The Museu do Caramulo’s art collection has been enriched with the portrait John Barrymore in Hamlet, by Henrique Medina (1901–1988), donated by Eduardo José Salgado Costa Duarte.
Created in 1942, the work bears witness to the technical mastery of Medina, one of the most highly regarded Portuguese portraitists of the 20th century. Throughout his career, the artist maintained a significant connection with the international cinematic world, having worked in Hollywood, where he portrayed some of the greatest stars of the era, including Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Lily Pons and Norma Shearer. This dialogue with the filmic imagination contributed to the distinctive expressiveness of his portraits, marked by a strong psychological presence and a sense of theatricality.
It is within this context that the donated work should be understood, depicting John Barrymore — one of the central figures of American theatre and cinema — in the emblematic role of Hamlet. The precision of the line and the economy of artistic means — evident in the predominance of graphite, the restrained use of shadow and the absence of scenery — reveal not only Medina’s technical rigour, but also his sensitivity in capturing the expression and inner presence of figures who left a profound mark on 20th-century culture.
With this donation, the collection of the Museu do Caramulo further strengthens its representation in the field of modern portraiture, offering the public new perspectives on the relationship between Portuguese art and global culture.