UK inaugurates art exhibition dedicated to Spanish Golden Age
Bishop Auckland, UK, Oct 13 (EFE).- The United Kingdom has inaugurated its first exhibition dedicated to the art, history and culture of Spain with a Spanish Golden Age art show at Auckland Castle in the heart of County Durham in northeast England.
The art show is displayed in the majestic Episcopal palace in Bishop Auckland and is part of the ‘Auckland Project’ which aims to fuel long-term change and regeneration with the use of art, faith and heritage.
“The reason we have a Spanish gallery here is because in Auckland Castle there is a very important and famous set of paintings of the patriarchs of Israel by Francisco de Zurbarán and I wanted something which developed the theme of why they were in the castle,” Jonathan Ruffer, Founder of the Auckland Project, told Efe.
The Spanish Gallery kicks off with a collection of Francisco de Zurbarán’s masterpieces, Jacob and His Twelve Sons, which have been hanging in the Auckland Castle dining room for over 250 years.
“I want the gallery and these pictures to represent Spanish art in the northeast of England,” Ruffer said.
The exhibition tells the story of Golden Age Spanish art during the 16th and 17th centuries and explores how artists expressed the tension between man’s yearning for eternity and the self-evident transience of life.
“The Spanish people were preoccupied with eternity but wherever they looked they saw transience, they saw things falling apart. That is an experience that is happening throughout Europe today and is certainly true in Britain. We are looking at some of the most communicative ideas that have ever been achieved through a paint brush,” Ruffer said.
“The Spanish Golden Age is one of the most important artistic phenomena there has ever been and the reason is that it is painting from the heart which became, suddenly and very quickly, painting of great technical quality as well,” he added.
The exhibition will open to the public on October 15. EFE
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