The Auckland Castle Trust in County Durham has announced plans to establish a new gallery dedicated to the display and research of Spanish art. Scheduled to open in 2018, the new gallery will be situated in two currently disused buildings in Bishop Auckland Market Place which will be transformed by Stirling Prize-winning architects Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios. The Spanish gallery will be dedicated to the study and appreciation of Spain’s Golden Age and will house a collection based around a core group of Golden Age masterpieces by artists such as El Greco, Ribera, Velàzquez, and Zurbaràn.One of the highlights of the inaugural exhibition will be El Greco’s “Christ on the Cross” which was recently purchased by Auckland Castle for £2.5m with the assistance of a £377,348 grant from the Art Fund. Although the central focus of the gallery will be the Spanish Golden Age, Dr Christopher Ferguson, Curatorial Director, plans to showcase works from the late medieval period to the early 20th century in order to illustrate what is described as “Spanish art’s development and significance in the canon of Western art history.”Commenting on the announcement, Dr. Christopher Ferguson, Auckland Castle’s Curatorial Director, said: “We are delighted to announce the development of the new Spanish gallery here in Bishop Auckland. The gallery and research centre represent an unparalleled concentration of Hispanic art and expertise in the United Kingdom. The Spanish gallery will be a gem in the UK’s cultural landscape, showing a limited number of great works of art that are rarely seen by lovers of Spanish culture, especially in this country.“For many it will be an introduction to the treasures of Spain, and we believe that with a mixture of loans from internationally famous museums and Auckland Castle’s own collection, it will be possible to achieve this. The works on display at the Spanish gallery will stand up against those in any museum in the world. It will be a chance for people to view pieces by some of the best-known artistic names to come out of Spain’s Golden Age here in County Durham on the walls of what will be a major new venue and research centre.
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