Aleijadinho, A unique sculptor: Victor in the face of arts’ intricacies, slavery, and handicap

Abstract

This article deals with some aspects of the sculptural work of the Brazilian artist Antônio Francisco Lisboa, dubbed Aleijadinho (“the small cripple”) due to the physical deformations he had. He starred in Brazilian colonial art, with his projects of churches, his carvings and statues, all of them of religious nature. Slave by birth, Aleijadinho is a living metaphor of the mix of races that influenced and still influences the process of cultural development not only of Brazil, but of America as a whole.