Spanish Art in County Durham

Francisco Bayeu y Subías, La Perra de Graus, ca. 1788–89, The Spanish Gallery, Bishop Auckland.

County Durham possesses one of the largest concentrations of Spanish artworks anywhere in the world outside Spain. In addition to Francisco de Zurbarán’s cycle of Jacob and his Twelve Sons at Auckland Castle, significant holdings can be found at The Bowes Museum, Ushaw College, Durham Cathedral, Durham University, Raby Castle, and the recently established Spanish Gallery in Bishop Auckland. The County’s collections are wide-ranging, from the Galilee Chapel Altarpiece in Durham Cathedral to paintings by El Greco and Francisco Goya at The Bowes Museum and Salvador Dalí’s lithographs of the Bible at St John’s College.

Spanish Art in County Durham is an online exhibition produced by The Zurbarán Centre for Spanish and Latin American Art at Durham University presents highlights from these collections. The artworks have been grouped into five thematic galleries, providing insights into the diversity and richness of Spanish art during the last 500 years:

• People & Places

• Power & Authority

• Suffering & Pain

• Love & Devotion

• Animals & Objects

See Richard Jacques’ feature on the exhibition here