The first proposal to dedicate a monument to Camões dates to the beginning of the 19th century, following the publication of the 1817 luxury edition of The Lusiads sponsored by the Morgado of Mateus, in Paris.

[1] The matter lay dormant until 1855, the year when the remains of the poet — that had been lost since the 1755 Lisbon earthquake destroyed the old Convent of Saint Anne [pt] in which he was known to have been interred in 1580 — were tentatively (and probably mistakenly) identified.

A Central Commission to raise funds for the monument's construction was established, made up of prominent names: the Duke of Saldanha (its President), the Count of Farrobo, the Viscount of Juromenha, businessman José Maria Eugénio de Almeida, the Viscount of Meneses, Francisco Augusto Metrass, António Feliciano de Castilho, and José da Silva Mendes Leal [pt].

[1] In the late 19th century, the monument became the focus of important patriotic manifestations as Camões, in the Romantic spirit, was hailed as a symbol of the "heroic age", a paragon of "all the aspirations of the Portuguese nation, its glories and tragedies".

Camões is depicted aged around 50; he stands in elegant pose, garbed in court dress (jerkin, padded hose, stockings, and a cape) and gazing directly ahead with an expression of gravity.