Royal Carriage Models - José Cardoso Brito

José Cardoso Brito was born on 27 February 1953 in Casal da Lapa, in the municipality of Pampilhosa da Serra. He is entirely self-taught, with no formal academic training in the arts, yet he is recognized as one of the few artists in the world dedicated to this type of carriage scale modeling. His motto perfectly captures his philosophy: "With work, patience, affection, perseverance, and taste, everything can be solved." Inspired by the collection of the Museu Nacional dos Coches in Lisbon, he approached the museum's director, Silvana Bessone, who granted him the privilege of photographing the original carriages in order to reproduce them. His exhibition, Modelismo de Coches, is composed of miniatures of various models of royal working carriages of extraordinary artistic quality and precision of execution. The replicas are made at a scale of 1​/​10, with pieces measuring between 50 to 70 cm in length, 30 to 40 cm in height, and 26 to 37 cm in width. They function just like the originals — doors open, steps retract, windows lower, and lanterns light up. Among his most celebrated pieces is the scale model of the Coach of King Philip II, made with natural silk, leather and apricot fabric, featuring a seat with an evacuation system and built from chestnut wood, beech, metal and iron — a model that took two and a half years to complete and was the most difficult of his entire collection.