Bernardo Gomes, Sculpture in Santo António, Lisbon, Portugal
Bernardo Gomes is a bronze bust set in the Jardim Botânico of the Escola Politécnica, in the Santo António neighborhood of Lisbon, Portugal. It rests on a stone pedestal and is surrounded by trees and plants that make it feel like a natural part of the garden.
The monument was put in place in 1959, though the model for the bust was made earlier in 1926 by the sculptor Costa Mota. The pedestal was designed by A. Machado, who placed the work within the botanical garden of the Escola Politécnica.
The sculpture depicts Bernardino António Gomes, a botanist and doctor who taught at the Escola Politécnica in Lisbon during the 19th century. His bust stands in the garden attached to that school, a space still used today by students and people passing through.
The garden is an easy place to walk through, and the bust can be found by following the paths between the trees. A morning or early afternoon visit tends to work well, as the light comes through the canopy at a good angle for seeing the details of the bronze.
More than three decades passed between the making of the model and the official placing of the monument. That gap makes this one of the rare cases where a finished portrait model waited so long before being installed in its final location.
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