Murillo and Baroque Seville: City of Faith, Art and Empire
Isabelle Kent to give talk for The Arts Society SW London
The Immaculate Conception of Los Venerables by Bartolome Esteban Murillo
May 30, 2025
The next talk to be hosted by The Arts Society SW London 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 Monday 9 June at The Community Church on Werter Road, Putney, (SW15 2LL)/
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.
The talk is free for Members with non-Members asked to make a donation (£10) on entry.
Check the society’s website for details of how to register for the Zoom Lecture.
If you have never attended an Arts Society lecture before you are urged to join and find out about your local Arts Society. Visit the society’s website for further details.
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