- Retablo mayor — the high altarpiece. In Seville Cathedral it is a wall of carved scenes, begun by the Fleming Pieter Dancart in 1482.
- Pasos — the processional sculptures carried in Holy Week. Gran Poder and El Cachorro are this kind of figure, seen in their churches all year.
- Italica — the Roman city north of Seville, birthplace of Trajan and Hadrian. The museum’s Trajan and Venus came from there.
Painting and sculpture in Seville — the cathedral first, then Bellas Artes
Almost everyone who comes to Seville for a first visit walks into the cathedral. That is also the right place to start for pictures and carvings: Pieter Dancart’s vast high altar, Murillo’s St Anthony, Goya’s Saints Justa and Rufina, Martinez Montanes’s Christ of Mercy, Pedro de Campana’s Descent from the Cross. Book the cathedral. Then cross the city to the Fine Arts Museum, the second painting collection in Spain after the Prado: Zurbaran, Murillo, an early Velazquez, El Greco.
After those two buildings, the Hospital de la Caridad holds Valdes Leal’s two paintings of death, and the churches keep the processional figures people queue for in Holy Week — Gran Poder, El Cachorro, Jesus de la Pasion. Italica’s marbles are in the Archaeological Museum. Carmona, Osuna and Utrera are extras if you have a car. Related: Seville.
*Cathedral, Alcazar and museum tickets are separate. Valdes Leal’s pair is in the Hospital de la Caridad, not in the Fine Arts Museum.
Words you will meet
Seville Cathedral
The high altar (1482–1525) was designed by Pieter Dancart of Flanders: the largest Gothic altarpiece in Christendom, scene upon scene in wood. In the Scalas chapel, Andrea della Robbia’s Virgin of the Pomegranate is fifteenth-century Florentine terracotta. Lorenzo Mercadante carved the alabaster tomb of Cardinal Cervantes (1458) in the chapel of San Hermenegildo.
In the main sacristy, Pedro de Campana (Pieter Kempeneer) painted the Descent from the Cross on wood in 1547. The Sacristy of the Chalices holds Martinez Montanes’s Christ of Mercy (1603–06), a crucifix of the Seville Baroque, and Goya’s large Saints Justa and Rufina (1817), the city’s potters. Murillo’s St Anthony (1656) is in the Baptism chapel — the canvas from which the saint was once cut out and later returned. Behind the high altar, Herrera el Mozo painted the coloured Triumph of the Eucharist (1656).
- Seville Cathedral — map
Fine Arts Museum
The museum occupies the old Merced convent. This is the room for painting after the cathedral. El Greco’s portrait of his son Jorge Manuel Theotocopuli (about 1605) is here. Velazquez’s St Ildefonsus Receiving the Chasuble (about 1623) is an early work, still of Seville, before Madrid. Zurbaran’s Apotheosis of St Thomas Aquinas is one of the emblems of Spanish Baroque; the same painter’s series from the monastery of Santa Maria de las Cuevas hangs nearby. Murillo’s Madonnas are the pictures the city used to export. Gonzalo Bilbao’s The Cigar Makers (1915) is a later, crowded factory scene — impressionist light on social subject.
Valdes Leal’s two hieroglyphs of death are not in this museum. They hang in the Hospital de la Caridad, a walk toward the river: In ictu oculi and Finis gloriae mundi (1671–72). See them there. Francisco Pacheco, Velazquez’s teacher, painted the ceiling Apotheosis of Hercules (1640) at Casa de Pilatos, which also keeps a mixed collection (Sebastiano del Piombo, Pantoja de la Cruz, Carreno de Miranda, Van Loo, Luca Giordano, and a Goya bullfighting scene).
- Fine Arts Museum — map
The processional figures
Seville’s other sculpture lives in parish churches and is carried in Holy Week. In El Salvador, Martinez Montanes carved Jesus de la Pasion (1610–15) and Juan de Mesa carved Cristo del Amor (1618–20). In the basilica on Plaza de San Lorenzo, Mesa’s Jesus del Gran Poder is the figure with the longest queue. At the chapel of El Patrocinio, Francisco Antonio Ruiz Gijon’s Cristo de la Expiracion — El Cachorro — (1682) is the other name people know. You can see all four outside Easter. The churches keep their own hours; Gran Poder is the one to check first.
