Exhibitions

 

Outstanding works by Caravaggio, Artemisia Gentileschi, Herrera el Viejo, Tristán, Ribera, Zurbarán, Velázquez and Alonso Cano, among other masters of baroque naturalist art.

With  over sixty works, some of which may be seen in our country for the first time, the exhibition takes a look at the contribution made by Sevillian paintings from the 17th century to baroque naturalist art, which originated from the tenebrism of Caravaggio and his followers, the maximum expression of which can be seen in the work of the young Velázquez.

The artistic stage was situated in the first quarter of the 17th century, in Seville, which at that time was a cosmopolitan, booming city, a meeting point for collectors, painters, patrons of the arts and travellers. In this way, there was a mixing of contributions from Flemish painting and Italian influences which gave rise to an especially vigorous artistic period. 

The exhibition shows key works of the time which have been selected by Alfonso E. Pérez Sánchez, the Honorary Curator of the Prado Museum, and by Professor Benito Navarrete. Among them may be found outstanding works by Caravaggio, Artemisia Gentileschi, Herrera el Viejo, Tristán, Ribera, Zurbarán, Velázquez and Alonso Cano.

Without the collaboration of the Prado Museum, the Museo Nacional de Arte de Cataluña (the National Art Museum of Catalonia), the National Gallery in London, the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, the Budapest Museum, the Berlin Museum and the Art Institute of Chicago, together with other institutions and collectors, who have loaned the Bilbao Art Museum outstanding works from their collections, this extraordinarily interesting exhibition would not have been possible. 

 

Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (Sevilla, 1591-Madrid,1660)
Kitchen Maid with the Supper at Emmaus, c. 1617-1618
Oil on canvas, 55 x 118 cm
National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin