The church and former Jesuit novitiate of San Luis de los Franceses, in Seville, has opened its doors as a new cultural space dedicated to Baroque art, offering the public an impressive collection of more than a hundred masterpieces from the Sevillian school. This museum, which is still in the process of fulfilling the administrative requirements for its official denomination, covers an extensive period from the 16th century to well into the 19th century.

The new art gallery occupies seven rooms of the church and the domestic chapel, both outstanding exponents of Sevillian Baroque, and houses pieces from the artistic collection of the Provincial Council of Seville. The works, mostly paintings, come from the historical heritage of the institution and cover a wide range of religious themes, highlighting the figure of the Sevillian school that was formed in 1660 with artists such as Murillo, Valdés Leal and Herrera El Joven.

Among the most relevant pieces is a portrait of a wealthy Mexican woman of the 19th century, Josefa Fraile, who took refuge in Seville after fleeing Mexican independence. In addition, historian Juan Luis Ravé, the main promoter of the project, emphasizes that many of these works have been in storage for more than 50 years and are being exhibited to the public for the first time.

The new museum is inspired by the model of the San Roque Museum in Lisbon, which also collects works from historic hospitals in the Portuguese capital, and features a collection that includes sculptures by Pedro Luque Cornejo and paintings by renowned artists such as Alonso Vázquez, Sebastián de Llanos, Pedro Núñez de Villavicencio, Esteban Márquez de Velasco, and other important exponents of the Sevillian Baroque.

In addition, Ravé points out that the religious theme, with a strong counter-reformist approach, is predominant in many of the works, reflecting the mission of the old hospitals: “if we cannot save the bodies, let's save the souls”. Among the recurring themes are the “Ecce homo”, with an exact copy of Murillo's famous work preserved in the museum of El Paso (USA).

The history and the vicissitudes of this collection, which suffered the loss of its first inventory during the Spanish Civil War, will soon be collected in a catalog published by the Diputación. This project not only highlights the richness of Seville's Baroque heritage, but also offers a new look at the city's artistic legacy through its hospitable institutions.

Source: El Economista.