Name: Nostalgia for al-Andalus from Bécquer to Rusiñol
Start: 2025-10-18T10:30:00-05:00
End: 2025-10-18T12:30:00-05:00
Location: 5900 Bishop Blvd, Dallas, TX, United States, Texas 75205

$Nostalgia for al-Andalus from B\u00e9cquer to Rusi\u00f1ol$

Claudia Hopkins, Professor of Art History, University of Edinburgh, will present research from her recent book "Art and Identity in Spain, 1833-1956. The Orient Within" (Bloomsbury, 2024). Using Joaquín Domínguez Bécquer’s painting "Ladies and Gentlemen Visiting a Patio of the Alcázar in Seville" in the Meadows Museum as a starting point, this lecture explores the aesthetics and politics of nostalgia for al-Andalus (Iberia under Islam 711-1492) in Spanish painting during the latter half of the nineteenth century. This period reflects a time in which the architectural jewels of the Alhambra in Granada, the Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba, and the Alcázar and Giralda in Seville emerged as major tourist attractions, while also shaping debates about Spanish identity and interests in North Africa. The program concludes with the Custard Institute’s presentation to Hopkins of her second Mark A. Roglán Publication Award, to recognize exemplary scholarship on Spanish art from 1820 to 1920.
$10; free for SMU faculty/staff/students and Meadows Museum members at the Individual level and above.