Rebirth of an Empire "O Renascimento de um Império" v2.0

Lusitania

Donor

Growth of the Empire (1783-1799)

[1]

At the time of Marquis Pombal’s death King Joseph II was 21 and had reached the age of majority. After 1 month of mourning with the country besieged by war with both France and Dutch Republic King Joseph II was forced to choose a new Prime Minister who would help him govern the country and continue on with the growth and modernization of the country. There were several candidates who were well suited for the position. Foremost was Duke John but in private discussions with the young king Duke John requested that he stay in the position he was in, he felt the education system and sciences were just then beginning to grow and the department needed a firm hand guiding it. The second individual also considered was Ambassador Castro or also known as Martinho de Melo but when the king met with Ambassador Castro and they discussed the needs of the country and the work he was doing managing both the navy and colonial affairs it was decided that the best place for Ambassador Castro was to continue in his role but with a new title Count of Almada.[2]

The third candidate that king Joseph II interviewed, was one of the newest members of the cabinet but one who had been providing invaluable service to the kingdom, both before as Vice-Roy of Brazil and recently as Minister of Internal Affairs, the Marquis of Lavradio.




[1] The 50 cent bill shown here was the first printed paper money after the centralizing of Portuguese banking and, thus, together with the representation of Lady Justice in the left, symbolized the post-Three-Years-War period, known for its contributions to the Justice and Economic departments.
[2] iOTL Martinho de Melo was considered one of Portugal best ministers who excelled as Minister of Navy and Colonies. By time of his death he had rebuilt Portugal’s navy to be the 4th largest in Europe even with Portugal’s limited resources, a fact that was not lost on Napoleon, who coveted the Portuguese navy as part of his fight against the British.


This post starts the Post Post Pombaline era, we now start a new period of the Portuguese Empire with Pombal gone the government and people start benefiting from all the developments over the last 30 years. But it is also a time where the country tries to chart a new path and also try to make sense of how it had got to where it was. The important thing was that those in power were respective of what had been accomplished Questions/ Comments???

Join us on February 28 ,2021 as we start post the next section.

Note: with Thrudgelmir2333 stopping his writing TL stories and no other reader stepping forward to help I need to have time to write so I will only be posting once a month to allow time for new stories to be written and the TL not to stall. thanks.
 
I guess this period would be useful for Portugal to prepare for the incoming European storm, with relative peace at home and to its immediate borders, so would be very decisive 15 years for Portugal and its colonies.

The longer Lisbon will manage to avoid or delay the clash with France, the better. Of course, we all expect Spain would take the worst burn of such clash...
 

Lusitania

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I guess this period would be useful for Portugal to prepare for the incoming European storm, with relative peace at home and to its immediate borders, so would be very decisive 15 years for Portugal and its colonies.

The longer Lisbon will manage to avoid or delay the clash with France, the better. Of course, we all expect Spain would take the worst burn of such clash...
Yes the period between three year war and Napoleon wars were of great importance for the country as it grew both economically and through military actions (outside Europe). It was also a period of increasing Portuguese power and growing diplomatic clout.

This unfortunately did not bode well for Portuguese - Spanish relations which did not recover till the French Revolution. The feeling in Madrid and many parts of Spain was that the Portuguese had tricked Spain into a false detente during the 3 war while it went on and gained prestige, power and territory while Spain had failed in its primary objective of retaking Gibraltar and all it got in the peace treaty was pittance for all its endeavors.

The Spanish government vowed to counter any Portuguese move and increased its vigilance on Portuguese intentions and desires least they negatively impact Spain again.

As for how Spain will react to French Revolution and the rise of Napoleon we will need to wait. Although iotl does provide us with some insight. Iotl the Spanish were so alarmed with the French Revolution that it made overtones to Portugal for assistance. That assistance would prove a double edge sword that would eventually hurt and negative impact Portugal.

In studying the Iberian war we can see how the lack of infrastructure, hostile Spanish - French interaction would lead to France expending a huge amount of effort and man power to subjugate Spanish forces (both irregular and partisan) while all the while due to lack of support from France its forces were forced to be dispersed due to lack of provisions. Large scale military actions by French were always a hurried affair due to limited French provisions. This was quite strange for Napoleon understood the need to supply his troops but his inability to understand Spanish hatred and resistance to French occupation would lead to France being unable to subjugate Spain and eventual Wellington victory over French forces.

What will be the Portuguese strategy when it is finally forced to fight France? It will need Spain to be a quagmire gor french forces and not an ally. It will also need to attempt to keep French forces out of Portugal and to engage the enemy in Spain. The Portuguese will be close to their base while French forces be attacked end of their supply route operating in hostile environment. So your prediction that in order for Portugal to emerge victorious Spain will need to suffer like iOTL or worse.
 
The Mid Josephine Era (1783 to 1799)

Lusitania

Donor

Growth of the Empire (1783-1799)

The Mid Josephine Era (1783 to 1799)

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King Joseph II the Great (1788)[1]

The designation of 1783 and 1784 as the beginning of the mid Josephine period came from the coincidence of the 1783 Census occurring simultaneously to the death of Pombal and the Treaty of Paris, contributing to the feeling of a transition of state and updating of status throughout the entire territory, even over oversea lanes, as well as the outbreak of the First Coalition War. Dotted with a population of four and a half million metropolitan people and close to the same of that spread out through colonies (with modest stabilizing growth prospects), the nation had now a host of younger people ready to be invested into many ambitious projects stemming from the arts to the military.

It was also a country rife with political intrigue stemming from the outcome of the Paris Treaty and the ongoing revolutions in France and America. The new alliance with the Dutch Republic was also a factor of change, with many Portuguese merchants and high figures now meeting with Neerlandese traders regularly to discuss profits, territory and disgruntful cooperation and the Dutch Patriot Revolt contributing to changing the nature of Portuguese diplomacy and secret services. The new unofficial political parties were solidifying with the moderate needle set at continuing the Pombalist reform mindset and an ever-increasing desire for representation, while the justice system cried for reform and commerce desperate searched for a revolution to match that of the production.

Moreover, even with the final victory over and reconciliation with the Dutch, some of Portugal’s oldest rivals still represented threats and now began to make their moves; the Spanish crown, feeling its arm twisted by Joseph II over the Gibraltar conflict and wary of the Verneyists and Pombalists deteriorating its neighbor’s conservatism, began making new demands to solve the ambassador dispute between Madrid and Lisbon that had been going on since the Order of Christ Conspiracy and the Moroccan Sultan, Yazid, still resented the outcome of the 1770 Morbeia War where his father died, Yazid himself was held hostage and the country was forced to make enough territorial concessions to turn the failing Portuguese outpost of Mazagão into the autonomous province of Morbeia, which now operated as a spy agent springboard to Berber insurrections.

Further overseas, commercial and colonial borders reformed immensely thanks to the demarcations set between London, Amsterdam and Lisbon in their shared regions, especially India. Native powers like the Mysoreans and the Marathas wished to recover their blood lands from the Europeans, who now held a triple stranglehold without the overlapping that would prevent cooperation, and increasingly felt like a drastic action was needed to rid their respective territories from strangers. Meanwhile, less aggressive nations like Hyderabad attempted to choose a European patron they could trust on, further complicating the balance of power in the sub-continent.

