The aim of this article is to answer questions concerning the remains of mural paintings found on one of the walls delineating the hall of the Paços do Infante of the Convent of Christ in Tomar. These paintings must have been part of an extensive decorative programme undertaken to embellish this architectural complex, since fragments of paintings with Mudéjar decorative motifs can still be found along almost all of its length. This study is part of our doctoral thesis, which focuses on Mudéjar decoration in Portuguese mural painting from the 15th and 16th centuries. The aim of this article is to understand the techniques used, how this painting fits into what is known as Portuguese Mudéjar decoration and its connection to Spanish Mudéjar decoration. To this end, we undertook a formal analysis, a study of the history of this space and a comparison with other Portuguese paintings with this type of decorative grammar and also with Spanish Mudéjar works of art. It was thus understood that the craftsman who executed them (who was not supposed to be “Moorish”) adapted the decoration to the space, following a typical Mudéjar scheme, an unusual phenomenon in Portuguese Mudéjar mural painting.
