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| Apparition of Saint Michael on Mount Gargano by Sebastian de Arteaga |
The San Diego
Museum of Art explored Spain’s Golden Age with an ambitious exhibition of more
than 100 objects primarily from the 17th
century. The museum already has one of the biggest permanent collections of art
from that era in the United States. “Art & Empire: The Golden Age of
Spain,” which took four years of planning to expand on that collection to take
a global view of that period in art history
The art of
Spain and the San Diego Museum of Art are inextricably connected. Full-size
statues of Spanish masters Diego Velázquez, Bartolomé Estebán Murillo and
Francisco de Zurbarán stand sentry in the façade over the main entrance of the
Balboa Park museum. Busts of Jusepe de Ribera and El Greco, set in medallions,
flank the three.
The
five painters are masters from the Spanish Golden Age, when Spain laid claim to
land around the world, including vast swaths of North and South America, parts
of Italy and the Netherlands, as well as the Philippines. Spain’s global
expansion that began around 1500 brought a shift in the world order with the
conquest of land, subjugation of people and the demise of many societies. But
there was also a broadening of culture that led to a brilliant era in the arts,
producing what are still considered among the finest works of art in history.
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| Kitchen Maid by Diego Velazquez |
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| Allegory of Eternity, the Succession of Popes by Ruben |
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| Museum of Art with statues of Velazquez, Murillo and Zurbaran above the entrance |
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Kitchen Maid by Diego Velazquez |
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