The Portuguese had completed their ambition of being the uncontested masters of the western shore, but the British West Office in Bombay was a major preoccupation and the Goanese now dreamed of uniting their provinces physically in order to become a true regional state, accepting further loyalty to Portuguese law in exchange for the development of their new identity as an Indian power and new wars. It would be an era of increasing involvement of native ethnicities in forging the Goanese state and using the Portuguese in their favor instead of the other way around.

In Brazil, slave landowners in the north continued to clash with industrial emancipators in the south, triggering increasingly tense state reunions and more and more calls for Portuguese arbitration. Variety of wealth increased in the same degree as variety of identity. Clergy gradually lost power to faux aristocracy and proto-plutocrats. With the completion of the acclimatization of Cisplatina as a Brazilian land, the people of Brazil clamored for new conquests and looked not only towards the west, to the other side of the La Plata, where borders with Spaniards and Incans lay, but to the south and east, where sea routes to New Zealand and the Lusophone world existed to make their own colonization.

But in all remaining territories, including the capital, commerce and coin was the name of the game. The bourgeoisie in Lisbon and Oporto continued to work towards more and more contracts and trade with northern Europe, wishing to become the suppliers of Europe once again, while the governors of African and Asian colonies sought to interlink themselves and pursue innovative areas of development, wishing to earn the opportunity to undergo colonial reforms like the MAD. Emboldened by recent victories, new captains and lieutenants stepped forward in the navy and the army, ready to serve, and the wash down of the ‘Nightmare at Sea’ filled the nation with a sense of optimism regarding its capabilities and judgement.

Yet, all this excitement revolved around the helm of a shy figure. King Joseph II, as of 1784, could very well be named “the Meek” should he suddenly die. Seemingly indecisive and timid, the monarch had been upstaged by his wife, Queen Charlotte, several times as of that year, including during the critical Nantes Negotiations and the Treaty of Paris, with his only major feat as of then being the letter sent to Madrid to coerce them to abandon the siege of Gibraltar (a gesture that would not be recognized for its importance by the general public until his later years of reign).

With the heavy construction of the Palace of Ajuda underway, it almost seemed a disservice for the fruits of Portuguese labor to be spent in the splendor and ostentation of a rather underwhelming young monarch. As of 1784, however, King Joseph II would begin a turn around when the new problems in Portugal began appealing to his more talented and passionate side; the fields of justice and constitutionalism.


[1] Joseph II, despite the ostentation of his legacy, was a particularly shy king self-conscious of the minor deformities in his physical appearance that made him hesitant to pose for portraits, leading to there only being a small collection of minor drawings and paintings of his majesty despite his long period of reigning over the country

We now start a new era one which many scholars and historians have called "Josephine the Great Era". Till the death of Pombal in 1783 Joseph II reign had been overshadowed by the old and domineering Prime Minister. That time had actually provided the young king with the time to learn the ropes as they say while being able to rely on Pombal for guidance and support, now that Pombal was no longer there King Joseph had to shoulder on and be his own man. While the country would be led by a series of capable Prime Ministers and cabinet comprised of some of the country's best minds the era would be forever associated King Joseph II. Questions/ Comments???

I will post another section later today.
 
The Mid Josephine Era (1783 to 1799) - Struggling Capitalism, Technocracy & Neoclassicism ( 1 of 4)

Lusitania

Donor

Growth of the Empire (1783-1799)

The Mid Josephine Era (1783 to 1799)

Struggling Capitalism, Technocracy & Neoclassicism ( 1 of 4)

As stated in the previous period, the events of the Three Years War, the succession of Joseph II to the throne and the end of Pombal’s regime had a terrific impact in metropolitan culture, not to mention they served as a test to national resilience at many levels. Capitalism in Portugal, however, was a climbing force in a tilted race with its Anglo-Saxon, Hispanic, Frankish and Germanic rivals. Until 1783, the primary advantages in Portugal had been positional, in implementation of reforms and in terms of management technique, but not in fuel, manpower or resources.

The fact that the ‘Power Loom’, a very significant piece of machinery for the industrial revolution, was invented in Porto by João Costa Ferreira around the same time of the war had served to show that the country had grown capable of functioning in civil affairs despite ongoing military crisis. More warships had also been put to sea within those three years than in any preceding homologous period, something owed quite visibly to hardworking Irish expatriates working in dockyards. There was therefore now a reaction of “dynamizing instead of paralyzing” in times of conflict, a contrast with what had occurred in previous enemy invasions like the Fantastic War.

Division of labor was mostly to be blame; as predicted by Adam Smith, the rationalization of the productive process had turned the workforce into a machine in itself, operating with greater specialization and reduced work focus deviation. It could be said then that the state economy had grown partially mechanized, operating at acceptable efficiency regardless of external factors. This was important as it was a testament to the teachings of the General Theory of Productivity at the beginning of the previous period, which predicted that productivity could be laid down in pure scientific terms and expanded through technology against the fears and limitations of its human operators. The gradual introduction of primitive steam engines was also changing the inner workings of several richer factories, who attempted to adopt the energy provider.

As this progress developed, the mindset in the country also did. Departing from Enlightenment, society began taking an interest in a growing niche that had wormed its way in since the beginning of the century; Neo-Classicism.

In Portugal, like many other European countries, it was understood that the Antiquity had a sort of aesthetic and moral authority and attempts to return to it had been recurrent throughout history all over Europe. Its incarnation of the 18th century was founded on a number of factors, namely the exhaustion of Baroque ways and the triumph of rationalism over superstition and dogmas, a main element of the Enlightenment championed by men like the Marquis of Pombal.

It was also pertinent to say that the Josephine plutocrat class, that had slowly accumulated power since the 1760s, took a sort of cultish refuge in the ideas of the Antiquity, seeing Catholicism as an oppressive religion that targeted their comfort and ways, and inertly revolted against the tired religious art and architecture by turning to the ideas of Ancient Greece, Ancient Egypt and Ancient Rome, seeing in them a tranquil display of gentle power naked of any papal decorum. Verneyists criticized this interest, believing their particular schism as an ironically more generous attempt at compromising paradoxes with Rome.[1]

The incredible political uprisings all over the world during the late 18th century only served to enhance this desire to call back to ancient values in an attempt for high culture societies to rediscover themselves, free of the ideas of the old regimes. Many of the new powers, including the US with its “Federal Style” and the Jacobins of France, were attempting to bring neoclassicism to politics by adopting names and institutions of old, calling themselves republicans and congress advocates while flagging freedom and citizenship. Classical notions of heroism and patriotism returned and were used to describe the leaders of the new revolutions, trumping the corrupt and lavish feudalism that had appointed the importance of people based on tradition and birthright. This caused neoclassicism to obtain its aggressive edge, departing from mere art of calm Greek sceneries to fully armed pamphlet-spreading, denouncing the need to change society forever.

Returning to the Portuguese context, Neoclassicism was rising under the protective wing of capitalism; the main proponents of the new movement were wealthy funders who had built companies with new technologies and cited their loyalty to the points of the GTP as a go-to manual of why they were better than their peers, and they sought to glorify their success by distancing themselves from their religiously-minded rivals in the struggle for societal power and building their own identity. This occurred in overlap with the rise of freemasonry in Lisbon and Porto.

With the victory over France in the Three Years War, the mood only grew more inflamed and Portuguese factories became places of industrial optimism. The focus on management practices that had dominated economic progress in the earlier 20 years was now being replaced by technocracy; the most valuable member of the organization became the one who could bring new machinery and tools in.

The word “Tecnocracia” was therefore born in this way in Lisbon’s Chamber of Commerce as consequence of the collective of entrepreneurs who were painfully aware of the disadvantage they faced with their foreign rivals in terms of manpower and resources but were feeling strange successes in their investment towards securing patents and education for their workers. William Stephens described the Portuguese industrial class as “obsessive eavesdroppers and scouts, endlessly searching the news and university papers for gadgets they could call innovations, compensating the cultural anarchism that hinders them by stealing progress”.

The word would return in the 20th century to describe the goal of industrial democracy, but here it acted as a smear to industry captains who increasingly relegated basic work techniques to search for ‘mathematical models and power engines that could revolutionize their toolsheds’, a saying also from the mouth of William Stephens. This was, however, a natural consequence of the politics of the Pombaline Cabinet age, as it heavily enforced the idea that Portuguese society needed to be dominated by a group of individuals empowered by their knowledge and education on their specialty, something which translated pretty basically to a “technical elite” or “technocracy”.

This precise mindset, combined with global artistic trends, the change of government, the observed constitutionalist trends of the new King and the triumph of the Three Years War, helped bring about a liberation and proliferation of neoclassicism and the idea initially presented by the GTP that a country was empowered by mechanization, instead of just prestige and the army.

However, it’s important to understand this all occurred in the so-called “Pre-Industrial Revolution” in Portugal, where the Manufactory System was prevalent. Dominated by management techniques and availability of tools, this system was basically as industrial as it could be without a machine. The invention of the Power Loom, however, set its end in stone by 1783. From 1784 onward, the ‘Factory System’ would make its splash.



[1] One of the principles of Verneyism defended the continued contact with the Pope despite the rejection of his decrees. Many scholars and even supporters questioned this contradiction and it was not till the Vatican Council in 1860 - 1864 that two factions of the Roman Catholic Church; the liberals championed by those inspired by the Portuguese and the conservatives led church in Italian Peninsula met and implemented real reforms both philological and structurally. It was during the Vatican Council that Verneyism notes were released in which he expressed his hopes and dreams for the reformation of the church and eventual reestablishment of direct relations with Rome. It also established guidance for Portuguese church officials to present at the Vatican Council.

We are using this post to highlight the changes that we occurring in Portugal, gone was the era of Portugal relying on trade of commodities and trade goods and importing almost all of its manufactured goods. As both newcomers and the new generation raised under Pombal's transformation of the country started industry and manufacturing that would change the mindset of country and transform it beyond what we have witnessed now. Questions/ Comments???

Please vote for this and my other TL in the poll if you have not done so yet. But more importantly I hope that being in the running for several years we gain new readers and fans. If you have ideas questions or like to contribute please feel free to contact me anytime, by either leaving a post here or email, Thanks

Next post called the Factory System will be posted on March 28. Obrigado.
 
The Mid Josephine Era (1783 to 1799) Struggling Capitalism, Technocracy & Neoclassicism (2 of 4)

Lusitania

Donor
Growth of the Empire (1783-1799)

The Mid Josephine Era (1783 to 1799)

Struggling Capitalism, Technocracy & Neoclassicism ( 2of 4)

The Factory System

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Left: Steam-powered paper mill in Abrantes
Center: João Ferreira’s powered loom in action in Oporto’s textile industries
Right: De Rerum Natura, by João Jacinto de Magalhães

The defense of a single political direction is not enough to uplift the country. Every matter and issue must be brought to the next stage of civilization. The steam engine will allow us to do that, it will make conservative principles new and liberal principles newer, and the creation of wealth will be stronger because of it. It’s a matter of muscle.
-Chairman Alexandre Rosa, advocating why the advancement of the economic engine was vital to social, liberal and imperial interests

The Manufactory System[1] was a major tool of development during the late Pombaline period; it had cemented Pombaline-style reformism, it had replaced the Put-Out System and it introduced the population to the phenomenon of urbanism and industrialization, not to mention it helped quickly absorb the imported manpower from the colonies in the Metropolis. However, it was quickly reaching the limits of its potential.

The Economists Order, founded in 1778 by Minister Ratton, was still in its infancy and was inhabited mostly by the aforementioned proto-technocrats and advocates of De Pinto’s GTP thesis who were mainly employed by captains of industry to advise them on business strategy matters, rather than actual economics. They included men like De Pinto himself, but also industrial thinkers both transplanted and natural born like William Stephens, José Rodrigues Bandeira, Fernandes Bandeira Anselmo José da Cruz, Geraldo Wenceslão Braamcamp and Daniel Gildemeester as well as newcomers attracted to the country such like William Murdoch and Michael Stirling who for one reason or other lacked home institutions and pursued their specific pseudoscience in Portugal.[2] Around 1780, with the dawn of the British Industrial Revolution, the economists began arguing towards, as more modern historians later on put it, “putting the Portuguese engine in the next gear”. In detail, they defended the importation or invention of powered machinery to forcibly evolve Portuguese manufacturing.

To many in the Order, it was a matter of survival, to none more than so than Alexandre Rosa Batalha.

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Alexandre Rosa Batalha
Born 6 February 1738
Died 9 August 1817
Portuguese Statesman, Economist, Banker and 2nd CC Chairman
Economists Order’s Professional Discipline Committee head

Having made greater fame through his appeal to King Joseph II to mobilize the nation during the Three-Years War, the proto-economist defended the mechanization of the Portuguese economy over and over again in lectures and hearings at colleges, meetings and the Chamber itself. Making the contrarian point that liberal and imperial interests were both served by the introduction of mechanized productivity in an economy, Batalha was mostly interested in glory-hounding the wealth of the nation, seeing Portugal’s industrial rivals as enemies to overcome in every field. To this end he attempted to engage Adam Smith’s famous “Wealth of Nations” in Lisbon’s outdoor debates, but also its lesser known counterpart, the “Theory of Moral Sentiments”, but more on this below.

The invention of the Power Loom allowed the practical pursue of what Chairman Alexandre vouched for, as it was a powered machinery that was useful to many basic commodity sectors that Portugal was specializing itself in particular, mainly textiles and paper. Investment from capitalists in the public ceased to focus itself on education and manpower and instead began to go towards securing two things; the machine and the means to produce the machine. This was something that the classic workshops could accomplish. Heavy furnaces, steel, coal and more importantly the most advanced machine tools available were needed. The Put-Out system, that had more or less survived in the shadow of the Manufactory System, was now facing a new foe in the form of the “Factory System”.

