Circles

Ceiling Decoration, Queen’s Boudoir, Palace of Queluz (Palácio de Queluz),

Ceiling decoration from the Queen’s Boudoir in the Palace of Queluz (Palácio de Queluz), an 18th-century Portuguese rococo palace, located at Queluz, now a suburb of Lisbon. Construction began in 1747 as a summer retreat for Dom Pedro of Braganza. He later married  his niece, Maria  (December 1734–March 1816). In 1777, Maria became Dona Maria I, Queen of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves; Dom Pedro became king consort. The early years of Maria’s reign were successful, but following Dom Pedro’s death in 1786, she grew increasingly unstable, suffering from religious mania and melancholia. Her mental illness made her incapable of handling state affairs after 1792. In 1794, Queen Maria and her court took up official residence at Queluz, where she could be shielded from the public. Queluz Palace remained the official residence of the Portuguese prince regent John V, Maria’s eldest son, and the royal family although he ruled from Lisbon and the palace at Mafra. In 1807 the royal family, including Maria, fled to the Portuguese colony of Brazil following the French invasion of Portugal. Maria died in Brazil in 1816; she was known as Maria the Pious (in Portugal), or Maria the Mad (in Brazil).

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