Exhibition dates: 2nd May – 23rd August, 2026
Curators: Francesca Whitlum-Cooper and Daniel Sobrino Ralston with Imogen Tedbury, in collaboration with Charlotte Chastel-Rousseau (Musée du Louvre) and Rebecca Long (Art Institute of Chicago)
Francisco de Zurbarán (Spain, 1598-1664)
The Apparition of Saint Peter to Saint Peter Nolasco (installation view)
1629
Oil on canvas
Museo Nacional Del Prado, Madrid
A bonus weekend posting of this small but wonderfully intense exhibition. The posting flows chronologically through the exhibition.
The best still life I have ever seen: A Cup of Water and a Rose (about 1630, below). The reflection of the rose in the silver bowl is just exquisite.
As a friend of mine Elizabeth Gertsakis observes, “No matter what the subject, his images tremble with intensity and life … they want to leap out of the frame and speak with you.”
Amen to that.
Dr Marcus Bunyan
Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image. All installation photographs © Marcus Bunyan
Introductory wall text from the exhibition Zurbarán at the National Gallery, London
Francisco de Zurbarán (Spain, 1598-1664)
The Apparition of Saint Peter to Saint Peter Nolasco (installation view)
1629
Oil on canvas
Museo Nacional Del Prado, Madrid
Wall text from the exhibition Zurbarán at the National Gallery, London
Francisco de Zurbarán (Spain, 1598-1664)
Saint Serapion (installation view)
1628
Oil on canvas
The Wadsworth, Hartford, CT
Wall text from the exhibition Zurbarán at the National Gallery, London
I love how the woman’s hair immitates the man’s flowing head dress at left
Francisco de Zurbarán (Spain, 1598-1664)
The Surrender of Seville (installation view)
1629
Oil on canvas
Private collection
Wall text from the exhibition Zurbarán at the National Gallery, London
Installation views of the exhibition Zurbarán at the National Gallery, London showing at centre, The Adoration of the Magi (about 1638-1639, below); and at right, The Circumcision (1639, below)
Francisco de Zurbarán (Spain, 1598-1664)
The Adoration of the Magi (installation view)
About 1638-1639
Oil on canvas
Collection of Musee de Grenoble
Wall text from the exhibition Zurbarán at the National Gallery, London
Francisco de Zurbarán (Spain, 1598-1664)
The Adoration of the Magi (installation view detail)
About 1638-1639
Oil on canvas
Collection of Musee de Grenoble
Francisco de Zurbarán (Spain, 1598-1664)
The Circumcision (installation view)
1639
Oil on canvas
Collection of Musee de Grenoble
Wall text from the exhibition Zurbarán at the National Gallery, London
Enter the spellbinding world of visionary Spanish painter Francisco de Zurbarán. Spend time with his paintings, celebrated for their vivid naturalism and deep emotional power. Move between soaring altarpieces and exquisite still lifes in the first major UK exhibition of this great artist from Baroque Seville.
A peer of Murillo and Velázquez, Zurbarán stands out for his drama, mystery and vision. From the rind of a lemon to the timeless gaze of a saint, he finds an intensity in the ordinary. Strong light and deep shadow bring real faces, soft fabrics, fresh fruit and flowers to life. His paintings unite stillness, focus and faith.
The exhibition brings together works from major galleries across Europe and the US that span Zurbarán’s career from his first religious commissions to paintings made for private devotion. Stand in front of monumental works that can still move and inspire us today.
‘Zurbarán’ is at the National Gallery, Sainsbury Wing between 2 May and 23 August 2026. The exhibition is organised by the National Gallery, London, Musée du Louvre, Paris and the Art Institute of Chicago.
