Xavier Bray, assistant curator, European paintings, National Gallery, London. The groundbreaking exhibition The Sacred Made Real: Spanish Painting and Sculpture, 1600-1700, a landmark reappraisal of religious art from the Spanish Golden Age, contains masterpieces created to shock the senses and stir the soul. In this podcast recorded at the National Gallery of Art on February 28, 2010, curator Xavier Bray discusses the conception and realization of The Sacred Made Real, which includes 11 paintings by Diego Velázquez, Francisco de Zurbarán, and others, displayed for the very first time alongside 11 of Spain's remarkable polychromed (painted) sculptures. Many of the sculptures have never before left Spain and are still passionately venerated across the Iberian Peninsula in monasteries, churches, and processions.