Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Associate Curator of European Painting and Sculpture Rebecca Long discusses Diego Velázquez’s early career in 17th-century Seville.
As the major European port to the New World, Seville in the 1600s had not only incredible wealth but also a culture of significant intellectual debate, religious fervor, and mounting ethnic tensions. This lecture investigates how Velázquez’s early work reflects the complicated social dynamics of the city where he spent his formative years, raising questions about the place of women and racial minorities in Spanish society, the nature of artistic creativity, and the role of religion in everyday life.