Text from the National Gallery website
Francisco de Zurbarán (Spain, 1598-1664)
The Vision of Saint Alonso Rodriguez (installation views)
1630
Oil on canvas
Museo de la Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Madrid
Wall text from the exhibition Zurbarán at the National Gallery, London
Wall text from the exhibition Zurbarán at the National Gallery, London
Francisco de Zurbarán (Spain, 1598-1664)
The Body of Saint Bonaventure (installation views)
About 1629
Oil on canvas
Musee de Louvre, Department des Peintures, Paris
Wall text from the exhibition Zurbarán at the National Gallery, London
Francisco de Zurbarán (Spain, 1598-1664)
The Body of Saint Bonaventure (installation view details)
About 1629
Oil on canvas
Musee de Louvre, Department des Peintures, Paris
Installation view of the exhibition Zurbarán at the National Gallery, London showing at right Saint Francis in Meditation (about 1635-1639, below)
Francisco de Zurbarán (Spain, 1598-1664)
Saint Francis in Meditation (installation view)
About 1635-1639
Oil on canvas
The National Gallery, London
Wall text from the exhibition Zurbarán at the National Gallery, London
Installation view of the exhibition Zurbarán at the National Gallery, London showing at left, Saint Catherine of Alexandria (about 1640, below); and at right, Saint Elizabeth of Portugal (about 1640)
Francisco de Zurbarán (Spain, 1598-1664)
Saint Catherine of Alexandria (installation view)
About 1640
Oil on canvas
Bilbao Fine Arts Museum
Wall text from the exhibition Zurbarán at the National Gallery, London
Francisco de Zurbarán (Spain, 1598-1664)
Saint Elizabeth of Portugal (installation view)
About 1640
Oil on canvas
Bilbao Fine Arts Museum
Wall text from the exhibition Zurbarán at the National Gallery, London
Francisco de Zurbarán (Spain, 1598-1664)
Saint Casilda (installation view)
About 1635
Oil on canvas
Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid
Wall text from the exhibition Zurbarán at the National Gallery, London
Francisco de Zurbarán (Spain, 1598-1664)
Saint Casilda (installation view detail)
About 1635
Oil on canvas
Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid
Installation view of the exhibition Zurbarán at the National Gallery, London showing at right, Saint Casilda (about 1635, above)
Wall text from the exhibition Zurbarán at the National Gallery, London
Installation view of the exhibition Zurbarán at the National Gallery, London showing The Crucified Christ (1635, below)
Francisco de Zurbarán (Spain, 1598-1664)
The Crucified Christ (installation view)
1635
Oil on canvas
Museo des Bellas Artes der Sevilla
Wall text from the exhibition Zurbarán at the National Gallery, London
Francisco de Zurbarán (Spain, 1598-1664)
Christ on the Cross with the Virgin, Mary Magdalene and Saint John (installation view)
1655
Oil on canvas
on loan from a private collection
Francisco de Zurbarán (Spain, 1598-1664)
Christ on the Cross with the Virgin, Mary Magdalene and Saint John (installation view details)
1655
Oil on canvas
On loan from a private collection
Francisco de Zurbarán (Spain, 1598-1664)
The Crucified Christ with a Painter (installation view)
1650
Oil on canvas
Museu Nacional del Prado, Madrid
Wall text from the exhibition Zurbarán at the National Gallery, London
Installation view of the exhibition Zurbarán at the National Gallery, London showing at right, The Immaculate Conception with Two Boys Praying (1632)
Wall text from the exhibition Zurbarán at the National Gallery, London
Francisco de Zurbarán (Spain, 1598-1664)
The Immaculate Conception with Two Boys Praying (installation view details)
1632
Oil on canvas
Museo Nacional d’Art de Catalunya, Barcelona
The first major monographic exhibition in the UK devoted to Francisco de Zurbarán (1598-1664), will open at the National Gallery next spring (2 May – 23 August 2026).
Along with Diego Velázquez (1599-1660) and Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1617-1682), Zurbarán was one of the leading painters of 17th-century Spain. His paintings, which include stunning life-size depictions of saints, soaring altarpieces and contemplative still lifes, are celebrated for their naturalism, directness and deep emotional power.
