Culture & Ethnography - Remarkable People - Antero de Quental

Statue in Honour of Antero de Quental

The poet lived in Santa Cruz during two months of summer, accompanied by his friend Jayme Batalha dos Reis enjoying the beauty of the extensive beaches of white sand, bathed by the savage waves of white foam.

Between the months of August and September of 1870, at the age of 28, Antero de Quental felt in Santa Cruz, his very rare and desired moments of evasion, in his places of refuge, one with nature, collecting moments of inspiration that got him to write some of his most beautiful sonnets.

On the pedestal of the statue it reads an exert from the sonnet "Justicia Mater":

"No espaço constelado para o vulto
Do inominado alguém que os sóis aviva:
No mar ouve-se a voz grave e aflitiva
D`um Deus que luta..."

To obtain more information about the work of Antero de Quental browse in Search Engine of Biblioteca Nacional.

Did you Know ...

Antero Tarquínio de Quental was born in Ponta Delgada, on the 18th April 1842 and victim of a disease of psychiatric nature, returns to the Azores where he commits suicide on the 11th of September 1891.

In the seventies of the XIX Century belonged to a reflection group that pretends to renovate the Portuguese mentality. Profoundly humanitarian and gifted with a complex personality, he developed set of works that stream from poetry to philosophical reflection.

Antero de Quental accompanied by his friend, writer and diplomat Jayme Batalha dos Reis, lived in Santa Cruz, in August and September of 1870.

Text: Artur Henriques
Photos: Artur Henriques
Published: 10-May-2005

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