Una historia de diseño del cartel en Portugal del siglo XVII al XIX

To write an history of the design of the poster about three centuries in Portugal allows to understand how this artefact has changed over time. Usually, the result does not configure the reasons that gave rise of the poster, because they are not always visible and so, they don’t illustrate the reality in which they emerged. This article reveals a series of factors associated not only with the historical events, as well the adjacent constraints to design a poster. Portugal has in some cases a particular path with regard to the design history of the poster. To reveal this history the adopted methodology to explain this narrative will refer the technology (paper production and selection, printing techniques, use of different materials), programme (categories of posters – political, cultural and commercial – in parallel with the historical events) and authorship (anonymous and identified posters, styles and references). The article is divided in four sections, where each section is related to one century. The set of examples collected contribute to the knowledge of the history of design of the poster in Portugal