(b Mafra, c. 1752; d Set?bal, 9 Feb 1809). Portuguese painter. He was self-taught and knew little of technique or perspective, but he was sometimes successful in capturing the expression of a sitter or the texture of objects and of animal fur. His paintings are in the still-life tradition of the bodeg?n and convey a sharp, but not ironic, sense of social realism. Portrait of a Black Man (Lisbon, Mus. N. A. Ant., on dep. Mafra, Pal. N.) depicts the sitter staring out at the spectator, with his right arm and index finger raised as if in warning, wearing a torn shirt and a red waistcoat. This and other portraits of humble people painted by de Barros were unusual in Portuguese painting at this date.
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