This exhibition of over forty paintings will span the chronological and iconographic breadth of the artist’s career. It will unite exceptional works from public and private collections, including the Musée du Louvre (‘Saint Bonaventure on His Bier’ and ‘Saint Apollonia’) and the Art Institute of Chicago (‘The Crucifixion’, ‘Saint Romanus of Antioch’ and ‘Saint Barulas’ and Juan de Zurbarán’s ‘Flowers and Fruit in a Chinese Bowl’), the two partner museums to which the exhibition will travel between October 2026 and June 2027, and from the collection of the National Gallery (including Saint Margaret of Antioch and Juan de Zurbarán’s Still Life with Lemons in a Wicker Basket).
Other major loans from France (‘Saint Francis of Assisi’, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon), Spain (‘Agnus Dei’ and ‘The Crucified Christ with a Painter’, Museo Nacional del Prado; ‘Santa Casilda’, Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza) and the USA (‘Christ and the Virgin in the House at Nazareth’, Cleveland Museum of Art; ‘Still Life with Lemons, Oranges and a Rose’, The Norton Simon Foundation) will complete this comprehensive exploration of Zurbarán’s career, which seeks to evoke the mystery, vision and power of his art.
Zurbarán spent most of his life in Seville, then one of the richest cities in Europe, whose maritime links to the Americas made it a hub of global trade. He painted primarily for the city’s religious orders, producing altarpieces and cycles of paintings of staggering scale and ingenuity, but also for private patrons and even, for a time in Madrid, for the king of Spain. He was also an acute observer of reality, and his still-life paintings and works for private devotion are still strikingly vivid today.
The exhibition will be divided into seven different sections: the first room will introduce the artist and explore his unique ability to inspire awe as a painter, his visionary take on the subjects he represents and his artistic particularities (‘The Apparition of Saint Peter to Saint Peter Nolasco’ and ‘The Crucified Christ with a Painter’, both from Museo Nacional del Prado).
The second room will dive into the paintings which Zurbarán produced for the many religious orders of the city of Seville (‘The Vision of Alonso Rodríguez’, Museo de la Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando), demonstrating the wide range of his skills as a painter of scale and narrative, and also his incredible inventiveness in the way he structured his compositions and devised iconographic solutions.
The third room, the Fabric of Saints, shows Zurbarán’s remarkable ability to represent saints as figures from our world, especially through his evocation of fabrics, drapery and textures such as wool, embroidery, leather or fine cord (‘Saint Casilda’, Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza; ‘Saint Apollonia’, Musée du Louvre). Zurbarán’s father was a haberdasher so the artist may have developed a keen interest in textiles from a young age. He was also undoubtedly inspired by the many religious processions, parades and theatrical performances that were part of the visual culture of Seville in the 17th century.
The fourth room focuses on iconography, particularly that of the Immaculate Conception, important to the religious life of Seville. Juxtaposing treatments of the same subject from different moments in his career, visitors will appreciate how Zurbarán continuously strove for new ways to evoke powerful feelings through paint.
The fifth room, Beyond Seville, looks at the paintings which Zurbarán made for patrons outside the city with which he is most closely associated. In 1634 he received the most prestigious commission of his career: an invitation to travel to Madrid and participate in the decoration of the newly built royal palace, the Buen Retiro. Zurbarán was nominated to contribute to the decoration of the Hall of Realms, an enormous room at the heart of the palace complex, some 35 metres long and 10 metres wide. To this room Zurbarán contributed 12 paintings, including a series focused on the labours of Hercules, two of which will be shown in the exhibition (‘Hercules and Cerberus’ and ‘Hercules and the Cretan Bull’, both Museo Nacional del Prado).
The sixth room displays still lifes, including four by Zurbarán’s son Juan. It is thought that Francisco de Zurbarán may not have produced more than 10 still lifes in his lifetime so this room offers visitors a rare occasion to discover some remarkable examples of this element of his art (‘Still Life with Lemons, Oranges and a Rose,’ The Norton Simon Foundation, shown for the first time alongside the National Gallery’s painting ‘A Cup of Water and a Rose’).