Archaeological Museum and the province
The Archaeological Museum, in Maria Luisa Park, holds three pieces that earn the detour if you like stone more than altarpieces: a Phoenician bronze of Astarte; a second-century statue of Trajan from Italica, shown as emperor and hero; and the Venus of Italica, a Roman marble of Aphrodite rising from the sea, in unusually translucent stone. The “fourth century BC” date you may see attached to the Venus refers to the Greek type, not to when this marble was carved. Italica itself is a separate site north of the city.
In the province, Carmona’s church of Santa Maria keeps Francisco de Alfaro’s processional monstrance (1579–84), Seville silverwork at full scale. The Colegiata of Osuna has Ribera’s Calvary (1625–26), painted in Naples for the Duke of Osuna. The church of San Eutropio in Paradas has an El Greco Penitent Magdalene. Santa Maria de la Mesa in Utrera has a panel said to be by Bernardino Luini, a follower of Leonardo. None of these replaces the cathedral or Bellas Artes. They are for a car day after the city.
How to get there from Malaga
Seville is about two hours west of Malaga on the AP-4, or about the same on the high-speed train. A hire car or a private transfer from Malaga Airport or the Costa del Sol is useful if Carmona or Osuna is on the same trip. For the cathedral and Bellas Artes you only need to reach the centre; the old town is then a walk.
Car hire: the flexible option
From Malaga Airport or the Costa del Sol you can drive to Seville, park outside the old town and walk the cathedral and Bellas Artes. The same car reaches Carmona or Osuna the next day.
Hire a car at Malaga Airport
Taxi or private transfer
Door to door from Malaga Airport or your Costa del Sol hotel to Seville. A same-day return can cover the cathedral and Bellas Artes if you start early. Stay overnight for Gran Poder, the Caridad and a provincial town.
Book a transfer*No credit-card details or advance payment are needed to request a quote. Cancellation is free. Book ahead in high season to avoid price rises and to secure the car or group size you need.
Other options
AVE and Avant trains run from Malaga Maria Zambrano to Seville Santa Justa in about two hours, several times a day. From the airport take the suburban train or a bus to Maria Zambrano first. Santa Justa is outside the old town; a city bus, tram or taxi takes you to the cathedral. Book both directions in busy months, and check the last train before you plan a same-day return.
ALSA coaches also run Malaga–Seville. They are usually cheaper and slower than the high-speed train. From Fuengirola, Torremolinos or Marbella you travel into Malaga first, then west.
Once in Seville the cathedral, El Salvador and the Hospital de la Caridad are walkable. Bellas Artes is a longer walk or a short bus ride north of the centre. Gran Poder and El Cachorro are in different parishes; use a taxi if you are short of time. Carmona, Osuna, Paradas and Utrera need a bus from Prado de San Sebastian or a car. Italica is a local bus from the Plaza de Armas area.
Practical tips
- Book the cathedral first. Then Bellas Artes. Those two buildings are the visit.
- Valdes Leal’s death paintings are in the Hospital de la Caridad, not in the Fine Arts Museum.
- Gran Poder and El Cachorro can be seen on ordinary days. Holy Week is another country.
- Casa de Pilatos is the place for Pacheco’s ceiling, not Bellas Artes.
- Carmona and Osuna are half-days. Do not add both after a full cathedral morning.
Frequently asked questions about art in Seville
What should I see first?
The cathedral: the high altar, Murillo’s St Anthony, Goya’s Justa and Rufina, and Montanes’s Christ of Mercy. Then the Fine Arts Museum.
Where are Valdes Leal’s paintings of death?
In the Hospital de la Caridad, not in the Fine Arts Museum. The pair dates from 1671–72.
Can I see Gran Poder outside Holy Week?
Yes. The figure by Juan de Mesa stays in the basilica on Plaza de San Lorenzo. Check opening hours.
Is there a Velazquez in Seville?
Yes. St Ildefonsus Receiving the Chasuble, an early work, is in the Fine Arts Museum.
Who painted the Calvary in Osuna?
Jusepe de Ribera, in Naples, in 1625–26, for the Duke of Osuna. It is in the Colegiata.
How long is the train from Malaga?
About two hours on AVE or Avant from Maria Zambrano to Santa Justa. Add the airport train into Malaga and a taxi from Santa Justa to the cathedral.
