompassed its most varied forms, including Architecture, Painting, Sculpture, Furniture, Tapestry, Tiles, China, Illumination, Goldsmithery and Glazing, which he spent a great deal of time researching, studying and writing, having published more than two dozen works about them all.
He also had a great appreciation for literature and attended various literary events and related with numerous celebrities of his time such as Jaime Cortesão, Aquilino Ribeiro, Raul Brandão, and Afonso Lopes Vieira.
In 1915, Reynaldo dos Santos and José de Figueiredo (who was considered to be his greatest master in Art History) discovered in Pastrana (Spain) some tapestries by painter Nuno Gonçalves depicting D. Afonso V's taking of Arzila. With the participation of Jorge Cid, the study of this finding gave rise to a work published in 1925.
In 1921, he studied in Italy the works of Portuguese painter Álvaro Pires d'Évora*. That year, Reynaldo dos Santos and another art historian named Virgílio Correia discovered in the Santa Croce de Fossabanda church, outside Pisa, the altarpiece “Our Lady with the Boy and Musician Angels”, the only work of this painter signed in Portuguese.
In this work, one can observe the signature of the painter (Álvaro Pirez d'Évora Pintov) below and in the centre, and one assumes that his intention was to refer to and underline his homeland, the city of Évora, as a motherland.
He also thoroughly studied Nuno Gonçalves' paintings, especially the exceptional panels of the Adoration of St. Vincent attributed to this fifteenth-century painter.
Regarding architecture, Reynaldo dos Santos studied in great detail, wrote and published several works on this subject.
He devoted himself to the study of Regional Architecture, namely, the churches, chapels, and the historical origins of the Monasteries of Alcobaça and Batalha. He focused especially on the study of Manueline style and its relationship with Portuguese maritime discoveries. According to his studies, in 1922 he declared Francisco Arruda to be the author of the Belém Tower, a symbol of Manueline art.
With regard to Sculptural Art, Reynaldo dos Santos analysed and studied in detail the rosettes, capitals, statues and cribs (such as those by Machado de Castro), which ornate Portuguese churches and monasteries. Tomb sculpture was also a subject of interest, especially the tombs of D. Pedro and D. Inês de Castro, in the Alcobaça Monastery. With these studies he published the work “Sculpture in Portugal”.
He also engaged in the study of the Indo-Portuguese style. Likewise, together with his wife D. Irene Quilhó dos Santos, he became interested in the study and analysis of the Private Collections of Portuguese Goldsmithery and Portuguese Faience of the 16th and 17th Centuries.
In 1938, Reynaldo dos Santos published in France the first synthesis book on Art in Portugal, still considered today as his most remarkable book.
He was also a contributor to many literary magazines such as Seara Nova, Atlântida, Lusitânia (1924-1927), Homens Livres (1923), Proceedings of Municipal Libraries, Archives and Museums (1931-1936), the Municipal Magazine (1939-1973) published by the Lisbon City Council and the Atlântico Portuguese-Brazilian magazine. He was a writing partner of Raul Proença, Câmara Reis, Francisco de Lacerda, Antonio Sérgio, and Carolina de Michaelis.
Holder of an impressive resume, it is difficult to choose the most significant dates and honours granted to Reynaldo dos Santos.
He was honoured with the following condecorations:
- Commander of the Military Order of Sant'Iago da Espada, 28 June, 1919
- Awarded by Rudolph Matas the Violet Heart Fund Medal for being "the surgeon who most contributed to the advancement of vascular surgery", in 1937
- Grand Cross of the Military Order of Sant'Iago da Espada, 7 March 1940
He was President of various Societies such as:
- Founder and President of the National Academy of Fine Arts (1924)
- Founder of the Portuguese Academy of History (1932)
- President of the Lisbon Academy of Sciences (1964-1967)
- Honorary Member of the National Society of Fine Arts
- Academic Emeritus of the Mondiale degli Artisti and Professionisti Academy of Rome (1957)
- Honorary Professor of Art History at the University of Bahia School of Fine Arts (1959)
- Corresponding Member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters
The Faculty of Medicine of Lisbon holds a collection of three busts as a way of honouring some of its distinguished professors. The latest, dating from 1945, depicts the head of the physician, historian and art critic Reynaldo dos Santos, authored by sculptor Francisco Franco. It is characterized by a realistic but schematic modelling of the honoree's head, with remarkable treatment of the bronze.
