Zurbarán’s The Surrender of Seville to King Ferdinand III: the story behind the loan
Join us for two talks by two leading specialists. The Surrender of Seville is part of a series of paintings dedicated to the life of the 13th-century saint, Peter Nolasco. founder of the religious order known as the Mercedarians.
Richard Jacques: Zurbarán and the Mercedarians
This talk explores the decisive relationship between Francisco de Zurbarán (1598–1664) and the Mercedarian Order in Seville. In 1628, the Mercedarians commissioned Zurbarán to paint a monumental cycle on the life of their founder, Saint Peter Nolasco, coinciding with his canonisation. Alongside this series, Zurbarán produced the haunting Martyrdom of Saint Serapion and other portraits and Marian images that defined both his artistic identity and the Order’s visual culture. These commissions were instrumental in establishing Zurbarán’s reputation as the 'painter of monks' and the 'painter of whites’, while providing the Mercedarians with powerful images of sacrifice, redemption, and Marian devotion.
Richard Jacques is a PhD candidate in Art History at Durham University. His doctoral research, which is funded by the Centro de Estudios Europa Hispánica, explores the language of suffering in the works of Francisco de Zurbarán (1598-1664), examining how the artist’s preoccupation with verisimilitude and tactile painterly effects engaged the spiritual needs and psychological drives of his viewers. Richard also holds degrees in art history from the Courtauld Institute of Art and Christian theology from Kings College London.
Xanthe Brooke: Francisco de Zurbarán’s Surrender of Seville to King Ferdinand III of Castile and León
This illustrated talk will focus on just one of the works that Francisco de Zurbarán painted for the cycle commissioned by the Seville Mercedarians, the Surrender of Seville to King Ferdinand III of Castile and León, which is now on loan to the Spanish Gallery. It will discuss the distinctive painterly qualities of Zurbarán’s art that distinguished him from his contemporaries; the prints that might have inspired individual motifs; and how this painting may have influenced a masterpiece by the great court artist Diego Velázquez (1599-1660). It will also trace the history of the painting, tracking it from an enclosed Mercedarian cloister in Seville to an English country house, and finally it will assess the influence of Zurbarán’s imagery of monks, saints and textiles on a contemporary British artist.
Xanthe Brooke is the former Curator of Continental European Art for National Museums, Liverpool. Over her long career she organised several exhibitions relating to Spanish art, especially focussing on the life and career of Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1617-1682). She has written catalogues, and essays on Murillo and other artists, and the reception of their work in Britain from the 17th to the 20th century. Her most recent publication was for the Spanish Gallery on Murillo’s ‘True Portrait’ of the Holy King Ferdinand III (2024).
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Join us for two talks by two leading specialists. The Surrender of Seville is part of a series of paintings dedicated to the life of the 13th-century saint, Peter Nolasco. founder of the religious order known as the Mercedarians.
Richard Jacques: Zurbarán and the Mercedarians
This talk explores the decisive relationship between Francisco de Zurbarán (1598–1664) and the Mercedarian Order in Seville. In 1628, the Mercedarians commissioned Zurbarán to paint a monumental cycle on the life of their founder, Saint Peter Nolasco, coinciding with his canonisation. Alongside this series, Zurbarán produced the haunting Martyrdom of Saint Serapion and other portraits and Marian images that defined both his artistic identity and the Order’s visual culture. These commissions were instrumental in establishing Zurbarán’s reputation as the 'painter of monks' and the 'painter of whites’, while providing the Mercedarians with powerful images of sacrifice, redemption, and Marian devotion.
Richard Jacques is a PhD candidate in Art History at Durham University. His doctoral research, which is funded by the Centro de Estudios Europa Hispánica, explores the language of suffering in the works of Francisco de Zurbarán (1598-1664), examining how the artist’s preoccupation with verisimilitude and tactile painterly effects engaged the spiritual needs and psychological drives of his viewers. Richard also holds degrees in art history from the Courtauld Institute of Art and Christian theology from Kings College London.
Xanthe Brooke: Francisco de Zurbarán’s Surrender of Seville to King Ferdinand III of Castile and León
This illustrated talk will focus on just one of the works that Francisco de Zurbarán painted for the cycle commissioned by the Seville Mercedarians, the Surrender of Seville to King Ferdinand III of Castile and León, which is now on loan to the Spanish Gallery. It will discuss the distinctive painterly qualities of Zurbarán’s art that distinguished him from his contemporaries; the prints that might have inspired individual motifs; and how this painting may have influenced a masterpiece by the great court artist Diego Velázquez (1599-1660). It will also trace the history of the painting, tracking it from an enclosed Mercedarian cloister in Seville to an English country house, and finally it will assess the influence of Zurbarán’s imagery of monks, saints and textiles on a contemporary British artist.
Xanthe Brooke is the former Curator of Continental European Art for National Museums, Liverpool. Over her long career she organised several exhibitions relating to Spanish art, especially focussing on the life and career of Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1617-1682). She has written catalogues, and essays on Murillo and other artists, and the reception of their work in Britain from the 17th to the 20th century. Her most recent publication was for the Spanish Gallery on Murillo’s ‘True Portrait’ of the Holy King Ferdinand III (2024).
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