"Velázquez's religious painting in his Sevillian period" was the focus of the second session of the lecture series that the Friends of the Prado Museum Foundation organized at the University of Navarraat partnership with the School of Philosophy and Letters of the academic center. Bonaventura Bassegoda, Full Professor of History of Art of the Autonomous University of Barcelonahas reviewed Velázquez's work from 1618 to 1623, a period in which the artist focused on religious painting until he moved to the court.

To explain his youthful works "marked by formal characteristics of radical novelty compared to other painters", the expert presented the six paintings of traditionally admitted authorship; two works of disputed authorship; a painting of religious character with the presence of a portrait; and two portraits of religious context. As the expert pointed out, there is no contract that reveals data about these paintings, such as the sender, the price, or the date of execution and submission: "Of this first period, only the Adoration of the Magi is dated in 1619, the portrait of Suarez de Ribera is signed and dated in 1620, and the same happens with that of the nun Jeronima de la source, in 1620. This limits the study of his religious paintings in his Sevillian period and conditions us greatly as historians".

Supported by a painting on the Education of the Virgin Mary, in which she appears with St. Joachim and St. Anne, and whose authorship "is not confirmed but there is a great consensus about it," Bassegoda explained that "Velázquez invented in those years the still life scenes with popular characters, bursts with great originality and strengthens its prestige. Also in religious painting he developed some techniques of marked personality in his interpretation. One of the aspects he emphasizes is the importance of the portrait, as in this case". As he pointed out, this is a piece that may have come from the convent of Santa Ana in Seville: "Although there is no documentation that tells us about this painting, nor is there unanimity about Velázquez's authorship, I believe that there are options to consider it a first work. It has elements that show us that it is not a painting of great quality, but there are features that are close to the characteristics of his painting," he said. 

After showing and approaching other paintings such as St. Thomas, the Immaculate Conception, St. John, or the tears of St. Peter, Bassegoda has approached the attendees the history and characteristics of "Velázquez's youthful masterpiece": The Adoration of the Magi. "It is a dated painting, with a vertical format typical of devotional paintings, which was in the chapel of the novices of the Society of Jesus". He also explained that "it is a very restrained work, with a minimal presence of action. Velázquez paints everything with this narrative and expressive restraint, with this sobriety and a sense of contained monumentality that is very characteristic of his work".

He then presented "the last religious work by Velázquez before the portraits", a representation of the imposition of the chasuble on Saint Ildefonso, which "is in a catastrophic state of conservation, due to damage suffered by its location and old restorations". As the expert explained, "due to its dimensions, it is not an altar painting, susceptible to receive worship. It was probably a devotional object, a posthumous portrait of a funerary nature, in which the person portrayed acts as a figurehead". He has also pointed out that "the technical programs of study carried out when the painting was intervened in the Prado Museum in 1991 confirmed the master's authorship".

To conclude, Bassegoda presented "two very important portraits painted by Velázquez, the only ones that have come down to us in their original location": that of Cristóbal Suárez de Ribera, signed with Velázquez's initials, "DVZ", and dated 1620; and that of Mother Jerónima de la source, signed and dated 1620, and of which two autograph replicas are preserved.

Bonaventura Bassegoda holds a PhD in Art History from the Autonomous University of Barcelona, where he has been Full Professor since 1998. He is a specialist in the artistic literature of the Renaissance and Baroque periods, topic on which he lectures and writes numerous publications, including a critical edition of Francisco Pacheco's treatise El arte de la pintura (The Art of Painting). He also deals with art collecting in Catalonia, as well as the original pictorial collection of the monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial. In parallel to his degree program professor , he holds various positions, such as director of the Cabinet of Drawings and Prints of the National Museum of Art of Catalonia, member of the board board of directors of the committee Spanish Art History and art manager of the General Subdirectorate of Projects of research of the Ministry of Education and Science. He is a numerary member of the Royal Catalan Academy of Fine Arts of Sant Jordi, of the high school of programs of study Catalans and of the board of trustees of the Foundation high school Amatller of Hispanic Art.