As linhas e formas da purificação: revisão da literatura e estudo morfológico dos lavatórios das capelas terceiras de Nossa Senhora do Carmo e São Francisco de Assis, em Ouro Preto/MG

Abstract

Research in the field of art history and architecture was dedicated, among other things, to investigating different aspects of religious buildings and their artistic collection, however, an almost total invisibility was observed in relation to the sacristy washbasins. The questioning about the lack of academic study on them led us to the present research, which aims to carry out a literature review and formal comparative analysis of the monumental washbasins installed in the chapels of Our Lady of Carmo and Saint Francis of Assisi, in Ouro Preto/ MG. For this, it was necessary to understand the emergence of these liturgical-ornamental pieces, their functions and the Catholic Church's guidelines for their manufacture. Typologies, occurrences and terminologies were part of the knowledge construction process, providing support for bibliography surveys and morphological analysis. The work methodology consisted of reading historical and pioneering publications of the chapels, to then work with other authors who address iconographic aspects and attributions of authorship to the master Antônio Francisco Lisboa, to whom the creation of the washbasins is attributed. For the formal analyses, the procedures involved photographic recording, image processing, organoleptic examination, identification of ornamental motifs, their main forms and lines of composition. As a result, general similarities were found between the two works, both in architectural and ornamental elements, which allow us to consider the same workshop in the sculptural making of both. We hope that this work can contribute towards bringing more visibility to the importance of the study of sacristy washbasins, and that the formal analyzes are subsidies for other studies on stone sculpture and authorship attributions, including to the master Antônio Francisco Lisboa.