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Image: Francisco de Zurbarán, Saint Casilda, about 1635, Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid © Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza

Curator's Introduction

Zurbarán

Special events | Preview day(s)
Date
Friday, 1 May 2026
Time
11 am - 12 pm
Location
Pigott Theatre
Audience
For House and Exhibition Members

Tickets

Members: £10

This is a Members' exclusive event. Please have your membership card and ticket ready.

Please meet at the Pigott Theatre located in the Sainsbury Wing.

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About

On your Members' Preview Day, join exhibition curators Dr Francesca Whitlum-Cooper and Dr Daniel Sobrino Ralston as they introduce Francisco de Zurbarán, a giant in the history of Spanish art, and the incredible paintings in this exhibition, in this exclusive introduction to ‘Zurbarán’.

Francisco de Zurbarán was one of the great painters of 17th-century Seville, a centre of global trade. His vivid paintings, from small still lifes to soaring altarpieces, burst with naturalism and convey intense spiritual experiences.

Renowned as a painter of fabrics, Zurbarán represented extravagant clothing as well as the austere robes of monks with unsurpassed skill. He was also a careful observer of lived reality. Ordinary items – a ceramic vessel, a wicker basket, a rose – bring his extraordinary subjects closer to everyday life, then and now.

This exhibition, the first ever devoted to the artist in the UK, brings some of his greatest paintings to London from all over the world. The exhibition is organised by the National Gallery, London, Musée du Louvre, Paris and the Art Institute of Chicago.

The curators

Dr Daniel Sobrino Ralston
Dr Daniel Sobrino Ralston is the CEEH Associate Curator of Spanish Paintings at the National Gallery, where he has co-curated 'Zurbarán' (2026) and 'José María Velasco: A View of Mexico' (2025). He has published and lectured  on  Spanish art from the 17th and 19th centuries, contributing to recent exhibition catalogues at the Fundación MAPFRE, 'Raimundo de Madrazo' (2025); the Gallerie d’Italia, 'Velázquez. Un segno grandioso' (2024); and the Kimbell Art Museum, 'Murillo: From Heaven to Earth' (2022). He received his PhD from Columbia University.
Dr Francesca Whitlum-Cooper
Dr Francesca Whitlum-Cooper is the Curator of Later Italian, Spanish and French Paintings at the National Gallery. As well as 'Zurbaran' (2026), she has curated 'The Last Caravaggio' (2024), 'Discover Liotard and the Lavergne Family Breakfast' (2023), 'Poussin and the Dance' (2021) and ‘Boilly: Scenes of Parisian Life’ (2019) at the Gallery. She received her PhD from the Courtauld Institute of Art, London and has worked at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Frick Collection, New York.

Livestream

This listing is for an in-person event taking place in the Pigott Theatre. Unable to attend in person? This event will be livestreamed. You can book your online tickets here.

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