Portrait of King Pedro V
Author: Manuel Maria Bordalo Pinheiro
Origin: Portugal (?)
Dating: 1856
Material: Oil on Canvas
Dimensions (cm): 97,5 x 122,6
Inv. no.: 16-A / PD1205dep
King Pedro V, in a half-body portrait, wearing a gala military uniform with several commendations. Two are identifiable: the collars of the Military Order of the Tower and Sword and of the Military Order of Christ. He is holding the sceptre and, next to it, the royal crown may be seen.
Pedro was born in 1837, the first-born of Queen Maria II and Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. He received an excellent education. The renown Portuguese historian Alexandre Herculano was his teacher.
After his mother’s death in 1853, given his young age, Pedro did not assume his right to the throne immediately. The regency was handed over to his father and, during this period, Pedro took the opportunity to travel Europe.
At the age of 18 he was acclaimed king and, during his reign, the first railway was built, the first electric telegraph was used, new industries were created and new road networks were developed.
Although he died very young (in 1861 at the age of 24), his reign had a decisive impact on Portuguese contemporary history.
He was buried in the Royal Pantheon of the Bragança Dynasty on the Monastery of São Vicente de Fora (Lisboa).