ARTISTS
Treasures from the House of Alba: 500 Years of Art and Collecting
For more than five hundred years, the Alba family has formed part of the most important aristocratic lineages in Europe, not only because of its military, political, and social significance, but also due to the relevance of its cultural patronage and its art collecting. Treasures from the House of Alba: 500 Years of Art and Collecting will display some of the finest examples from this collecting tradition, from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries up to the end of the twentieth century, in a display of continuity unparalleled by other large European collections.
Currently, the Alba family keeps its collections of paintings, sculptures, antiquities, furniture, tapestries, and all types of decorative art in three splendid palaces that historically belong to the lineage. The first of them is the Liria in Madrid, a building from the eighteenth century designed by Ventura Rodriguez, the interiors of which, destroyed in the civil war, were beautifully reconstructed by Sir Edwin Lutyens in the middle of the twentieth century; the second palace is the Dueñas in Seville, a magnificent Renaissance/Mudejar construction from the sixteenth century, the most important in this style preserved in Spain; the third is the splendid Monterrey in Salamanca, a masterpiece of the Spanish Renaissance, designed by Rodrigo Gil de Hontañón in the middle of the sixteenth century.
These three buildings, of which the first two possess beautifully and perfectly maintained gardens, house the aforementioned collections, made up of thousands of pieces signed by, among many others, the following artists: Fra Angelico, Titian, Bassano, Van Gogh, Goya, Ribera, Murillo, Rubens, Rembrandt, Brueghel, Guardi, Reynolds, Mengs, Ingres, Renoir, Courbet, Madrazo, Zuloaga, and Sargent.
The exhibition displays a broad selection of works by these artists that, as such, are leaving Spain for the first time and groups them, also for the first time, in a manner that explains the historical development of the family and the collection from the end of the fifteenth century to the present day. It is the first exercise in the understanding of the history of this family, shown through a vast display of more than 130 objects.
The exhibition will be presented thematically, with sections marking significant periods of collecting within the history of the family. “Knights, Soldiers, Courtiers: The Great Duke of Alba in the Service of the Monarchy” looks at the origin of the dynasty, and in particular Don Fernando Alvarez de Toledo, the 3rd Duke of Alba and a central figure of sixteenth century Europe. This central figure of sixteenth century Europe, was a prominent noble, general and diplomat, best known as the Great Duke of Alba. An adviser to both King Charles I of Spain and Philip II of Spain, Alba was known for his loyalty to the Monarchy. The family’s early fifteenth-century bible, an illustrated manuscript comprised of 513 folios, will be a featured in this section.
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For more than five hundred years, the Alba family has formed part of the most important aristocratic lineages in Europe, not only because of its military, political, and social significance, but also due to the relevance of its cultural patronage and its art collecting. Treasures from the House of Alba: 500 Years of Art and Collecting will display some of the finest examples from this collecting tradition, from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries up to the end of the twentieth century, in a display of continuity unparalleled by other large European collections.
Currently, the Alba family keeps its collections of paintings, sculptures, antiquities, furniture, tapestries, and all types of decorative art in three splendid palaces that historically belong to the lineage. The first of them is the Liria in Madrid, a building from the eighteenth century designed by Ventura Rodriguez, the interiors of which, destroyed in the civil war, were beautifully reconstructed by Sir Edwin Lutyens in the middle of the twentieth century; the second palace is the Dueñas in Seville, a magnificent Renaissance/Mudejar construction from the sixteenth century, the most important in this style preserved in Spain; the third is the splendid Monterrey in Salamanca, a masterpiece of the Spanish Renaissance, designed by Rodrigo Gil de Hontañón in the middle of the sixteenth century.
These three buildings, of which the first two possess beautifully and perfectly maintained gardens, house the aforementioned collections, made up of thousands of pieces signed by, among many others, the following artists: Fra Angelico, Titian, Bassano, Van Gogh, Goya, Ribera, Murillo, Rubens, Rembrandt, Brueghel, Guardi, Reynolds, Mengs, Ingres, Renoir, Courbet, Madrazo, Zuloaga, and Sargent.
The exhibition displays a broad selection of works by these artists that, as such, are leaving Spain for the first time and groups them, also for the first time, in a manner that explains the historical development of the family and the collection from the end of the fifteenth century to the present day. It is the first exercise in the understanding of the history of this family, shown through a vast display of more than 130 objects.
The exhibition will be presented thematically, with sections marking significant periods of collecting within the history of the family. “Knights, Soldiers, Courtiers: The Great Duke of Alba in the Service of the Monarchy” looks at the origin of the dynasty, and in particular Don Fernando Alvarez de Toledo, the 3rd Duke of Alba and a central figure of sixteenth century Europe. This central figure of sixteenth century Europe, was a prominent noble, general and diplomat, best known as the Great Duke of Alba. An adviser to both King Charles I of Spain and Philip II of Spain, Alba was known for his loyalty to the Monarchy. The family’s early fifteenth-century bible, an illustrated manuscript comprised of 513 folios, will be a featured in this section.
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