Coinciding with the 2nd International Congress of Brotherhoods and Popular Piety, the Archdiocese of Seville and the General Council of Brotherhoods of the City of Seville are jointly organizing the exhibition “Art and Devotion in Andalusia: Brotherhoods and Popular Piety,” to be held at the main headquarters of Fundación Cajasol in Seville.

The BBVA Collection is collaborating in the project with the loan of The Dream of Saint Ferdinand, a painting by Matías de Arteaga, which joins the notable selection of works on view in an exhibition whose aim is to reflect, from an evangelizing viewpoint, the spiritual and aesthetic wealth generated over the passing centuries by popular religiousness in Andalusia.

Given this particular context, the theme of the painting could not be more fitting: it depicts one of the most important events in the life of King Ferdinand III of Castile (1199-1252), known as the Saint. Canonized by Pope Clement X in 1671, Ferdinand had played a key role in the reconquista. According to tradition, while the king was dozing in his tent during the siege of Seville, the Virgin of the Kings appeared to him in a vision in which she prophesized his victory. The work is also a magnificent example of the visual language of Baroque painting, clearly evincing the influence of two great masters of the time: Juan de Valdés Leal and Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, fundamental benchmarks for Matías de Arteaga's production.