Manuel Costa Noronha Pereira da
(b Oporto, 3 Jun 1707; fl until 1759). Son of (1) Lu?s Pereira da Costa. He is referred to in 1726, when he was 19, as a wood-carver ('entalhador') in a contract for the chancel of Bom Jesus, Matosinhos. He was recognized as one of the best interpreters of the fine JOANINE type of retable and one of those responsible for its diffusion in northern Portugal. Outstanding among his early works are the high altar (1740-41) of the parish church at Vila do Conde and the carving, completed in 1744, in the chancel in the church of S Marta de Penagui?o, Cever. In the following year he accepted the commissions for the side altars and the chancel arch (1745) in the church of S Andr? do Canidelo, Vila Nova de Gaia, to the designs of Miguel Francisco da Silva. Also in 1745 he executed the carving of the chancel (including the tribune, stepped throne of the high altar and lunettes) in the convent of S Domingos, Vila Real. His most important works of 1750 were completed for S Francisco, Oporto: the retable of Our Lady of the Incarnation or the Annunciation of Our Lady and the retable of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, also known as the Holy Martyrs of Morocco, both of which exemplify the quality of his work in the fineness of the carving and in the splendour of their conception.
Part of the Pereira da Costa family
See the Abbreviations for further details.