Also the Management Board of the Federation of Friends of Museums of Portugal (FAMP), a non-governmental organization, with consultative status with UNESCO and founded in 1998, as a way of honouring Professor. Reynaldo dos Santos as a Fine Arts historian, in 2001 created the Professor Reynaldo dos Santos Prize to foster groups of friends, intensify communication and support their action, promoting the creation of new groups and encouraging the defence of cultural heritage and the activity of the Friends of Museums in Portuguese society.
His legacy
In 2004, the Reynaldo dos Santos house was donated to the Cascais Town Hall, as well as its contents and the magnificent documents’ collection (bibliographic, archival and photographic) containing the personal archives of Reynaldo dos Santos, by Irene Quilhó dos Santos, his widow, and their sons João Carlos and Luis Alberto Quilhó Jacobetty. According to the will of Irene Quilhó dos Santos, this donation had the purpose of creating the Reynaldo dos Santos and Irene Quilhó dos Santos House Museum.
Located in Parede, the house that had been built in 1930 by Eugénio da Silva Teles, with Art-Deco features, was restored and adapted in 1989 by Irene Quilhó to be her permanent home.
The documental collection of Professor Reynaldo dos Santos contains handwritten, typewritten and printed documents that accompanied his research in the fields of medicine and art history. It also includes correspondence and documents as member and president of Institutes and Academies in the field of Medicine and History. In addition, it has a rich Photographic Archive consisting of proofs, glass negatives and transparencies of the photographs used in the publications, the exhibitions he commissioned and the Colóquio Artes e Letras Magazine. It also contains countless images of national heritage sent by individuals, whether requesting expert advice, or to make known and draw attention to the condition of the heritage.
His huge legacy allows us to research, study and evaluate the personality of Professor Reynaldo dos Santos from a medical point of view, as an art historian and as a citizen who vastly contributed to the cultural and artistic panorama of our country.
In order to honour Professor Reynaldo dos Santos, his name has been given (over the years) to streets from north to south of our country, in addition to the hospital and school group in Vila Franca de Xira.
In 1999, a stamp collection was created, entitled “Figures of Portuguese Medicine” and Reynaldo dos Santos is depicted on one of the stamps.
Some medals were made in honour of Reynaldo dos Santos:
* Álvaro Pirez d'Évora is the first documented Portuguese painter. He had all his artistic career in Italy. A great traveller, except for Santo António, he was the first Portuguese to insert himself in the European culture. Born in Évora, it is not known when he went to Italy, but he is supposed to have arrived around 1400. Álvaro Pirez d'Évora probably worked intensively for four decades in the Tuscany region, when the Renaissance was flourishing. This consecrated painter in Italy (where he worked during his lifetime) was unknown in Portugal until the early twentieth century, and is documented until 1434, when he signed his last work.
In addition to the above painting “Our Lady with the Boy and Musician Angels”, we know of the existence of five more works signed by the author. However, only three of his works came to us, and the other two were signed in Latin.
There are works by this 15th-century painter all over the world, from North America to Russia, South America and across Europe.
In 1994, a small exhibition about this artist was held at Torre do Tombo and since then there has been great interest for this author. After the Évora Municipality acquired one of his paintings, in 2018 the National Museum of Ancient Art acquired at a New York auction a small but very valuable painting called “The Annunciation” that served as the basis for the exhibition being held at the Museum until mid-March 2020. In addition to this painting, other works from 8 other countries are on display.
References:
https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reynaldo_dos_Santos
http://www.famportugal.pt/images/conteudos/Vida+e+Obra+de+Reynaldo+Santos.pdf?noticias&op=arch
https://www.cascais.pt/equipamento/casa-reynaldo-dos-santos-e-irene-quilho-dos-santos
http://coloquio.gulbenkian.pt/al/sirius.exe/directores?RS
https://www.homemdoslivros.com/search/label/*REYNALDO%20DOS%20SANTOS
https://medalhasportuguesas.wordpress.com/tag/reynaldo-dos-santos/
https://sis-medicos.fandom.com/pt-br/wiki/REYNALDO_DOS_SANTOS
http://memoria.ul.pt/index.php/Colec%C3%A7%C3%A3o_de_Bustos_da_Faculdade_de_Medicina
http://www.cascais.pt/arquivohistoricodigital
Lurdes Barata
Editorial Team
Library and Information Area
