Friday Lates: Sir Gabriele Finaldi in conversation with Shirazeh Houshiary
Fri 19 Jun
|The National Gallery
Contemporary artist, Shirazeh Houshiary RA, joins our Director, Sir Gabriele Finaldi, to discuss her practice in relation to 17th-century Spanish artist Francisco de Zurbarán.
Time & Location
19 Jun 2026, 18:30
The National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, London WC2N 5DN, UK
About the event
Contemporary artist, Shirazeh Houshiary RA, joins our Director, Sir Gabriele Finaldi, to discuss her practice in relation to 17th-century Spanish artist Francisco de Zurbarán.
Formal elements of Renaissance painting can be found in Houshiary’s work in her composition, rhythm, structure and depiction of light. This is particularly evident in her digital animation, ‘A Cup and a Rose’ (2019) inspired Zurbarán’s still-life painting ‘A Cup of Water and a Rose’ (1630). In 2008, Houshiary was commissioned to design the East Window installed above the altar of the neighbouring St Martin-in-the-Fields, for which she cited the painting ‘The Veil of St Veronica’, which features in our exhibition ‘Zurbarán’, as a source.
Their discussion is interspersed by choral performances by St Martin’s Voices, featuring a selection of sacred music chosen in response to the exhibition.