Research advances about paintings on coffered ceilings in the north of Portugal

Paintings on coffered ceilings are a set of compartments in a ceiling with images inside that can be decorative or figurative. Mostly in the Portuguese Baroque style, some churches and chapels have paintings on coffered ceilings, typically of rectangular or square format. The paintings on coffered ceilings usually focus in religious aspects, relating the lives of Jesus, Mary or Saints. Occasionally, the themes are connected to a particular place or church, describing the life of a saint. This artistic genre fits in the religious spirit of the XVII and XVIII centuries, when the churches were a truly scenic space, covered in diverse artistic forms, intended to sensitize and move the observer. This investigation provides a better understanding of the paintings on coffered ceilings, typologies, themes, conservation diagnostic, and points out some aspects which ought to be taken into consideration for their technical and material characteristics. It is through exams and analysis that the conservator clarifies techniques and materials in works of art which also allows a correct diagnostic in order to achieve proper intervention methodologies.