Murillo and Baroque Seville: The City of Faith Art and Empire
Isabelle Kent to give talk hosted by The Arts Society Chiswick
The Immaculate Conception of Los Venerables by Bartolome Esteban Murillo
April 25, 2025
The next talk to be hosted by The Arts Society Chiswick will be by Isabelle Kent on the subject “Murillo and Baroque Seville: The City of Faith Art and Empire”.
It is taking place at 8pm, on Thursday 8 May, at the usual venue of POSK on King Street, Hammersmith.
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo is regarded as the last great painter of the Spanish Golden Age, yet today his works are often maligned as “cute” and “saccharine”. This talk reassesses his paintings in the context of 17th-century Seville, the great port city for the Spanish empire and a centre of Catholic reform.
By looking at Murillo’s most innovative and beautiful paintings we will see how his art blends faith and empire, from his grand cycle in Santa Maria la Blanca to his small works painted on imported Aztec mirrors.
Author, academic and educator Isabelle Kent specialises in the baroque, with a particular focus on Spain and its empire. She received a BA and MPhil in History of Art from Trinity College, Cambridge, where she is currently completing her PhD on the art of Diego Velázquez and Francisco de Zurbarán. In 2020 her book Collecting Bartolomé Esteban Murillo in Britain and Ireland was published by CEEH.
Alongside her work in academia, Isabelle is an expert guide for a travel company, leading groups around Spain and beyond, and she also teaches regularly for the V&A, Art Fund, Royal Academy, Chelsea Arts Club, Wallace Collection and University of Cambridge.
Olivia Freeman, Chair, The Arts Society Chiswick, says, “With this talk we are back in Spain, exploring the last great painter of their Golden Age” .
Doors open at 7pm, as does the private bar.
Membership of the Arts Society Chiswick includes ten expert lectures on the second Thursday of every month (except August and December) and the opportunity to participate in tours, visits, social events and Special Interest Days. Half year Membership available from 1 July. For more information see the society’s web site. For more information see the society's web site.
The Arts Society Chiswick brings people together through a shared curiosity for the arts, to create opportunities for everyone to be part of a diverse community in which they can enjoy, learn about, participate in, and preserve the Arts and Cultural Heritage.
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