The Presented Theory

The “Sistema de Fábrica”, named after how it reinvented the ‘feitoria’ models previously used when establishing new production centers, had three main objectives:
  • Bringing machines to Portugal;
  • Develop work around them as efficiently as possible;
  • Continue to develop the new science kicked off by the GTP, the science of Economics;
Recent history lessons suggested that Portugal suffered a “spark” start in the industrial race due to being allowed to look at British stumbles in the dark to perfect its own introduction to industrialization.[3] The leading plutocrats were also more aggressive than their predecessors, wishing to make the ‘Costa Urbana’ the main provider of manufactured goods for the entire western section of the Iberian Peninsula. The capitalists, economists and captains of industry, therefore, had a shared ambition to set up the evolution of their capital to have as high and fast-fulfilling potential as possible. Part of this overly aggressive and often careless mission was motivated by how the main figures of the movement were foreigners, mainly Minister William Stephens, and so they looked at the Iberian industrial map a bit as something to experiment with.

The plan of action seemed to be to take lessons not only of British mistakes, but also from the agricultural sector. The MLE system introduced by Aaron had tempered agricultural traditionalism and corporatism into a mixed body, attempting to combine the benefits of both, but had limited effects due to several factors unique to agriculture, such as the attachment farmers felt to the land, the fertility of the earth, the effects of weather, drought and famine, the lack of knowledge on fertilization and the essential nature of the goods produced by it. To make MLE succeed it was necessary to constantly morph it to local circumstances, but industrials were curious about how they could apply it to industry, which had bigger tool demand, but less square mile requirements, non-essential final goods and for the most part no seasonality.

The birth of new corporation organs designed to be compact, efficient but also ambitious and cooperative seemed to be the ideal the new thinkers strived for. Coupled with the advocating of mechanization of the means of production, this was the Factory System.

The Enactment & Technology


Therefore, the first phase of the Portuguese Industrial Revolution had begun and the new system would rule for more or less the rest of the century and the first decade of the 19th. It was powered by the importation of machinery, but also a strong investment in local inventors and abroad.

To name a few, J.J Magalhães was an important projector of instruments and member of the Oporto branch of the Academy of Sciences who made contributions to astronomy and naval tools, mostly, like telescopes, lenses and micrometers, but with the start of the Factory System, he began to profit from projecting machine tools as well.[4] He helped develop many early prototypes of steam engines, looms, mills and other automated machines still in their infancy, allowing Portuguese technology and patents to grow independently from other countries.

Alessandro Volta, through the intermedium of Magalhães, also made part of his career as an electrical science and gas chemistry pioneer in Portugal during the 1780s, due to better personal comfort with Verneyism’ lax policy on irreligious people. Volta had been constantly criticized in his homeland for apparent lack of faith despite personal statements of piety and was encouraged by Magalhães to spend some time in Lisbon’s labs to research peacefully. During the late 1790s after northern Italy became under siege by French invasions led by a rather talented Corsican artillery leader.[5]

In 1789, motivated by his rivalry with Luigi Galvani and funded by the Lisbon Royal Society of Sciences, Alessandro Volta completed a major invention, the Voltaic Pile, the world’s first electrical cell and a major prestige boost for the society.

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Alexandre Volta and the “Pilha Voltáica”

The end of the century was therefore a time of strong technological toil, a result of work done in the earlier period in the fields of education, science and industry. Eventually, with the development of major travel innovations like railroads, steamboats and long distance communication, the “Factory System” would be replaced in the 1820s by the “Imperialist System”, a method that strongly involved geopolitics and the developing field of economics in Portugal to make decisions regarding work and the world of industry.

The Risks, The Philosophy & the 1798 International Symposium


In the meantime, the Factory System motivated and guided Portuguese industrialization. The introduction of better technology began displacing workers in farms and factories, but while this created social strife, it staved off the problem predicted in the Manufactory System, the labor shortage. The Factory System was, as a replacer of older models, a doctrine that freed up manpower by reducing the labor demand of new enterprises (and causing several established workers to be fired, too). It also exacerbated urban wealth differences, with the patrons paying less long-term costs and less workers having long term gains.

In 1786, after choosing to acquire more machinery after the expiration of a major exports contract with Hamburg, the Vista Alegre glass industry triggered a worker revolt of nearly 300 people in the middle of Lisbon that was resisted against and dispersed by the GNR military police officers, who shot at the crowd and injured at least 46 people.

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GNR dispersing the worker demonstration at Vista Alegre

This event brought to light the negative effects of the rotation of industrial doctrines in Portugal, and how quickly replacing one model for the next was causing people moving in from farms to the city to work to suddenly be out of job or in precarious terms.

Surprisingly, it was none other than Chairman Alexandre that capitalized on this development; seeking to find weaknesses in rival philosophies, he brought to light in Lisbon the final, lesser known declarations of Adam Smith regarding the division of labor, that it would numb the worker and transform him into a human cog manipulated by the state engine. To explain the ethics that capitalism and mechanization would challenge in society, he cited Adam Smith’s “Theory of Moral Principles”. This was vital to characterize the Portuguese industrial revolution as not only an economic challenge, but a philosophical one and deeply set it apart from the revolutions occurring in England and that would occur in France or even Germany.

It was therefore no surprise, on the other hand, that in 1798 the first great international symposium on the matter happened not in London, but in Lisbon. This wasn’t just a prestigious feat; it was an important step towards open speech between nations about technological breakthroughs in industrialized economics at a time where the concept of patents was being greatly hogged for the sake of competitive profiting between enemy nations of Western Europe. This allowed Portuguese laboratories, factories and colleges to be where other backwater nations went to in their quest to understand how to compete with more advanced industrialized countries.


[1] See Rebuilding Transition and Tensions (1777 – 1783) – Rebirth of the Empire (Part 2 of 2) – Manufactory Revolution & General Theory of Productivity.
[2] Both William Murdoch and Michael Stirling Jr were British inventors who were both attracted and recruited to come to Portugal. William Murdoch was a Scottish engineer and steam inventor who having been blocked by more famous British inventors in his case Boulton and Watts, to develop and perfecting steam engine came to Portugal. While Michael Stirling Jr brought to Portugal his father’s thrashing machine. Following the invention of thrashing machine in 1786 by Andrew Meikle, another Scottish farmer attempted to make his own claim to the invention. Farmer Michael Stirling claimed that he has been using a rotary threshing machine since 1758 to process all the corn on his farm at Gateside but was unable to provide any documentation. In 1796 following his dad’s death at the invitation of the Portuguese he sailed to Porto where he was successfully able to demonstrate his father’s invention.
[3] See Rebirth of the Empire (Part 1 of 2) – Pombaline Cabinet (1762 -1777) – Ministry of Finance & Commerce – Metropolitan & Brazilian Industrialization.
[4] IOTL he was mostly confined to this. After 1763 he stayed outside Portugal. http://cvc.instituto-camoes.pt/ciencia/p4.html
[5] Volta had no real trouble with Napoleon and, in IOTL, he was even made a count by him, but in ITTL he was motivated by agents claiming he would be guillotined to flee from French invasions to Lisbon. Portuguese reputation as a fighter of Death Penalty at this point became critical to unlock this.


We are continuing to use these posts to highlight the changes that we occurring in Portugal, gone was the era of Portugal relying on trade of commodities and trade goods and importing almost all of its manufactured goods. As both newcomers and the new generation raised under Pombal's transformation of the country started industry and manufacturing that would change the mindset of country and transform it beyond what we have witnessed now. Questions/ Comments???

