( fl Algarve, first half of the 16th century). Portuguese architect. His name first appears in records of work carried out in the Hieronymite monastery of S Maria, Belém, Lisbon, where he was employed in the cloister, chapter house and sacristy in the time of João de Castilho, who was appointed architect there in 1517. Pilarte may have originated in Tavira, and his subsequent work is centred around this Algarve town, where in 1541 he was commissioned to design the church of the Misericórdia. Inside the church, the capitals of the columns between the bays show a variety of ornament with highly imaginative designs. The wide, rounded abaci are punctuated by heads of angels, vases, lions and demons, and the volutes often take the form of winged lions and demons. The doorway to the west has a straight lintel, surmounted by a scallop shell; the one at the east has a depressed arch between pilasters with capitals, like those described in the writings of Diego de Sagredo (Medidas del Romano; Toledo, 1526). The imposing principal doorway is in two stages with portal and pediment. The intrados of the arch and the pilasters that frame it are decorated symmetrically, and below the architrave the capitals are joined by a false frieze with acanthus ornament, which has the visual effect of lowering the curve of the arch. This element seems original to Pilarte, although there is a comparable window in the contemporary Ayuntamiento (1527–34, completed c. 1564), Seville, by Diego de Riaño. The pediment contains a figure of Nossa Senhora da Misericórdia with the arms of Portugal and Tavira on either side. The whole is intended to be seen from the front looking upwards, following the principles of Renaissance perspective.