Joaquim Pedro Quintela, 1.º conde de Farrobo

D. Joaquim Pedro Quintela, 1st Count of Farrobo (11 December 1801 – 24 September 1869) was a Portuguese aristocrat and businessman, the heir and successor of the great capitalist and landowner of the same name, Joaquim Pedro Quintela, 1st Baron of Quintela. Farrobo was a noted philanthropist and patron of the arts.

Biography Early life Portrait of the Count of Farrobo, 1813, by Domingos Sequeira. National Museum of Ancient Art. Farrobo, named after his father, was the son of the Baron of Quintela, Joaquim Pedro Quintela, and his wife D. Maria Joaquina Xavier de Saldanha. He was very fond of the arts ever since a young age; he became an accomplished amateur musician, playing in João Domingos Bomtempo's Philharmonic Society, modelled after the London Royal Philharmonic Society. He sang, played the cello, the bass, and was a French horn soloist.

Thalia Theatre The ruins of Thalia Theatre were reconverted in 2008-2012 into a modern, multipurpose space for shows and events. In 1820, he had an elegant theatre — Thalia Theatre — built in his vast Laranjeiras estate, in São Domingos de Benfica (which is nowadays mostly occupied by Lisbon Zoo). The theatre, inscribed over the entrance "", became famous for the opulent functions it frequently hosted, though they were interrupted by the political agitation of the Civil War in the late 1820s and early 1830s. to Marie Madeleine Pignault, from whom he already had three children: Júlio Maria Quintela (1855–1911), Maria Joaquina Quintela (1856–?), and Carlos Pedro Quintela (1866–?).

Distinctions National orders