A group of paintings by Spanish master Francisco de Zurbarán (1598–1664), currently housed at Auckland Castle, County Durham, are travelling to the US for the first time to be exhibited in Texas and New York
The paintings have left the castle on only two occasions – to London in 1802 for work on their frames, and in 1995 when they went on display at the National Gallery in London and the Museo del Prado in Madrid. And once the 18-month redevelopment is completed in 2018 the paintings are likely to remain in the castle.
These important 17th-century Spanish paintings will be the subject of an in depth technical study at the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas and following this they will then be shown for the first time outside of Europe at the Meadows Museum, Dallas and The Frick Collection, New York.
The study and subsequent US exhibitions of the Zurbarán paintings form part of a wider £70m development plan by the Auckland Castle Trust to transform one of Britain’s most important historical sites into a major new art and heritage destination for the UK.
Work will get underway on Auckland Castle’s redevelopment, which includes £10m HLF funding, gets underway in a matter of weeks and will see the regeneration of the State Rooms and the building of a new museum wing to house the Faith Galleries exploring the history of faith in the British Isles from pre-history to the modern day.
As part of the wider Auckland Castle projects, work will begin this autumn on the £10m revival of the seventeenth-century walled garden. Planning permission has also been granted for a new Welcome Building, and an Institute of Spanish Art and Culture is to open in Bishop Auckland Market Place inspired by the Zurbarán masterpieces which hang in the Castle’s Long Dining Room.
“This partnership marks one of the first steps in County Durham truly becoming the home of Spanish Art in the United Kingdom. International collaboration is fundamental to our ambitions as a new venue for the appreciation, research, and understanding, of the art and culture of the Hispanic world,” said Dr Chris Ferguson, Auckland Castle’s Curatorial Director. “We hope that these focused exhibitions of art from Auckland Castle will attract transatlantic visitors to explore North East England over the coming years.”
Gallery
The paintings depictions of Jacob and his sons, created by the Spanish Golden Age master Francisco de Zurbarán in the 1640s, have hung at Auckland Castle since they were bought by Bishop Richard Trevor in 1756.
The series was saved for the benefit of the people of the North East, along with Auckland Castle, by Jonathan Ruffer in 2010 and has since inspired a major redevelopment of the historic palace.
Six of the paintings, portraying Joseph, Naphtali, Asher, Dan, Levi and Reuben, have already travelled to Texas, with full-scale reproductions hanging in Auckland Castle’s Long Dining Room until the site closes for the start of its restoration works next month.
The remaining paintings, representing Jacob, Simeon, Judah, Zebulun, Issachar, Gad and Arthur Pond’s copy of Benjamin, will then cross the Atlantic in October. They will initially undergo their first in-depth technical study, which includes infrared reflectography, ultra-violet light, x-radiography and pigment analysis will all be used to shed light on the physical properties of the works and offer a better understanding of Zurbarán’s artistic process.
This scientific analysis at the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth will also allow the Auckland Castle Trust to plan and fundraise for the ongoing conservation and care of Jacob and his Twelve Sons after they return to the UK.
The results of the study, supervised by Claire Barry, Director of Conservation at the Kimbell Art Museum, will be published in partnership with the Centro de Estudios Europa Hispánica (CEEH) and Center for Spain in America (CSA).
“It is an exceptional opportunity to collaborate with Auckland Castle and the Meadows Museum on the first North American showing of Francisco de Zurbarán’s extraordinary series, Jacob and his Twelve Sons,” said Ian Wardropper, Director of The Frick Collection. “The technical analysis that the works will undergo at the Kimbell Art Museum will greatly enrich our understanding of the Sevillian master’s methods, while other catalogue essays commissioned for the show will explore the works in historical, cultural, and religious contexts.” Wardropper said he believed the sheer visual power and rich narrative content of this series would draw visitors in and the paintings would be displayed alongside works by Velázquez and Murillo—Zurbarán’s contemporaries—as well as by El Greco and Goya.
The series will return to Auckland Castle in May 2018, when the Castle reopens to the public following its refurbishment.
The paintings will be displayed at the Meadows Museum, Dallas, from 17 September, 2017 to 7 January, 2018, and The Frick Collection, New York, from 31 January to 22 April, 2018.
The paintings have left the castle on only two occasions – to London in 1802 for work on their frames, and in 1995 when they went on display at the National Gallery in London and the Museo del Prado in Madrid. And once the 18-month redevelopment is completed in 2018 the paintings are likely to remain in the castle.
These important 17th-century Spanish paintings will be the subject of an in depth technical study at the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas and following this they will then be shown for the first time outside of Europe at the Meadows Museum, Dallas and The Frick Collection, New York.
The study and subsequent US exhibitions of the Zurbarán paintings form part of a wider £70m development plan by the Auckland Castle Trust to transform one of Britain’s most important historical sites into a major new art and heritage destination for the UK.
Work will get underway on Auckland Castle’s redevelopment, which includes £10m HLF funding, gets underway in a matter of weeks and will see the regeneration of the State Rooms and the building of a new museum wing to house the Faith Galleries exploring the history of faith in the British Isles from pre-history to the modern day.
As part of the wider Auckland Castle projects, work will begin this autumn on the £10m revival of the seventeenth-century walled garden. Planning permission has also been granted for a new Welcome Building, and an Institute of Spanish Art and Culture is to open in Bishop Auckland Market Place inspired by the Zurbarán masterpieces which hang in the Castle’s Long Dining Room.
“This partnership marks one of the first steps in County Durham truly becoming the home of Spanish Art in the United Kingdom. International collaboration is fundamental to our ambitions as a new venue for the appreciation, research, and understanding, of the art and culture of the Hispanic world,” said Dr Chris Ferguson, Auckland Castle’s Curatorial Director. “We hope that these focused exhibitions of art from Auckland Castle will attract transatlantic visitors to explore North East England over the coming years.”
