A reclining male nude with his arm across his face

Vieira spent two periods in Rome, the first as a young man in 1712-19, when he studied with Benedetto Luti (1666-1724) and Francesco Trevisani (1656-1746), and the second in 1722-29 after his improvident elopment with Dona Inês Elena de Lima e Mello, a nun. He later returned to Portugal, where he eventually became a painter to the Court.