I would also like to thank everyone who voted in the poll and welcome any new readers we may of received during the contest. For that is the real purpose in participating.

Next post called the
The 1780 Proto-Economic Theories will be posted on April 25. Obrigado.
 
William Murdoch and Michael Stirling who for one reason or other lacked home institutions and pursued their specific pseudoscience in Portugal
I don't think you want to use a word like 'pseudoscience' here. When most people hear the word 'pseudoscience', they imagine racial supremacists or flat earth theorists or anti-vaxxers, not inventors of industrial machinery. Even if someone wanted to suggest that a certain area or field (like economics or psychology) wasn't 'properly' science, they would only label it pseudoscience if they wished to be hostile - there is a difference between being pseudoscience and being science-adjacent.
 
As expected, mechanisation has brought major societal changes such as increased urbanisation and the birth of a proletariat. The final paragraph points to the birth of a doctrine concerned with the social question; might Portugal use colonialism to stave it, like the USA did OTL with the Frontier?

And it might be interesting to see electricity being developped earlier than OTL: given how many rivers there's in the Empire, and that there's not much fossile fuel (apart from oil but it will come later), it might incite to develop hydropower.
 
This social upheaval caused by early mechanization coupled with the French Revolution may prove hard to deal with but on the other hand, Portugal is developing a strong industrial class that wants to become the head of the Peninsula and perhaps Europe...will be interesting to see where this goes.
 

Lusitania

Donor
I don't think you want to use a word like 'pseudoscience' here. When most people hear the word 'pseudoscience', they imagine racial supremacists or flat earth theorists or anti-vaxxers, not inventors of industrial machinery. Even if someone wanted to suggest that a certain area or field (like economics or psychology) wasn't 'properly' science, they would only label it pseudoscience if they wished to be hostile - there is a difference between being pseudoscience and being science-adjacent.
The term while modern connotations does have negative view, was written to provide the readers with the impression these inventions or ideas were viewed at the time. To some they were “devils work” to others they challenged established ways of doing things while to some they threatened their livelihood or way of life and for all these reasons were viewed with suspicion and at times with anger. Therefore I do understand our modern view of the term as incorrect we were striving to capture the mood and attitude of the time these inventions, ideas and technologies were introduced.
 
The term while modern connotations does have negative view, was written to provide the readers with the impression these inventions or ideas were viewed at the time. To some they were “devils work” to others they challenged established ways of doing things while to some they threatened their livelihood or way of life and for all these reasons were viewed with suspicion and at times with anger. Therefore I do understand our modern view of the term as incorrect we were striving to capture the mood and attitude of the time these inventions, ideas and technologies were introduced.
There's also the fact that, unlike experimental sciences, social sciences are a bit more difficult to study, especially before robust enough statistics were developped.
 

Lusitania

Donor
As expected, mechanization has brought major societal changes such as increased urbanization and the birth of a proletariat. The final paragraph points to the birth of a doctrine concerned with the social question; might Portugal use colonialism to stave it, like the USA did OTL with the Frontier?

And it might be interesting to see electricity being developed earlier than OTL: given how many rivers there's in the Empire, and that there's not much fossil fuel (apart from oil but it will come later), it might incite to develop hydropower.
The Portuguese urbanization and the growing urban population of the late 1700s was in stark contrast to the mid 1700 where the country was mainly rural and those wishing to leave the farms had little to no opportunities in Portuguese cities and would migrate to Portuguese colonies and elsewhere. In the 30 years of Pombal's government the cities with its factories and workshops had absorbed that surplus population but with health initiatives, greater availability of food and immigration Metropolitan Portugal population had almost doubled and by late 1700 was producing a new type of settlers who would be attracted to the revitalized and growing empire. Where before Brazil was seen as the promised land it now also had to compete with new lands in Africa, India and East Asia plus new exotic land called Nova Zealand in the middle of the Pacific. Portuguese industrialization would continue to absorb rural migration and provide jobs for those who wanted to stay in Metropolitan but the larger population also allowed the government to loosen migration regulations and in the late 1770s and into 1780s migration from Metropolitan Portugal would rebound acting as a release valve.

As for lack of fossil fuel and mineral in Metropolitan Portugal the merchants and government would look to its colonies to supply the country and empire with the resources it needed. While purchasing the raw materials from other countries was used it had its limits and placed Portuguese industry and development at mercy of foreign interests therefore as industry grew so too did the procurement of raw materials 'Within" the empire and if that territory was not under Portuguese control then steps were taken to place such resources within the jurisdiction of the empire. In the 1700 we already had that happen in Angola as the colony started developing its rich iron ore resources. The first part was to control the coast which the Portuguese did and then either through negotiations or force obtain the resources. Iron Ore from Angola and from Goa would supply the Portuguese needs for long time. This of course did lead to need for good quality coal which would spur further prospecting for minerals in the empire and surrounding territories. Now as for the earlier development of electricity to take advantage of not only Metropolitan but also Brazilian many rivers that could very well happen.
 

Lusitania

Donor
Very intriguing post, I find the evolution of the Factory system very interesting.
It was really interesting to learn about it. My understanding expanded considerably in reading about it myself.
This social upheaval caused by early mechanization coupled with the French Revolution may prove hard to deal with but on the other hand, Portugal is developing a strong industrial class that wants to become the head of the Peninsula and perhaps Europe...will be interesting to see where this goes.
The late 18th century was described by some as time of turbulence. The social changes inspired by Pombal and those who followed him including the changes brought up by Tagus Declaration practically turned Portuguese society upside down. If we were to compare the Portuguese 1750 to 1780 we would find a people very much in the flux of change and undergoing fundamental change in both its outlook towards other people as well as understanding of their place in the world. The foundation many had understood (religion, politics and society) had been rocked by more change and more upheaval than most could imagine.

If we were to compare the upheaval in Portugal during the 1750-1800 and compared to France (1780-1800) we would of find the Portuguese more balanced than the French. The changes in Portugal had been more gradual and people lives and country as a whole had seen positive transformation by time the French started tearing everything down.

The Spanish and other Europeans who had been shocked by the changes in Portugal were just complete repulsed by French Revolution and Spain suddenly found much comfort and strength in the Portuguese.

as for impact of the French Revolution in Portugal there were those who would be inspired by them but as revolution led to atrocities and anarchy and the Portuguese government guided the country and offered what many saw as more realistic and morally acceptable alternative.

One of the biggest things that repulsed many Portuguese and turned them against French Revolution would be the public executions, while the message of greater representation would find a receptive audience in Portugal circumstances would eventually delay its implementation.
 
The Mid Josephine Era (1783 to 1799) Struggling Capitalism, Technocracy & Neoclassicism (3 of 4)

Lusitania

Donor
Growth of the Empire (1783-1799)

The Mid Josephine Era (1783 to 1799)

Struggling Capitalism, Technocracy & Neoclassicism ( 3 of 4)

The 1780 Proto-Economic Theories


To complement the Factory System and continuing from the General Theory of Productivity proposed in the previous decade, proto-economic theories continued to develop themselves in universities to help overcome the lag in scientific knowledge in the country and ensure the vital lessons of the industrial revolution endured, unlike the ideas of the Scientific Revolution which had suffered such an historical drag in the country.

