Museo de Bellas Artes / Museum of Fine Art / Seville

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Seville's Museum of Fine Art
(a photo by jl FILPO)

The Museo de Bellas Artes or the Museum of Fine Art in Seville is housed in a 17th century monastery, reconstructed in the middle of the 19th century following the architectural style of the time. The building is splendid. It consists of three patios and two floors interconnected by a magnificent staircase. The central wall and the Sevillian pictures in ceramic shown in the Patio del Aljibe are very interesting. The main part of the collection comprises works by the Sevillian art school which flowering time was in 17th century but there are some examples of the medieval art too. Considerably more uninteresting is the section of the 20th century art. Don’t miss halls number 3 and 4 where you can see works by Francisco Pacheco, who had a great influence on the style of his students – Diego Velasquez and Alonso Cano. The famous paintings "Souls in Purgatory" by Cano and "Saint Idelfonso Receiving the Chasuble from the Virgin" by Velasquez are shown here too. Hall number 5 will take you in the Renaissance world with Murillo. The artist is wonderfully presented by the restored altar from Convento de Capuchinos de Sevilla and the amazing "La Virgen de la Servilleta" or "The Virgin of the Serviette", called with this name because it is known that Murillo first sketched the painting on his serviette. If you get bored by his sweetish cherubim, you can go upstairs to see the saturated bright canvases by the Spanish Baroque artist Juan de Valdes Leal in hall 8. The master of the monastic portrait Francisco Zurbaran is presented in hall number 10.