Dr. Jesús Rivas Carmona

Born in Puente Genil (Córdoba), he studied Philosophy and Letters at the University of Seville, where he also received his PhD in Art History in 1978. By then he was already linked to the department of Art History at the University of Navarra, where he belonged as Interim Associate Professor until 1984. In this year he became Senior Associate Professor at the University of Murcia, where he continues as Full Professor of Art History since 2000.

With his doctoral thesis , defended in 1978, he undertook one of his most characteristic lines of research, baroque architecture, then focused on the world of Cordoba. This will have its maximum contribution in the book Arquitectura barroca cordobesa, 1982, which will be completed with other programs of study and publications. This specialization in Baroque architecture led him to extend the field to other parts of Andalusia, including the world of Seville, to which he has dedicated some programs of study, especially the book Leonardo de Figueroa: a new vision of an old master, 1994. He has also dealt with more general overviews of Andalusia in the 17th and 18th centuries in the book Arquitectura y policromía. Los mármoles del Barroco andaluz (Architecture and Polychromy. The Marbles of the Andalusian Baroque, 1990). At the same time, his professional assignment in other parts of Spain was an opportunity to study other Baroque architectures, such as those of Navarre and Murcia, with publications on the palaces of Navarre, San Gregorio Ostiense de Sorlada or several Murcian churches and their peculiarities.

Along with this research, his time at the University of Navarra gave him the opportunity to participate in the Monumental Catalog of Navarra, being one of its authors in the volumes corresponding to the merindades of Tudela, Estella and Olite, which allowed a direct and complete knowledge of the art and heritage of these Navarrese lands.

Subsequently, he has dealt with other topics related to architectural typologies, especially focused on temples, Eucharistic monuments and trascoros, highlighting the book Los trascoros de las catedrales españolas: estudio de una tipología arquitectónica (1994).

Among his most recent publications are "La significación de los programas artísticos de las cofradías marianas: el ejemplo de las patronas de Puente Genil", laboratory de Arte ( 2013) or "La Capilla Dorada de Puente Genil: reflexiones sobre una fundación funeraria y devocional" in Diálogos de Arte. Tribute to Professor Domingo Sánchez- Mesa Martín. Granada (2014).

In recent years he has devoted special attention to silverware, which is manifested in various works that mainly contemplate cathedral trousseaus. Within this dedication we must also include the organization of seminars and courses such as the San Eloy Goldsmith Courses, own courses of the University of Murcia, and the coordination of the books programs of study Silversmithing, which the university has been publishing since 2001, on the occasion of the feast of the patron saint of silversmiths. In them he has also made several contributions such as the Cordovan silverware of the eighteenth century in its historical-artistic context (2013) or the architecture of silverware (2014).