
New gallery dedicated to the art of the Spanish Golden Age to open at The Auckland Project
Opening on 15 October in Bishop Auckland, County Durham, The Spanish Gallery will be the first gallery in the UK dedicated to the art, history and culture of Spain.
The gallery focuses on the art of the Spanish Golden Age during the 16th and 17th centuries and is conceived to contextualise the series of paintings Jacob and his Twelve Sons by Spanish master Francisco de Zurbarán which has hung in Auckland Castle for over 250 years.
Devotional art, portraiture and still lifes by the period’s key figures – El Greco, Zurbarán, Velázquez and Murillo – will be on display alongside loans from national and international institutions, including works from the Hispanic Society of America. The gallery also contains facsimiles from the Factum Foundation recreating monuments of Spanish Golden age painting, architecture and design.
The Spanish Gallery is the next destination to open as part of The Auckland Project, founded in 2012 by Jonathan Ruffer to revitalise the market town of Bishop Auckland through art, faith and heritage. For more information, visit aucklandproject.org/about/what-our-plans-are/spanish-gallery
Image credit: Exterior of the Spanish Gallery in Bishop Auckland. Credit: John Millard Photography, Courtesy of The Auckland Project.