Emília dos Santos Braga
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Emília dos Santos Braga | |
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| Born | Emília Adelaide dos Santos e Silva Braga 19 February 1867 |
| Died | 28 December 1949 (aged 82) Lisbon, Portugal |
| Occupation | Artist |
| Known for | Paintings of female nudes; art teaching |
Emília dos Santos Braga (1867—1949) was a Portuguese painter.
Emília Adelaide dos Santos e Silva Braga was born in the Portuguese capital, Lisbon on 19 February 1867. She was the daughter of Carlos José dos Santos e Silva, a military surgeon, and of Emília Adelaide Xavier. She grew up in a liberal family environment where both she and her two sisters, Virgínia and Laura, were encouraged to paint and follow artistic careers. Her paternal grandfather, Manuel Inocêncio Liberato dos Santos (1805—1887), a celebrated composer, also played an important role in encouraging her to play music and to paint and in teaching her to play the piano and harp. However, despite her appreciation of music, her real passion was for painting. Her older brother, Carlos, who was director of a gunpowder factory, used to show his sister's paintings to artistic friends and reported back to their parents how well appreciated her work was, which persuaded them to support her artistic education.[1][2]
Lisbon's Academia Nacional de Belas Artes (Fine Arts Academy) did not accept women for training until 1896 and her parents did not have the resources for her to go to Paris, as daughters of Lisbon's elite often did. Santos Braga and her sisters therefore took private lessons from José Moura Girão (1840—1916), one of her brother's friends and a celebrated painter. However, Santos Braga did not find him to be satisfactory and, being invited by her parents to choose her own teacher, said that she wanted José Malhoa, whose paintings she admired. She was a student of Malhoa from 1888. Shortly after, she also married her first husband, António Ferreira Braga, who died on 3 October 1903.[1][2]
