Portugal Banknotes 100 Escudos banknote 1981 Barbosa du Bocage
Bank of Portugal - Banco de Portugal
Obverse: Portrait of Manuel Maria Barbosa du Bocage (1765 - 1805) was a Portuguese Neoclassic poet, writing at the beginning of his career under the pen name Elmano Sadino, engraving by Francesco Bartolozzi (1806). This engraving based on a painting by Henrique Jose da Silva (1805).
Reverse: Early 19th centery scene of Rossio Square in Lisbon.
Watermark: Manuel Maria Barbosa du Bocage.
Size: 149 x 74 mm
First Issue: 03 December 1980
Last Issue: 21 November 1987
Withdrawn from circulation: 31 May 1990.
Printer: Bradbury, Wilkinson & Co. Ltd., New Malden, Surrey England.
Portugal banknotes - Portugal paper money
1968-1985 Issue
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Manuel Maria Barbosa du Bocage
Manuel Maria Barbosa du Bocage (born Sept. 15, 1765, Setúbal, Portugal — died Dec. 21, 1805, Lisbon), Neoclassical Portuguese lyric poet who aspired to be a second Camões but who dissipated his energies in a stormy life.
The son of a lawyer, Bocage left school at the age of 14 to join the army, then transferred to the navy at 16. At the Royal Navy Academy in Lisbon, he devoted his time to love affairs, poetry, and bohemianism. In 1786 he was sent, like his hero Camões, to India and also like him was disillusioned by the Orient. He deserted to Macau, returning to Lisbon in 1790. He then joined the New Arcadia, a literary society with vaguely egalitarian and libertarian sympathies, but his satires on his fellow members resulted in his expulsion, and a long verse war ensued, engaging most of the poets of Lisbon.
In 1797 he was accused of propagating republicanism and atheism and was imprisoned. During his imprisonment he undertook translations of Virgil and Ovid. Translations provided him with a livelihood during the few years that he lived after his release. He also translated Torquato Tasso, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Jean Racine, and Voltaire.
Bocage employed various verse forms, but he is at his best in the sonnet. Despite the Neoclassical framework of his poetry, his intensely personal accent, frequent violence of expression, and self-dramatizing obsession with fate and death anticipate Romanticism. His collected poems were published as Rimas, 3 vol. (1791, 1799, 1804).
Rossio Square
Rossio Square is the popular name of the Pedro IV Square (Portuguese: Praça de D. Pedro IV) in the city of Lisbon, in Portugal. It is located in the Pombaline Downtown of Lisbon and has been one of its main squares since the Middle Ages. It has been the setting of popular revolts and celebrations, bullfights and executions, and is now a preferred meeting place of Lisbon natives and tourists alike. The current name of the Rossio pays homage to Pedro IV, King of Portugal. The Column of Pedro IV is in the middle of the square.
The Rossio has been a meeting place for people of Lisbon for centuries. Some of the cafés and shops of the square date from the 18th century, like the Café Nicola, where poet Manuel Maria Barbosa du Bocage used to meet friends. Other traditional shops include the Pastelaria Suíça and the Ginjinha, where the typical Lisbon spirit (Ginjinha) can be tasted. The building of the Maria II Theatre and the Public Gardens to the north of the square only made the area more attended by Lisbon high society in the 19th century. Nowadays it is constantly populated by Lisboners and tourists.