“Francisco de Zurbarán helped to define Seville’s Golden Age, a period of economic expansion and cultural resurgence in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, when the Andalusian seaport monopolized trade with the New World. Throughout the late 1620s and 1630s, the artist and his workshop produced monumental multi-figure paintings as well as series of single-figure works representing the saints, the Apostles, and various other subjects for ecclesiastical institutions and palaces throughout Spain and the Spanish colonies. With a decline in Seville’s economy in the 1640s and the plague of 1649, he turned increasingly to the Latin American market, supplying paintings on commission to churches, monasteries, and wealthy individuals, while also selling workshop pieces on the open market in Buenos Aires and Lima, Peru. Between 1640 and 1645, Zurbarán and his assistants produced the remarkable series Jacob and His Twelve Sons, which is on view at The Frick Collection through the spring of 2018. Co-organized by the Frick with the Meadows Museum in Dallas and Auckland Castle, County Durham, England, the exhibition was first seen in Dallas last fall. Twelve of the paintings are lent by Auckland Castle. These are reunited with a thirteenth canvas, generously lent for both American presentations by Lady Willoughby de Eresby of Grimsthorpe Castle in Bourne, Lincolnshire. Zurbarán’s work is well represented in public collections across the United States, but Jacob and His Twelve Sons is the first complete set of paintings by the Spanish master to be seen here, and the exhibition marks the first time that the Auckland/Grimsthorpe series has traveled to the United States.” — The Frick Collection
Francisco de Zurbarán (Spanish, 1598–1664). Jacob, ca. 1640–45. Oil on canvas, 79 1/8 x 40 5/16 inches (201 x 102.4 cm). © The Auckland Project/Zurbarán Trust. Photo credit: Robert LaPrelle
Francisco de Zurbarán (Spanish, 1598–1664). Reuben, ca. 1640–45. Oil on canvas, 78 9/16 x 40 9/16 inches (199.5 x 103 cm). © The Auckland Project/Zurbarán Trust. Photo credit: Robert LaPrelle
Francisco de Zurbarán (Spanish, 1598–1664). Simeon, ca. 1640–45. Oil on canvas, 79 1/16 x 40 3/4 inches (200.8 x 103.5 cm). © The Auckland Project/Zurbarán Trust. Photo credit: Robert LaPrelle
Francisco de Zurbarán (Spanish, 1598–1664). Levi, ca. 1640–45. Oil on canvas, 79 x 40 3/4 inches (200.7 x 103.5 cm). © The Auckland Project/Zurbarán Trust. Photo credit: Robert LaPrelle
Francisco de Zurbarán (Spanish, 1598–1664). Judah, ca. 1640–45. Oil on canvas, 79 1/4 x 40 3/4 inches (201.3 x 103.5 cm). © The Auckland Project/Zurbarán Trust. Photo credit: Robert LaPrelle
Francisco de Zurbarán (Spanish, 1598–1664). Zebulun, ca. 1640–45. Oil on canvas, 78 1/2 x 40 1/2 inches (199.4 x 102.9 cm). © The Auckland Project/Zurbarán Trust. Photo credit: Robert LaPrelle
Francisco de Zurbarán (Spanish, 1598–1664). Issachar, ca. 1640–45. Oil on canvas, 78 1/2 x 40 1/2 inches (199.4 x 102.9 cm). © The Auckland Project/Zurbarán Trust. Photo credit: Robert LaPrelle
Francisco de Zurbarán (Spanish, 1598–1664). Dan, ca. 1640–45. Oil on canvas, 79 1/8 x 40 3/4 inches (201 x 103.5 cm). © The Auckland Project/Zurbarán Trust. Photo credit: Robert LaPrelle
Francisco de Zurbarán (Spanish, 1598–1664). Gad, ca. 1640–45. Oil on canvas, 78 1/2 x 40 9/16 inches (199.4 x 103 cm). © The Auckland Project/Zurbarán Trust. Photo credit: Robert LaPrelle
Francisco de Zurbarán (Spanish, 1598–1664). Asher, ca. 1640–45. Oil on canvas, 79 1/4 x 40 15/16 inches (201.3 x 104 cm). © The Auckland Project/Zurbarán Trust. Photo credit: Robert LaPrelle
Francisco de Zurbarán (Spanish, 1598–1664). Naphtali, ca. 1640–45. Oil on canvas, 78 1/2 x 40 5/8 inches (199.4 x 103.2 cm). © The Auckland Project/Zurbarán Trust. Photo credit: Robert LaPrelle
Francisco de Zurbarán (Spanish, 1598–1664). Joseph, ca. 1640–45. Oil on canvas, 79 1/4 x 40 3/4 inches (201.3 x 103.5 cm). © The Auckland Project/Zurbarán Trus. Photo credit: Robert LaPrelle
Francisco de Zurbarán (Spanish, 1598–1664). Benjamin, c. 1640-45. Oil on canvas, 78 3/8 x 40 1/2 in. (199.2 x 103 cm). © Grimsthorpe and Drummond Castle Trust Photo credit: Robert LaPrelle
Title image: Zurbarán and other works on display in the Long Dining Room at Auckland Castle © The Auckland Project/Zurbarán Trust. Photo credit: Colin Davison.
Images courtesy The Frick Collection.
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