The main figure of thinking in the country was still Joseph Aaron de Pinto, the author of the GTP, who was still considered a kook by some and a visionary by others. While he provided the only half-framework of how to think of an economic system, he lacked many of the tools necessary to fundament it scientifically, something simply not possible at the time. The proto-economic thinking he inspired, therefore, was taken over by other smaller and more numerous minds who collectively worked, formally and informally, to advance proto-economic thinking and the ideas started by French physiocrats.

Many separate reforms, acts and events of the previous epoch, and some of the current one; helped fuel the analysis and transformation of proto-economic thinking in the late 1780s and early 1790s:

  • The proliferation of Mixed Enclosures;
  • The Mini-Boom;
  • The Magistracy Act;
  • The Completion of Royal Roads;
  • The actions of the PRP;
  • Mineral Maps, Coal Plan and other attempts to plan out industrial resources;
  • The Factory System;
The Early and Mid-Josephine cabinets were very much focused on structural economic and judicial growth, as opposed to the Late Pombaline Cabinet which was focused on heavy reformism of the State and interventionism. The new models of land enclosure imposed a mixture of ideas from the Pombalist era and the Agricultural Revolution which consolidated a lot of loose agricultural territory, creating more compact units of food production. This meant that it was easier to measure agricultural output and easier to separate it by region statistically. The census of 1783 also revealed that the Portuguese population, largely due to health and agricultural reforms but also a slightly higher fertility rate (in decimals), had suffered a 50% spike over 20 years known as the Mini-Boom, which meant that the national apparatus had to accommodate to the entry of a new generation without letting go of a larger amount of the older one.

The magistracy act had attempted to tackle this by creating more democracy and more decentralization, relatively to a regime of enlightened absolutism, and the new alliance with the Dutch caused a new interflow of ideas between the nations, creating a spur of economic thinking. The creation of this new way to command the country and the proliferation of Dutch ideas in Lisbon helped stimulate new outlooks in proto-economic thought, leading to further scientific studies on Aaron’s increasingly famous theory.

The 1780s and 1790s therefore saw a shift in economic development towards pursuing the objectives of the Factory System and studying economic logistics. This was critical to understanding how to maximize the yearly growth of the country and lead to the rise of importance in geographic and statistical studies, already on the rise in the previous decades due to several demanding government projects like the Royal Roads, which were in turn a big provider of evidence that communication and logistics were critical to growth.

In addition, the Ministries of Planning & Infrastructure and of Industry & Armament had been deeply involved in studies like the Mineral Map of Portugal and the Metropolitan Coal Plan, which further contributed to the piling of data that could be structured to support economic thinking. The actions of the PRP, finally, broke the 18th century mold that populations naturally accommodated to resources, as they artificially planted small population groups based on labor need, not nature.

This all led to the rise of economic thinking in universities, which would be critical to shape politics and tackle the 1790s recession in Portugal, as well as take vital lessons from it.

Lusitanian Neoclassicism


But the revivalism of industry and economy in the country, not to mention the even more important resurrection of political dynamism in the form of the religious schism and the Tagus Declaration, also signified a revivalism in the arts. It would not be possible for such critical events to occur without the effects spreading to how the people interpreted the nation, the society and western civilization as a whole.

Starting from the late 1770s and then deeply influenced by the “Nightmare at Sea”, Portuguese neoclassicism solidified itself in the early 1780s and became influential through the rest of the century, particularly in regards to the debate over the death penalty, another big pillar of the national identity in the early 19th century. The progressive importance of this movement existed due to how it based itself in scientific and rationalistic ideas, rather than just empirical ones.

The fascination with classic arts brought by advances in archeology in the 1740s which allowed the establishment of a chronology of Antiquity was a natural event, as if elite Europeans were now rediscovering their roots (even if said roots involved massive miscegenation with populations that the Greeks and Romans regarded as barbarian invaders). In Portugal, neoclassicism was influenced by a number of foreign figures;

  • François-Marie Voltaire: His poems after the Lisbon Earthquake were highly distributed in the 1750s as a form of an attack by Pombal towards the church, so the name rapidly entrenched itself in the capital even well before the 1770s and 1780s in philosophical debates. His ideas over enlightenment, in particular, helped shape anarchic skepticism towards old institutions;
  • Charles-Louis Montesquieu: While rather late to the party, Josephine beliefs about the need for true separation of powers were very clearly based on Montesquieu’s beliefs and formed another bedrock of the new talks amongst the elites about the fundaments of power;
  • Immanuel Kant: While still rather obscure and not a direct figure of neoclassicism, the Prussian philosopher’s attempts to tie morality to reason were highly popular among Portuguese burghers and even amateur Verneyists, and his apparently non-sensical explanations about the common man’s morality appealed to culturally anarchist tendencies in Portuguese citizens who wished to challenge the established dogmas of the powerful;
  • The Architects of Lisbon: Of no lesser importance, the collective of engineers and architects that rebuilt Lisbon after the earthquake created a city that exposed the results of the Enlightenment in a very physical way, helping to inspire the next step towards neo-classicism;
The final result was that by 1782 the conditions were optimal for an all-encompassing evolution towards a new artistic phase in the country; that of a cultural movement inspired in Antiquity and radically against the Baroque of the previous age, affecting the new works of literature to the new projects of architecture.

Literature: ‘Bocage’


The main figure of literature in the country under the banner of the late 18th century neoclassicism was none other than Manuel Bocage, a man that became known as one of the most important and influential writers in the language, as well as a poet rivalling Camões.

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Manuel Bocage, aged 20, after leaving the army
1765-1805

Growing up with a difficult lot in Setúbal, his lawyer father was arrested when he was six years old and his mother, a descendant of the French translator of Milton’s Paradise, passed away when Bocage made it to ten. During the 60s, the transition between humanistic studies to scientific ones in the country was occurring under the patronage of Duke John of Lafões and Bocage ended up studying both realms under the Spanish priest João de Medina, with whom he learned Latin. He was further influenced by two contemporary thinkers he admired; the military officer José Anastácio de Cunha and the Jesuit rector José Monteiro da Rocha. Bocage openly admitted his joy in reading their verses and how superior they were to his own.

With his teenage years struck by a non-corresponded love, Manuel Bocage’s poetry was much about the tragedy of affection and he endlessly expressed the pain he suffered over love and romance, as well as the sacrifices he made for dames.[1] The city of Lisbon, however, was a political hotbed in the 1770s and this propelled Bocage into also writing about the drastic changes occurring in his society, mainly the big step towards the end of religious persecution and the death penalty.

