Diego Velázquez, the maturity of a genius viewed through the evolution of his painting technique

The Foundation is pleased to invite you to the conference given by Sirga de la Pisa Carrión on the 18th of November 2026 at 18.00.

The artistic development of Diego Velázquez can be traced through the evolution of his painting technique and the materials he employed throughout his career. From his formative years in Seville, through his studies and travels in Italy, to his mature period at the court in Madrid, significant changes can be observed in his approach to painting.

This lecture will examine these developments through a selection of works from the different stages of Velázquez’s career, focusing on the technical and material choices that contributed to the distinctive character of his art. Particular attention will also be given to the influence of other great masters, notably Titian and Rubens, whose work played an important role in the artistic environment in which Velázquez developed.

By bringing together technical analysis, art-historical research and the study of artistic influences, the lecture will offer a fresh perspective on the evolution of Velázquez’s practice and on the emergence of what would become his unique artistic language.

The speaker

Sirga de la Pisa Carrión is an art historian, painting conservator and lecturer at San Pablo-CEU University in Madrid, where she teaches courses on Renaissance, Baroque and Spanish Golden Age painting. She holds a PhD in Art History from the Complutense University of Madrid, with a dissertation devoted to the Flemish painter Peter van Lint, and has specialised in seventeenth-century painting and the artistic exchanges between Spain, Flanders and Italy.

Alongside her academic career, she has worked as a painting conservator and has collaborated on major exhibitions and research projects, including work related to Rubens and Flemish painting. Since 2021, she has also worked with Fernando Durán Auctioneers in Madrid, specialising in Old Masters and nineteenth-century art. Her research and professional experience bring together the perspectives of art history, technical examination and conservation, providing a particularly relevant approach to the study of Velázquez’s painting technique.