The last sections of the exhibition will explore the paintings Zurbarán made for private devotion and contemplation (‘The Family of the Virgin’, Abelló Collection) which, though often smaller in size, nevertheless pack a powerful emotional punch (‘Agnus Dei’, Museo Nacional del Prado; ‘The Veil of Veronica’, Museo Nacional de Escultura).
This exhibition is the first dedicated presentation of the artist’s paintings at the National Gallery since 1994, when the series of ‘Jacob and his Twelve Sons’ from Auckland Castle was shown in the Sunley Room. Several works by Zurbarán also featured in The Sacred Made Real, an exhibition held in 2009-2010.
Building on existing scholarship and accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue, Zurbarán will highlight new discoveries, reunite works from major commissions and bring together a selection of still lifes by Zurbarán and his son, Juan (1620-1649), whose small but superlative oeuvre continues to come to light.
Francesca Whitlum-Cooper, Curator of Later Italian, Spanish and French Paintings, says ‘It is thrilling to present the UK’s first major monographic exhibition on Zurbarán, which is long overdue. Whether they are 10 feet tall or small enough to hold in the hands, his paintings are extraordinarily powerful. I hope visitors in London – and at our partner venues in Paris and Chicago – will be both amazed and moved by this encounter with Zurbarán’s work’
Daniel Sobrino Ralston, the National Gallery’s CEEH (Centro de Estudios Europa Hispánica) Associate Curator of Spanish Paintings, says ‘We are excited to present the most comprehensive survey of Zurbarán’s work ever seen in Britain, bringing together exceptional loans from across the UK, Europe and the United States. This exhibition offers new insights on one of the great artists of the Baroque era, whose visionary paintings have shaped our understanding of 17th-century Spain.’
Ignacio Galán, Iberdrola and ScottishPower Chairman, says ‘In our 125th year we are honoured to help showcase in the UK one of the most celebrated painters of the 17th century. Culture and energy share a common purpose – they both illuminate lives and inspire progress. Our commitment to the arts reflects our dedication to preserving heritage and creativity. As a global business with roots in Spain, proudly working in partnership with the UK for two decades, it is fitting to support the National Gallery to bring Zurbarán to the UK for the first time in 30 years.
Exhibition organised by the National Gallery, London, the Musée du Louvre, Paris and the Art Institute of Chicago.
The exhibition in London is curated by Francesca Whitlum-Cooper and Daniel Sobrino Ralston with Imogen Tedbury, in collaboration with Charlotte Chastel-Rousseau (Musée du Louvre) and Rebecca Long (Art Institute of Chicago).
The Musée du Louvre exhibition of Zurbarán’s works will be on view from 7 October 2026 to 25 January 2027, and the exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago will take place from 28 February until 20 June 2027.
