Floral designs on the walls of the Church of St. Francis of Assisi
Paintings
The paintings in the churches were done on wooden boards and fixed between panels having floral designs as in the chapel housing the tomb of St. Xavier, in the arches above the altars in the transept of the Se Cathedral and in the nave on either side of the main altar in the Church of St. Francis of Assisi.
These paintings are after the Italian School, being poor imitations of the canvas paintings of the West, drawn by the local artists who were supervised and assisted by the Italians. The paintings thus produced show that the Indian artists were working under Constraint. However, in the frescos showing floral designs in the Church of St. Francis of Assisi, the artist excelled himself as he was following an age-old tradition. The arabesque designs on the walls reveal traces of Islamic art and might not have been altogether foreign to the local artists. However, these designs could also have been inspired by the prevalence of the Mudejar art style, which is a hybrid of the Islamic and Gothic art that evolved in Portugal and Spain. The few canvas paintings hung in the churches were painted in the West and brought here. The subject matter of the paintings on wood includes either scenes from the Holy Bible or incidents from the lives of the saints.
Sculpture
Excluding a few statues, which are in stone, the statuary is mostly in wood, delicately carved and painted to adorn the various altars. They depict mostly the various saints, Mother Mary and. Jesus from the Cross. They are beautiful imitations of Western art executed by local artists.
Details of a hero-stone with a royal personage sitting on a throne. (Fourteen century AD) ASI Museum Old Goa.
Content sourced from asigoacircle.gov.in
