simple, and in the pediment are again carved Dom
Diogo's arms, surmounted by his bishop's hat.

At the ends are vase-shaped finials, and another supported by dragons
rises from the pediment. (Fig. 77.)

This monument is indeed one of the most pleasing pieces of renaissance
work in existence, and one would be tempted to attribute it to Joao de
Castilho were it not that it is more French than any of his work, and
that in 1525 he can hardly have come back to Thomar, where the Claustro
da Micha, the first of the new additions, was only begun in 1528. It
will be safer then to attribute it to one of the Coimbra Frenchmen.

[Sidenote: Tomb in Graca, Santarem.]

The same must be said of the tomb in the Graca church at Santarem. It
was built in 1532 in honour of three men already long dead--Pero
Carreiro, Gonzalo Gil Barbosa his son-in-law, and Francisco Barbosa his
grandson. The design is like that of Bishop Pinheiro's monument,
omitting all beneath the plinth, except that the back is plain, the arch
elliptical, and the pediment small and round. The coffer has a long
inscription,[142] the jambs and arch are covered with arabesques, the
side shafts are taller and even more elegant than at Thomar, and in the
round pediment is a coat of arms, and on one side the head of a young
man wearing a helmet, and on the other the splendidly modelled head of
an old man; though much less pleasing as a whole, this head for
excellent realism is better than anything found on the bishop's tomb.

If we cannot tell which Frenchman designed these tombs, we know the name
of one who worked for the da Silvas at Sao Marcos, and we can also see
there the work of some of their pupils and successors.

[Sidenote: Sao Marcos.]

Sao Marcos, which lies about two miles to the north of the road leading
from Coimbra through Tentugal to Figueira de Foz at the mouth of the
Mondego, is now unfortunately much ruined. Nothing remains complete but
the church, for the monastic buildings were all burned not so long ago
by some peasantry to injure the landlord to whom they belonged, and with
them perished many a fine piece of carving.

The da Silvas had long had here a manor-house with a chapel, and in 1452
Dona Brites de Menezes, the wife of Ayres Gomes da Silva, the fourth
lord of Vagos, founded a small Jeronymite monastery. Of her chapel,
designed by

[Illustration: FIG. 77.

THOMAR. STA. MARIA DOS OLIVAES. TOMB OF BP. OF FUNCHAL.]

[Illustration: FIG. 78