The Arts Society in Malta (ASinMalta) is holding a lecture on ‘Flourishing art in 17th century Spain’ at the Radisson Blu Resort Hotel, St Julian’s, on Thursday, November 28 at 6.30pm.

In the 16th and 17th centuries, Spain rose as a great superpower with an empire spanning the globe. This vast wealth, alongside the renewed Catholic fervour of the Counter-Reformation kick-started the Spanish ‘siglo de oro’ – literally the century of gold – which saw the flourishing of paintings, sculpture, literature and music.

The lecture explores this period, looking at the historical moment and the vast array of art before focusing in on the work of the greatest painter of the age, Diego Velázquez.

Lecturer Isabelle Kent

The lecture will be delivered by Isabelle Kent, an academic and educator specialising in the baroque period, with a particular focus on Spain and its empire. She received a BA and MPhil in history of art from Trinity College, Cambridge, where she is currently completing her PhD on the art of Velázquez and Francisco de Zurbarán.

From 2017 to 2019 she worked as the Enriqueta Harris Frankfort Curatorial Assistant at the Wallace Collection and in 2020 her book Collecting Bartolomé Esteban Murillo in Britain and Ireland was published by CEEH. Alongside her academia, Kent is an expert guide for a travel company, leading groups around Spain and beyond, and she also teaches regularly for the V&A, Art Fund, Royal Academy, Chelsea Arts Club, Wallace Collection and University of Cambridge.

Members of the society can attend the lecture for free, while non-members pay €15. For more information and registration, contact e-mail mem.asinmalta@theartssociety.org or call 9989 1006.