Manoel da Costa Ataíde, better known as Mestre Ataíde (1762 to 1830), was a Brazilian painter, sculptor, gilder and teacher. An important artist of the baroque-rococo school in Minas Gerais, Ataide had a major influence on painting in the region, with many students and followers. His method of composition, particularly in perspective works on church ceilings, continued to be used until the middle of the nineteenth century. Contemporary documents often refer to him as a teacher of painting. In 1818 Ataíde tried without success to obtain official permission to found an art school in Mariana, his home town. He owned technical manuals and theoretical tracts such as Andrea Pozzo's "Perspectivae Pictorum Architectorum" from which he must have studied technique.