Art & Empire. The Golden Age of Spain

Edited by Michael A. Brown, Ph.D., Curator of European Art at The San Diego Museum of Art, Art & Empire: The Golden Age of Spainillustrates the astounding quality and variety of artistic achievements throughout the Spanish empire during the pivotal years of about 1600 to 1800. The book features more than 100 of the finest works of painting, sculpture, and decorative arts of the Hispanic world, including masterpieces by Diego de Velázquez, Francisco de Zurbarán, Bartolomé Murillo, El Greco, Jusepe de Ribera, Luca Giordano,and Peter Paul Rubens, among other artists from both sides of the Ocean.

Carefully produced, with high-quality and full-color reproductions, the book serves to highlight the artistic and cultural diversity in Spain’s global territories, and the pioneering contributions in the realms of naturalism and spirituality. The aim is to illustrate the truly global nature of the Spanish empire, its cross-cultural artistic currents, worldwide trade, and artistic interconnections developed between numerous populations. It features an international team of contributors: Professor Jonathan Brown (Institute of Fine Arts, New York University), Professor Benito Navarrete (Universidad de Alcalá, Spain), Jorge F. Rivas (Denver Art Museum), independent scholar Sofía Sanabrais, and Michael A. Brown from The San Diego Museum of Art.