Ivory spoons from West Africa were imported into Portugal in the 15th and 16th centuries.
Renaissance Spain
The entrance to San Gregorio epitomizes some of the inventive, complex architectural forms present on the Iberian Peninsula in the 15th century
Gil de Siloé, façade of San Gregorio, ...
For almost two hundred years, the Avis dynasty ruled Portugal and helped drive its transition from a small agricultural kingdom on the periphery of Christendom to a pioneer in global exploration, colonization, and trade.
The Rise and Fall of the Avis ...
The Belém Monstrance is an object of extraordinary artistry that embodies an immediate response to events taking place in Portugal and its overseas expansion.
Belém Monstrance
The Cantino planisphere, made by an unknown Portuguese chartmaker depicts what the Portuguese knew of the world in 1502.
The Cantino Planisphere
Josefa de Ayala, commonly called Josefa de Óbidos, is the only woman known to have worked as a painter in Portugal in the 17th century.
Josefa de Óbidos, Christ Child as Salvator ...
St Vincent, who is portrayed on this coin, was the patron saint of Portugal and of navigation
Gold S. Vincente of João III
The monastery is an outstanding repository of four centuries of Spanish religious architecture.
Royal monastery of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe
Founded by Cardinal Jiménez de Cisneros in the early 16th century, Alcalá de Henares was the world's first planned university city.
University of Alcalá de Henares
The impact of the Council of Trent on Catholicism is indisputable, and similarly on a great deal of art made after it ended
The Council of Trent and the call ...
The Torre de Belém (Tower of Belém) remains one of the main symbols of Portugal’s global expansion during the so-called Age of Exploration
The Tower of Belém
Renaissance artist Fernando Yáñez de la Almedina allows viewers to come eye-to-eye with the face of Christ.
Fernando Yáñez de la Almedina, Head of ...
A painted and gilded wooden ceiling made in renaissance Spain that was eventually acquired by William Randolf Hearst for Hearst Castle.
Sacred geometry in a mudéjar-style ceiling
A theatre box in wood, the Sopetrán Lamentation is a stunning 15th-century sculpture from Spain.
The Sopetrán Lamentation in wood
Ceramics that shimmer like gold! Lusterware ceramics made in Manises, Spain in the 15th century were some of the most desirable objects of their time.
Treasure from Spain, lusterware as luxury
If we read Alejo Fernández's The Virgin of the Navigators closely, we can learn an enormous amount about Spain’s role in exploration, trade and commerce, conquest and colonization, and slavery.
Alejo Fernández, The Virgin of the Navigators
Alonso Berruguete is the most famous sculptor that you have never heard of.
Alonso Berruguete, Abraham and Isaac
A Netherlandish artist, a Middle Eastern apostle, a Spanish queen, and a New York museum.
A Renaissance St. James as pilgrim
Throughout Europe women’s relegation to the domestic sphere was rooted in Christian tradition that placed blame for humanity’s fall from grace upon Eve, the first woman.
Browse Smarthistory images for teaching & learning!
