Simplício Rodrigues de Sá (c. 1785 – 9 March 1839) was a Portuguese-born painter and art professor who spent most of his career in Brazil.
Simplício Rodrigues de Sá was born in the parish of São Nicolau Tolentino (now part of the municipality of São Domingos) just north of the city of Praia in the island of Santiago He studied in Lisbon and emigrated to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil in 1809.
Seven years later, he became a follower of Jean Baptiste Debret, joining his group, the French Artistic Mission and helping to lay the foundations for what would become the Academia Imperial de Belas Artes in 1826.
[1] He was also named a court painter and a private art tutor to Princess Maria da Glória, the future Queen of Portugal.
[1] In 1831, when Debret returned to Paris, De Sá took his place as head of the History Painting Department at the Imperial Academy.