The Ajuda Library’s valuable iconographic collection, with around 2,500 manuscript and printed items, is made up of both albums and sundry works, with engravings, drawings, lithographic prints, and postcards. They address a variety of topics ranging from portraiture, landscapes and caricatures to illustrations and calligraphic exercises and more besides. The works are by figures such as Francisco d’Holanda, King Dom Pedro V and King Dom Carlos, together with artists who taught the royal family, like António Manuel da Fonseca and Henrique Casa Nova.

The most significant items among the printed works include an Italian album of engravings from the Collection of King Dom João V, which is composed of more than a hundred 16th century engravings signed by Federico Barocci, Cherubino Alberti, Arpino and Vespasiano Strada.

Reference works:

• Exposição D’Arte Caligráfica