Splendeurs du baroque

Seeing these canvases in the intimacy of a hôtel particulier changes everything: far from the neutrality of large contemporary rooms, each work finds here a setting conducive to contemplation. For the first time in France, about forty masterpieces from the Hispanic Society of America travel to Paris and engage in dialogue with the permanent collections of the Jacquemart-André, offering visitors a reading both close and warm of the Spanish Golden Age. Curated by Guillaume Kientz, director of the Hispanic Society, and Pierre Curie, museum curator, the exhibition contrasts the names that shaped Hispanic painting: Greco, Velázquez, Zurbarán, but also less expected artists whose presence illuminates the richness of a golden age blending European traditions and overseas influences. The scenography by Hubert le Gall magnifies this encounter: arranged in the Second Empire salons of the museum, the canvases gain presence and warmth. One enters a route designed as a succession of intimate salon-galleries, where the texture of fabrics, the intensity of gazes, and the narrative tension of religious and secular scenes reveal themselves differently. Among the featured pieces, Zurbarán’s Saint Lucy illustrates mastery of textures and light, while Correa’s Wedding at Cana showcases a abundant technique and stylistic blend typical of Hispanic and American workshops. Beyond fascination with great names, "Splendors of the Baroque" fulfills its educational promise: by placing these works in a refined domestic setting, the exhibition allows measuring the expressive power of religious and court art which captivated contemporaries. A highlight of the Paris cultural season is thus announced, a clear invitation to savor, salon by salon, the strength and grace of Hispanic Baroque at the heart of boulevard Haussmann.

An exceptional heritage built by the passion of a single man Founded in 1904 by American scholar and patron Archer Milton Huntington (1870-1955), the Hispanic Society of America is the oldest museum institution dedicated to the arts of the Spanish and Portuguese-speaking world outside the Iberian Peninsula. Located at Audubon Terrace, in northwest Manhattan, it preserves over 750,000 items: paintings, sculptures, manuscripts, and archaeological objects collected during its founder's travels. Doménikos Theotókopoulos, called Greco, Pietà, c. 1574-1576, oil on canvas, 66 x 48.5 cm 750,000 Items preserved at the Hispanic Society of America The institution began renovating its historic buildings in 2019 under architect Annabelle Selldorf's direction. The first phase ended in 2023 with the museum’s reopening. The second, featuring new old master painting rooms, will be completed by autumn 2027. It is in this context that the Hispanic Society entrusts the Musée Jacquemart-André with a selection of its masterpieces. The exhibition "Splendors of the Baroque" at the Musée Jacquemart-André brings these paintings together under the curatorship of Guillaume Kientz, Hispanic Society director, and Pierre Curie, museum curator. Hubert le Gall’s scenography highlights each canvas in the reception rooms of the mansion. Visitors immediately perceive the richness of a collection now accessible to the Parisian public.

From Greco to Velázquez, the height of Hispanic painting The Golden Age spans from the early 16th century to the late 17th century, coinciding with the zenith of the Spanish Habsburg monarchy (1516–1700). With a colonial empire influencing the Americas and Asia, Spain experiences a period of intense artistic vitality. Between late Renaissance and full Baroque flourishing, the pictorial production is marked by expressive intensity and deep spirituality. The route highlights major figures of this period. Greco opens the discourse with the Pietà and Saint Luke, two paintings where forms stretch in characteristic spiritual tension. Francisco de Zurbarán asserts the power of his religious compositions: Saint Lucy and Saint Emerentiana glorify devotion with visual eloquence nourished by the Counter-Reformation. Juan Carreño de Miranda, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, and Matteo Cerezo complete this grouping. Diego Velázquez, Portrait of a Girl, c. 1638-1642, oil on canvas, 51.5 x 41 cm The Portrait of a Girl is one of Velázquez's most touching works, combining naturalism and intimacy in a seemingly simple composition. The subject’s identity remains unknown: several experts have suggested she could be a granddaughter of the painter, possibly Inés Manuela Martínez Velázquez, born August 16, 1638. The painting likely appeared in Velázquez’s posthumous inventory in 1660 as number 178, described as "another portrait, of a little girl." This work holds a special place in the artist’s career: it is one of his very few depictions of non-royal children, and the only one in an isolated figure format. A recent restoration confirmed the dating around 1638–1642 agreed upon by Jonathan Brown and José López-Rey.

Zurbarán, painter of saints and master of textures Religious painting is the beating heart of the Spanish Baroque. Commissions pour in from monastic orders, brotherhoods, and cathedrals: they demand artists capable of making the fervor of the faithful tangible. Francisco de Zurbarán establishes himself as the undisputed master of this sacred realm. His monumental and silent figures of saints combine a striking realism of textures with a spiritual gravity that captivates the gaze. ✝ Zurbarán depicts Saint Lucia, a 4th-century martyr from Syracuse, dressed like an elegant contemporary Sevillian woman. The young woman presents her attribute, her eyes resting on a dish, referring to the legend that she plucked them out to discourage a suitor obsessed with their beauty, before miraculously regaining her sight through prayer. Zurbarán’s father ran a fabric shop. This family connection explains the painter’s virtuosity in rendering fabrics, embroideries, and brocades that dress his saints. Francisco de Zurbarán, Saint Lucia, c. 1630, oil on canvas, 183 x 111.5 cm