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The Focus-Abengoa Foundation announces the second edition of the Alfonso E. Pérez Sánchez International Research Prize

September 20, 2010

• The deadline for presenting work is Thursday 30 September 2010.
• The prize, which includes an award of 24,000 Euros, aims to promote the study and research of Spanish art history in the Modern Age.

Seville, 20th September 2010.- The Focus-Abengoa Foundation has announced the second edition of the Alfonso E. Pérez Sánchez International Research Prize, “Velázquez and his century”, which acknowledges innovative projects and scientific studies that contribute to understanding and better contextualising the different artistic expressions that flourished in 17th-century Spain. The Prize is worth 24,000 Euros.

The award is dedicated to assessing, detailing and continuing the work of the art historian Alfonso E. Pérez Sánchez, a consummate researcher and educator whose work placed special emphasis on Italian and Spanish painting, and on studies about Velázquez and the art of his era. His passionate and selfless collaboration with the Focus-Abengoa Foundation was key to the success of the Foundation’s numerous exhibitions, such as Three centuries of Sevillian drawing (“Tres siglos de dibujo sevillano”), Spanish painting revitalised by private collecting (“Pintura española recuperada por el coleccionismo privado”) or From Herrera to Velázquez (“De Herrera a Velázquez”), among others. Furthermore, Alfonso E. Pérez Sánchez’s work as an artistic adviser to the Focus-Abengoa Foundation was decisive in the acquisition of the Santa Rufina by Velázquez.

The Focus-Abengoa Foundation hopes that this award will encourage researchers and scientists to develop new initiatives that add value in areas such as art, history, culture, literature and the aesthetics of the century in which Velázquez lived and therefore contribute to better understanding the work of the Sevillian painter and the essence of his painting.

The prize is open to the whole of the scientific community. Works should be sent by registered mail or delivered in person to the headquarters of the Focus-Abengoa Foundation (Hospital de los Venerables, Plaza de los Venerables, 8, 41004 Seville), stating “2nd Alfonso E. Pérez Sánchez International Prize” on the envelope.

The deadline for submissions of original copies of the work is Thursday 30 September 2010 and work may be presented in Spanish, English, French, Italian or German.

The complete terms and conditions of the prize are available at: http://focus.abengoa.es/.

The Focus-Abengoa Foundation was created in 1982 as a result of the cultural work begun in 1972 by Abengoa with the publication of the works Themes of Seville (“Temas Sevillanos”) and Iconography of Seville (“Iconografía de Sevilla”). A collection of documents, books and engravings on the Kingdom of Seville and by Sevillian authors was created during the same period. This initial cultural work showed Abengoa’s directors the importance of the company’s involvement in activities that directly benefit society, beyond its core technology work, which led to the creation of the Seville Cultural Fund Foundation.