A SELECTION of The Bowes Museum’s Spanish paintings are being prepared for a journey to America.
The 11 paintings will form an exhibition called El Greco, Goya, and a Taste for Spain: Highlights from The Bowes Museum at the Meadows Museum, SMU, in Dallas, Texas.
It’s the first time many of these works from the museum have been shown in the US and follows a successful tour of a similar selection to the Wallace Collection in London in 2017.
The exhibition will span three centuries and explore one of the largest collections of Spanish art in Britain. Most of the paintings were acquired by John and Josephine Bowes between 1862 and 1863 from the collection of the Countess de Quinto in Paris, through the art dealer Benjamin Gogue.
Religious themes are displayed in many of the works, while others depict monarchy and social injustice. The exhibition will also include selected archival materials that demonstrate John and Josephine’s process of collecting.
Adrian Jenkins, the director of The Bowes Museum, said: “When The Bowes Museum opened its doors to the public in 1892 it had the largest public collection of Spanish paintings in the UK.
“Neither John nor Josephine Bowes lived to realise their vision and I’m sure they would have been delighted to think that their acquisitions will be shown on the other side of the world.”
Visitors to The Bowes Museum during the loan will see the paintings replaced by among others, the Osequio a el maestro by Goya, a reproduction print of the Tears of Saint Peter and Marie Louis of Orleans, Queen of Spain by Francisco Ignazio Ruiz de la Iglesia.
