S. Boaventura, S. Antonio and S. Bernardino of Siena

Painted around 1517 and now in the Galeria Municipal do Banco de Portugal, this panel depicting Saints Bonaventure, Anthony of Padua, and Bernardino of Siena — all Franciscan figures — was likely produced for a Franciscan convent or chapel in Portugal. The year 1517 falls near the end of Afonso's documented activity as court painter to Manuel I, when his workshop produced numerous panels for ecclesiastical institutions enriched by the spice trade. Gathering three Franciscan saints on one panel underscores the order's centrality in Portuguese religious life; Franciscans were among the first missionaries sent to Brazil, Africa, and India during the Age of Exploration.

Oil on panel with three male saints in Franciscan habits individuated by attributes: Bonaventure in cardinal's robes, Anthony with the Christ child or lily, Bernardino displaying the IHS monogram. Afonso's workshop balanced formal frontality appropriate to sacred image-making with enough physiognomic individuation to keep the three figures distinct.