In the 17th century Seville was the world capital of painting: Murillo, Zurbarán, Valdés Leal and the young Velázquez worked here, and convents competed to commission whole altarpieces. This route follows their works where they were painted: the museum that was a Merced convent, the Caridad church-hospital with its six Murillos, the house where the painter died after a fall from scaffolding and the Cathedral keeping his Immaculate Conception.
The route
Apartamento Esencia Sevilla
Route starting point. Leave the apartment towards the first stop.
Museo de Bellas Artes
Spain's second painting gallery, in the Merced convent: Murillo, Zurbarán and Valdés Leal galore.
Tip: Entry €1.50 (free for EU). The Aljibe cloister with its tiles is as good as the paintings.
Hospital de la Caridad
The church is a museum in disguise: six giant Murillos and Valdés Leal's most unsettling paintings.
Tip: "In Ictu Oculi" shows death snuffing out the candle of life. Notice the skull at the knight's feet: it's Mañara himself.
Casa de Murillo
The house where the painter lived and died in Santa Cruz, with its north-facing studio.
Tip: Murillo died here in 1682 from a fall from scaffolding while painting in Cádiz. The house is private, but Santa Teresa street preserves its façade.
Catedral (Inmaculada de Murillo)
Murillo's "Immaculate" presides over the Chapter House, and the St Christopher fresco guards a superstition.
Tip: Tradition said that looking at the 10-metre St Christopher protected you that day from an "evil death". It's at the Puerta de la Lonja.