He joined the Portuguese army as a recruit in 1781, just in time to serve in the Three Years War, until 1783, the end of said conflict. His time in the military also allowed him to study sciences and he began to compose verses. His stay, however, saw little action, as the Metropolitan Army was involved mostly in fortification operations as part of the coastal defense project that characterized the Franco-Portuguese Maritime War. This was still an opportunity to experience for himself the anxiety of the “Nightmare at Sea” from the shore and one of his early texts was about the famous shipwreck of the HMS Miguel, an iconic moment of the conflict.[2]

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The shipwreck of HMS Miguel inspired not only paintings, but also the early writings of Bocage
Com o céu a arder, e noite sem terminação,
De velas rasgadas e mastro partido,
Cai como uma alma, um espirito perdido,
E ‘Miguel’ parte, a esperança feita desolação;[3]
With a sky burning, and night without termination,
Of torn sails and broken mast,
Falls like a soul, a broken spirit,
And ‘Michael’ departs, hope made desolation,

This was a period of great fear in the author that a military catastrophe was about to occur and the city would be plunged back into darker ages by reactionaries, so the eventual triumph helped inspire in the author further revolutionary ideas unique to Portugal. After the signing of the treaty of Paris, Bocage joined the Royal Navy School in order to study to become a coast guard, but deciding that his talents did not lie in the military, Bocage deserted the armed forces after finishing his course. Even so he signed up in 1784 as a sea officer to India, where he served in the second Luso-Mysore War. His fame and reputation in Lisbon as a poet continued to rise in the meantime despite his misadventures.[4]

During his travel, his ship passed by Rio de Janeiro, where he fell in love with Brazil and its main city, even dedicating poems to the reigning Vice-Roy, Count Louis of Figueiredo. Bocage identified himself greatly with the jovial happiness in Brazilian music, a stark contrast with what he saw in bleaker Portugal. Propelled by a desire to mimic Camões, however, the poet made sure he got sent right away to India.

Eventually arriving at Panjim in October, he found in the midst of the escalation towards the vicious Second Luso-Mysore War, a conflict that would take place two years later (1786) regarding the status of Portuguese Mangalore, Travancore and the protection of its Catholics from Indian persecution. This presented him social and colonial questions that helped shape his vision about Portuguese society and imperialism, especially regarding the death penalty (the sati tradition, while not a direct death penalty, was used as a major argument against tolerating Hindu religion in detriment of Catholicism).

In opposition, he was also affected by the poverty of the natives, who were subjected to mining work when not being educated in Portuguese to join bureaucracy or the army. The province of Goa challenged his naïve perceptions about the empire, seeing that the present Portuguese were more interested in assimilating or exploiting the Goans than actually uplifting their lives.[5]

Eventually in 1789 he made it to lieutenant in Daman but right after it the poet mysteriously vanished from service to be found a month later in the next stage of his journey, the city of Malacca, where he was severely reprimanded for his actions.[6] Bocage had departed for the recently reconquered port in an attempt to follow through his dream of retracing Camões’ steps as well as leave the poverty of India. Eventually the poet also made it to Macau, his final destination, where he befriended the colony’s Governor Lázaro Ferreira and the negotiator Joaquim de Almeida.

It was in 1790 that Bocage finally returned to Lisbon, around the same time that King Joseph II himself expressed sympathy for France’s transition to a constitutional monarchy while condemning the missteps that were leading to violence, a gesture that endeared the poet to the head of state. The poet began singing against foreign despotism and the fight for liberty, seeing potential in his nation to prove itself worthy of the age of revolutions.[7] It was at this point that he firmly declared himself as Acadian by joining the controversial Nova Arcádia society of poets in 1791 under the shepherd name of Elmano Sadino.

Now Bocage I am not;
To the dark cove;
My estrus ends up unmade in wind;
To the skyes I outraged! My torment;
Light makes me always, the hard land;[8]

- Poem expressing Bocage’s transition of movement in the 1790s

Satirizing the conservative and reactionary members of society, Bocage involved himself in countless poetic controversies that steeled his art and liberal tendencies. In 1793, however, his sympathy with French ideas began to be challenged when Marie Antoinette was finally guillotined, something that affected most of Portuguese society that, by then, had more or less firmly adopted the abolition of the Death Penalty. It was from this point that his texts firmly detached themselves from the shadow of French radicals and began spearheading the narrative of Portuguese liberals.

In 1796, the Treaty of Ildefonso was signed between France and Spain, beginning an age of fear in Portugal of impending invasion. It was precisely in this period that Bocage’s neoclassicist writing flourished, producing many texts describing not only his personal changes, but also those in Europe in the light of Hellenic ideals of liberty, rationalism and science. He took an odd comfort in the refusal in the country to cede to its neighbor’s pressure to readopt moralist policies and the inquisition, believing more and more that he should stay in Portugal to register what he saw. He worked on translations to earn a wage but also continued to produce poems that circulated in underground communities that would later on greatly affect a new nationalism in the country.

It was clear by 1798 that Bocage was a great poet of his time and a recurrently sharp tongue speaking of modern events. While he was not alone in late 18th century neoclassicist literature, he would certainly become the leading figure in Portuguese memory for the work done in resurrecting the epic interpretation of Camões and adapting it to Mid-Josephine times. In 1797, disenchanted with the struggles Europe faced, he wrote the poem “Reencounter with Minerva” as a personal farewell to aspirations he had in his worth towards Camões’ style.

O céu muda para o Tejo;
Outrora inimigos de Baco;
Agora inimigos de Marte;
Sozinhos na saia de Minerva;
Com a luz presa no buraco
;[9]
The sky shifts for the Tagus;
Once enemies of Bacchus;
Now enemies of Mars;
Alone in the skirt of Minerva;
With light trapped in the hole;
-Reencounter with Minerva, 1797

In the poem, Bocage transformed Lusíadas’ mythology to more accurately portray ideas of his time, claiming the adventurers no longer fought against the God of debauchery, but now hides under Minerva’s protection from the threats of Mars. In the starting verse, he referenced four separate mythical figures possible to associate to Camões’ style of epic (the river Tagus and three separate roman Gods) to establish the theme of his poem as a departure from Bocage’s idol’s work, as the rest of Reencounter with Minerva goes on to sing about the volatile nature of Early-Napoleonic/Mid-Josephine times that created great anxiety in Bocage about the fate of his favored ideas (particularly his bohemian and liberal ideas).

He therefore ended this epoch of Joseph II’s realm in another state of transition, but his work would continue on to the early 19th century, which would be his most productive (and provocative) life period.

By 1801, with the Medal War approaching, Bocage was the closest to a radical of liberal and neoclassicist ideas as he ever was. After the end of the conflict, King Joseph awarded him 1st Order of Liberty “Ordem da Liberdade”[10] for contributions to literature and political discourse, something that cemented freedom of speech and the sponsorship of artists as a hallmark of Joseph’s later realm phase. In 1805, however, during the tensest period leading up to the Peninsular War, Bocage was diagnosed with terminal illness. The anxiety in society around him greatly exacerbated the poet’s suffering, who spent his last years regularly visiting the Rossio Square coffee houses, particularly ‘Parras’, which supported the writer with regular donations and became historically remembered for Bocage’s preference. This harsh period was ironically the most productive of Bocage’s life.

Painting: Galveias, ‘Portuense’ and ‘Sequeira’


The paintings accompanied literature in the steady climb towards the neoclassicist movement. The schism between the Portuguese Catholic Church and Rome caused friction between the thinkers and teachers of Italy and the students seeking to perfect their art, creating a period of difficult promotion of the field in Portugal, but the shifting ideologies, expansion of the science investments and greater political discourse in the nation enabled the generation of painters to grow anyway and make their contribution to the movement.

