Vasco Fernandes

Who was Vasco Fernandes?

Vasco Fernandes, better known as Grão Vasco, was one of the main Portuguese Renaissance painters.

Vasco Fernandes was probably born in Viseu, in Northern Portugal, where he began his career in the team of painters executing the main altarpiece of Viseu Cathedral. Between 1506 and 1511 he painted the main altarpiece of Lamego Cathedral. After working in the Santa Cruz Monastery of Coimbra, Vasco Fernandes returned to Viseu and executed a series of altarpieces for Viseu Cathedral, considered his main works.

Most of his paintings hang nowadays in the Grão Vasco Museum, in Viseu.

A line of Portuguese wines are labelled with his masterpiece under the name Grao Vasco.