The Chapel appears to have been instituted by António Leitão, and dedicated to Our Lady of Hope, in São Roque, Funchal.
The chapel was under construction in 1553, and rebuilt by the people in 1613. This may be the date the work was ordered.
The Virgin is shown sitting on clouds, wearing a red tunic with a blue mantle, flanked by winged angels, with the Child in her lap, who is holding a star in His right hand.
On a lower tier, there is a scene of a storm at sea, with a large ship illuminated by a large star, and in the lower right hand corner, there is an image of the pilgrims who are walking. This must be a representation of Our Lady of Hope or Our Lady Odigitria (Guide of Wayfarers), which, in both cases, direct travellers to safe haven or by the right highway.
Isabel Santa Clara says1: “the composition uses the language of the ex-votos, and therefore, it does not resolve in a unitarian space, but in the juxtaposition of planes of differing realities, to make the theme legible”.
The painting can be attributed to the circle of Diogo Teixeira2: “from whom he would have captured the chromatism and solidity of forms - note the type of the Virgin and the Angels already referred to, in relation to the Virgin of the Holy Martyrs3, as well as the treatment of the clouds referred to, with a consistency that makes them almost palpable”.
1 Das Coisas visíveis às invisíveis, contributos para o estudo da Pintura Maneirista na Ilha da Madeira (1540-1620), Vol.I e II, Doctoral dissertation in the History of Art of the Modern Era, Universidade da Madeira, 2004.
2 See note 1.
3 A Virgem das Santas Mártires, Museum of St. Roc in Lisbon.
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