The 17^th century was called the Spanish Golden Age. No wonder as great painters, sculptors, and writers multiplied, who left their mark on the art, the history and the culture of the country.  However, if the 16^th century had been the Golden Age, the 17^th century was when a crisis gradually developed in spite of the artistic development of the city.

The great European wars increasingly devoured the wealth that came from America, even though they had arrived regularly the previous century now they were delayed, and sometimes there was a gap of two or three years before the arrival of a fleet. This was due to the threat of pirates and corsairs on the American coast, for the battles of the land in Europe had moved onto the sea as well.

The Sevillian Baroque

On the other hand the church took great prominence by becoming the major client of the new baroque art, and its objective was to combat Protestantism in a fight that had denominated the Counter-Reformation.

Art changed from simple shapes and lines of the Renaissance for the curves and impossible movements designed to surprise the spectator and have them see the grandiose of the Catholic Church. The Christian temples adopted these forms and they were filled with golden and loaded altarpieces and religious paintings that are still preserved today, in a way of educating the precepts of religion to the already devout population. 

This is the century, in other words, of religious imagery, that’s to say colourful painted wooden sculptures which represented mostly the passion and suffering of Christ, according to the objectives of the church in contrary to the Protestant Reformation and to cause emotion in the faithful. Even here arrived great works of art from masters such as Martinez Montanes and Juan de Mesa, which also form part of the processions of Semana Santa, a festival that also began in this century. This baroque art of religious imagery is very valued and admired by the Sevillians and in every church there is work of this technique, this sevillian art has survived until our time.

However, two more artists were born in Seville, considered to be the greatest Spanish baroque painters: Velazquez and Murillo. Albeit, when they were both starting out they painted works showing daily Sevilian life that are true photos of the time, the first moved to Madrid to be King Felipe IV’s Court’s painter and the second stayed in Seville, giving himself to the service of the best client, the Church. In the museum of Fine Art there some of Murrilo’s most famous of the Immaculate Conceptions are preserved, like some works of Velazquez, although there are many less than there should be owing to the great plunder by the French in the Independence War many years later.

Political Crisis

But while the church was on the rise, the political powers entered into crisis. The monarchs now didn’t rule but left the business of the country in the hands of their ‘stewards’ in a way the political crisis of Seville may have been a reflection of what would happen in Madrid. In this case, the level of corruption reached its maximum, and since the economic situation was so overwhelming the official positions of the Seville’s city government, that until recently had been reserved for people of merit or of high rank, were sold on mass, increasing a situation that had begun the century before, this way those that had wealth, like the traders and the merchants, now possessed the Sevillian Government in their hands to adapt to their interests.

This wasn’t all, Seville also lived its worse epidemic of the Plague. In 1648 the illness arrived to the Sevillian port and it took nothing short of half the population, leaving the city in devastation and poverty. For this period, it’s worth visiting the Charity Hospital, founded by the great Miguel de Mañara, who being the son of rich merchants invested all his fortune in a Hospital to attend to the necessities of the sick. This and many others are palpable testimonies that remain of Seville and its passionate Baroque Age.

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Image source: Flickr. Son of Groucho