The two great rising stars in this period were Vieira Portuense, a painter from Oporto, and Domingos Sequeira, the son of a boatman.

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Left: Vieira Portuense (1765 – 1805)
Right: Domingos Sequeira (1768 – 1837)

Both born in the Pombaline Cabinet period to lowborn folk, Vieira and Domingos studied the practice in Lisbon, where the Casa Pia foundation began teaching crafts to impoverished families and earthquake victims. Sequeira in particular studied drawing and figures in the institution itself, and Portuense would go on to do the same after a period learning the practice under his father in Porto. The tense situation between Lisbon and Rome made scholarship for the artists difficult to guarantee and the country at the time directed efforts towards developing its own art teachings, causing both artists’ evolution to suffer, but also diverge from the typical Portuguese high-class painter.

Coming to the rescue of the Portuguese artist community was none other than the ambassador to Rome, João de Almeida Melo e Castro, the count of Galveias.

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Count John of Galveias
1756-1814
Aristocrat, Politician and patron of the arts

With little support from the government, which at the time spent resources capitalizing on the Pombaline Revolution movement and the overseas victories, Count John used a wealth gained in land acquisitions made from his disgraced aristocratic peers to fund the expansion of art schools and patronize talents. Embittered by the treatment received from his colleagues in Italian cities after the worsening of Luso-Papal relations, Count Galveias envisioned reinventing the aesthetic capacity of Lisbon and turn it into an artistic rival of Seville, the nearby Spanish arts center.

The nobility was not the only party interested in jumpstarting the arts, however; the Royal house sought to recover from the Lisbon Earthquake’s tragedy, when John V’s great collection was lost forever, and the Verneyist Church ambitioned to build a great personal capital of great works to further affirm its distinction from Rome. Added to the great tumultuous period of the Three-Years war, conditions were set to dive straight into the transition to neoclassicism.

The two aspiring painters Sequeira and Portuense were steppingstones towards Galveias’ project and became along with many other talents of the time under the wing of the Count, receiving pensions to finance travels to foreign classes where they could immerse themselves in the crossroads of European ideas. Italy, of course, was a stopping point in these studies, but also France, Spain and the German states. To help foment the development of the arts, many of these students were given posts as trainers and teachers, the ultimate objective being the founding of a great academy.

The support received from the institutions and the timing of the events eventually gave fruits and two of Sequeira’s first great works, “Allegory to Casa Pia’s Founding” and “Miracle of Ourique”, was a neoclassicial piece in direct response to his education.

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Left: “Alegoria da fundação da Casa Pia de Belém”
Right: “Milagre de Ourique”
By Domingos Sequeira (1793)

The first work of art became a clear sign of the movement’s presence in Portugal, showing off both an appreciation for Hellenic glorification of national events and a heroic presentation of characters, namely the city of Lisbon and Pina Manique. The second was a mythification of the historical event, over which little exact details on location and events remained, and attempted to cement, also in a heroic fashion, the national and religious gravity of the occurrence in picture. It was an indirect gift to modern clergy and aristocracy that sought to stockpile the celebration of their legacy so as to strengthen their claim to power in Portugal in a style very typical of this age. These two paintings alone showed off how talented Sequeira was and catapulted him to artistic relevance.

His contemporary genius, Portuense, took a different, more abstract direction; more influenced by myths themselves than the objective of mythifying, as well as by the works of Anglo-Swiss artist Angelina Kaufmann, he took Portuguese neo-classicism towards depicting immaterial concepts not necessarily related to the nation. In 1798 he completed his great masterpiece “Leda and the Swan”, depicting Zeus seducing the mortal, which he exhibited in London briefly before bringing to Porto, and in 1800 he finished his “Alegory to Painting”, an oval image in oil of a woman practicing his craft.

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Left: “Leda and the Swan”
Right: “Alegory of Painting”
By Vieira Portuense (1798 and 1800)

The second painting was believed for a while to be of Angelina Kauffman, a founder of the London Royal Arts School, drawing the face of Vieira himself in her own tile, but studiers like Carlos de Passo argued that it was Vieira’s spouse, Maria Fabbri, instead.

Being in its frail rebirth, the arts in Portugal did not have the impact literature had when attempting to express the neo-classical movement; albeit an extremely important dimension of any movement, painting and visual arts in general in Portugal could not compete with more established centers and it suffered from its peripheral position in the continent, unable to adopt different ideas and techniques easily. It was only after 1793, after all, that the first great works began appearing.

This was in great contrast with literature and poetry, with Bocage and his bohemian friends gaining notoriety as early as the 1780s, and architecture, which had been flourishing with the Pombaline style since the 1750s. The “Academia das Belas Artes” that Count Galveias helped develop, in fact, was parodied to be a greater work of art than the works held within.



[1] IOTL a factor that further influenced him was the presence of Inquisition and Pina Manique’s strict rules, which made the ambience in Lisbon suffocating for him. ITTL the Inquisition was banned.
[2] IOTL endnote; the war obviously did not occur so said writings don’t exist.
[3] IOTL, this is fabricated from scratch by Thrudgelmir2333 based on some of his real writings later on.
[4] IOTL, this trip and its events occurred in 1786.
[5] iOTL, he spoke of Goa’s decadence. Here his attention was more caught on the ITTL limitations of the province.
[6] iOTL, he was caught only in Macau.
[7] iOTL, he sang against domestic despotism.
[8] This poem is canonical, BUT, the interpretation of it is slightly improvised by Thrudgelmir2333.
[9] IOTL, this is fabricated from scratch by Thrudgelmir2333 based on some of his real writings later on.
[10] IOTL this order was only created in 1976 after the restoration of democracy, her iTTL the creation of the order was very much in keeping with King Joseph II vision and desire to provide liberties and democracy to Portugal and all Portuguese.


As we continue to highlight the changes in Portuguese society we wanted to showcase the new Lusitanian Neoclassic art that would go on to define Portuguese arts for generations to come. Of importance is that at this time many of Portugal's greatest historical events were either for first time etched on to canvas or supplanted previous efforts and students such I would forever associate these paintings as best illustrations of the events. Questions/ Comments???

Next post called the
The 1780 Proto-Economic Theories
will be posted on June 25. Obrigado.
 
Interesting look at the development of art and literature in Portugal, plus some observations on further developments of proto-economic theories.
 
Not surprised Pombalist Portugal would see Baroque as too much compromised with backwardness and would favor a Classical revival.

Such classical revival might have interesting effects in politics (some liberals might start to support republicanism, out of respect for Athens and Rome), philosophy (like a Second Renaissance) and even theology (some seminarists might have to learn the works of the former Latin theologians).

And, if the following overseas generations are able to join the larger Portuguese society then we might see additional admixtures, such as mosques, pagodas and mandirs built in the Classical style or a mixture of traditional and Classical, or Latin poetry about Angola or the Amazon.
 

Lusitania

Donor
yah update!
Yes I apologize try to keep better tabs on the dates.
Interesting look at the development of art and literature in Portugal, plus some observations on further developments of proto-economic theories.
Yes this one and the next really do provide the reader with a interesting picture of the situation in Post Pombal Portugal where a much richer and more liberal and how would say "country more confident" has a cultural revival and that is expressed in its literature, arts and in our next post architecture.
 
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