Stillness and splendour: Zurbarán and the art of 17th-century Spain

Stillness and splendour: Zurbarán and the art of 17th-century Spain

Thursday, 18 June 2026

In our first week, we explore the life and work of Francisco de Zurbarán, who in 1629 was officially invited by the city government to settle in Seville. He established a leading workshop and received many notable commissions from local religious orders, painting their patron saints and founders including Saint Francis of Assisi, Saint Dominic, Saint Bruno and Saint Peter Nolasco.

The artist is most famous for his powerful, mesmerising and moving images of monks, saints and martyrs, and his meticulous rendering of the drapery and fabric which envelops them. The sense of stillness, quiet intimacy and astute observation which characterises these compositions was also applied to his remarkable still lifes, a genre for which his son, Juan, would also become well known.

After the break we enjoy a thematic, room-by-room guided tour of the exhibition. This will be a chance to familiarise yourself with the show’s key themes and loans, perhaps in preparation for a visit in person.

Stillness and splendour: Zurbarán and the art of 17th-century Spain

Thursday, 25 June 2026

In the 17th century, Spain leveraged the substantial wealth accrued during the 1500s through territorial expansion in Europe and the Americas to fund extravagant and ambitious programmes of building and painting. At the helm of the country’s artistic patronage was King Philip IV, one of the greatest collectors of art in Europe. His well-honed instinct for talent drew him to the young, brilliant Diego Velázquez who would become his court painter in Madrid, recording the King’s likeness and that of his family for over thirty years.

Velázquez soon became internationally recognised as one of the greatest artists of his generation, praised for his ability to capture a sitter’s personality or mood and admired for his mysterious, varied and often provocative subjects and interpretations. This lecture will trace his glittering career, from early works and 'bodegones' produced in Seville, to portraits and mythological compositions painted after he moved to Madrid in 1623.

Stillness and splendour: Zurbarán and the art of 17th-century Spain

Thursday, 2 July 2026

Bartolomé Esteban Murillo was born in Seville in 1617 and remained in the city for almost all his working life, producing large-scale religious works for its many churches and monasteries, as well as popular genre scenes and images of children. His paintings both capture the religious atmosphere of Counter-Reformation Seville and function as valuable records providing insight into everyday life at the time.

We explore several compelling works depicting street orphans and flower girls, contextualising their creation within the economic hardships and natural disasters that led to significant loss of life, thereby highlighting the artist’s intent to evoke empathy in the viewer.

After the break we will explore the tradition of Spanish polychrome sculpture. Painters such as Velázquez would have been introduced to the art of polychroming sculptures as part of their training, and some artists such as Alonso Cano went on to practise both disciplines. Sculptors such as Gregorio Fernández, Pedro de Mena and Juan Martínez Montañés created devotional images that were praised for their remarkable realism and intense emotional impact, recalling Zurbarán’s hyper-realistic paintings which were sometimes mistaken for sculptures.