Press release from the National Gallery
Installation view of the exhibition Zurbarán at the National Gallery, London showing at left, Hercules and Cerberus (1634, below); and at right, Hercules and the Cretan Bull (1634, below)
Francisco de Zurbarán (Spain, 1598-1664)
Hercules and Cerberus (installation view)
1634
Oil on canvas
Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid
Wall text from the exhibition Zurbarán at the National Gallery, London
Francisco de Zurbarán (Spain, 1598-1664)
Hercules and the Cretan Bull (installation view)
1634
Oil on canvas
Museo Nacional Del Prado, Madrid
Wall text from the exhibition Zurbarán at the National Gallery, London
Installation view of the exhibition Zurbarán at the National Gallery, London showing at left, Asher (about 1640-1645, below); and at right, Joseph (about 1640-1645, below)
Francisco de Zurbarán (Spain, 1598-1664)
Asher (installation view)
About 1640-1645
Oil on canvas
Auckland Palace, Bishop Auckland, County Durham
Wall text from the exhibition Zurbarán at the National Gallery, London
Francisco de Zurbarán (Spain, 1598-1664)
Asher (installation view detail)
About 1640-1645
Oil on canvas
Auckland Palace, Bishop Auckland, County Durham
Francisco de Zurbarán (Spain, 1598-1664)
Joseph (installation view)
About 1640-1645
Oil on canvas
Auckland Palace, Bishop Auckland, County Durham
Wall text from the exhibition Zurbarán at the National Gallery, London
Francisco de Zurbarán (Spain, 1598-1664)
A Cup of Water and a Rose (installation view)
About 1630
Oil on canvas
The National Gallery, London
Wall text from the exhibition Zurbarán at the National Gallery, London
Francisco de Zurbarán (Spain, 1598-1664)
A Cup of Water and a Rose (installation view)
About 1630
Oil on canvas
The National Gallery, London
Francisco de Zurbarán (Spain, 1598-1664)
Still Life with Lemons, Oranges and a Rose (installation view)
1633
Oil on canvas
The Norton Simon Foundation
This extraordinary painting by Zurbarán, the only signed and dated still life by this great master of the school of Seville, has been widely admired as a masterpiece of the genre. To devout Spanish Catholics in the 17th century, the apparently humble objects portrayed here contained significant religious meaning. The measured placement of the three motifs, for example, would have been instantly understood as an allusion to the Holy Trinity. The painting has also been interpreted as an homage to the Virgin, with the oranges, their blossoms, and the cup of water symbolizing her purity, and the thornless rose referring to her Immaculate Conception.
Zurbarán depicted the physical character of the objects, and the space they inhabit, with unparalleled focus and skill. By modelling the rough-skinned yellow citrons with hints of green and russet, he suggests the fruit’s protuberance and weight. The arrangement of the orange leaves creates a rhythm of light and shadow, echoed again in the reflective surfaces of the pewter plates. Presented as a quiet, meditative piece within a shallow, minimally described space, this still life evokes a mystical intensity that transcends time in its appeal.
A recent cleaning has removed opaque layers of varnish and discolored retouches, revealing once again the clearly defined edges of the table, the four decorative inlays at each corner, and Zurbarán’s characteristic skill in describing the rough, textural skin of the citrus fruit. The welcome balance between the dark, atmospheric background, the warm tones of the fruit and basket, and the cooler tones of the silver plate and ceramic cup have been restored.
Text from the Norton Simon Foundation website
Francisco de Zurbarán (Spain, 1598-1664)
Still Life with Lemons, Oranges and a Rose
1633
Oil on canvas
The Norton Simon Foundation
Wikipedia Commons
Francisco de Zurbarán (Spain, 1598-1664)
Still Life with Lemons, Oranges and a Rose (installation view)
1633
Oil on canvas
The Norton Simon Foundation
Juan de Zurbarán (Spain, 1620-1649)
A Plate of Grapes (installation view)
1639
Oil on copper
Private collection
Wall text from the exhibition Zurbarán at the National Gallery, London
Juan de Zurbarán (Spain, 1620-1649)
Still Life of Lemons in a Wicker Basket (installation view)
About 1643-1649
Oil on canvas
The National Gallery, London
Juan de Zurbarán (Spain, 1620-1649)
Flowers and Fruit in a Bowl (installation view)
About 1645
Oil on canvas
The National Gallery, London
Wall text from the exhibition Zurbarán at the National Gallery, London
Francisco de Zurbarán (Spain, 1598-1664)
The Young Virgin (installation view)
About 1632-1633
Oil on canvas
Lent by the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Wall text from the exhibition Zurbarán at the National Gallery, London
Francisco de Zurbarán (Spain, 1598-1664)
Christ and the Virgin in the House at Nazareth (installation view)
About 1640
Oil on canvas
The Cleveland Museum of Art
Wall text from the exhibition Zurbarán at the National Gallery, London
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