• Was a Portuguese artist, architect, and art essayist.
• Francisco de Holanda was born in Lisbon, Portugal in 1517, and began his career as an illuminator at the age of 20.
• His father, António de Holanda, was also a royal illuminator.
• Francisco studied in Italy between 1538 and 1547, where he frequented the circle of Vittoria Colonna.
• At the age of 30, he returned to Portugal and obtained various commissions from the reigning King of Portugal, the Cardinal-Archbishop of Évora, and later from King John III and King Sebastian.
• In 1548 he completed a manuscript entitled Da pintura antigua (Of Ancient Painting) which was the first treatise on painting written in the Iberian peninsula.
• Francisco died in Lisbon, Portugal on June 19, 1585, at the age of 68.
