A Rare Visit from a Family of Kings
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The Wall Street Journal - 09/25/2017 Copy Reduced to 76% from original to fit letter page For personal non-commercial use only. Do not edit or alter. Reproductions not permitted. To reprint or license content, please contact our reprints and licensing department at +1 800-843-0008 or www.djreprints.com THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. Monday, September 25, 2017 | A17 LIFE & ARTS ART REVIEW A Rare Visit From a Family of Kings BY JUDITH H. DOBRZYNSKI Dallas ‘GATHER AROUND, that I may tell you what will happen to you in days to come,” Jacob tells his sons in Genesis. Gather around, I add, that I may tell you what will hap- pen if you visit “Zurbarán: Jacob and His Twelve Sons, Paintings From Auckland Castle” at the Meadows Museum. You will be visually thrilled by these life-size paintings; see Fran- cisco de Zurbarán (1598-1664) in a new light; discover his inspirations for this series; grasp much about his working methods; witness the toll of time on paint; recall a bibli- cal story important to the Abraha- mic religions; and learn the in- triguing backstory of this cycle and why it (indeed, any series by Zurbarán, who made several) has come to the U.S. for the first time. These paintings date to the 1640s— near the end of the Span- ish Golden Age—but they are unlike most Zurbarán works. They are AUCKLAND CASTLE TRUST/ZURBARAN TRUST/COLIN DAVISON (PHOTO) naturalistic, but not as mystical, The Zurbarán paintings and other works hanging in Auckland Castle’s dining room. This exhibition marks the first time the series has traveled to the U.S. sculptural or intense. His palette here is more colorful; his lighting cient tribes of Israel produced in conferred to him on his deathbed. with yellow bows, that have faded gaunter, a bit like Issachar’s. less dramatic. They feature not Catholic Spain, he made a state- Yet with all their disparate person- unevenly in the original. His hand- Scholars knew that Zurbarán Christ, saints or monks, but Old ment about religious tolerance to alities, they form a cohesive whole. some, half-shaded face is grayish looked to prints by other artists Testament figures. And their com- his powerful dinner guests. Judah—king and father of in the original, not fleshy pink as for gestures, costume elements missioner is unknown, not an eccle- There the paintings remained for kings—faces the viewer regally, in the copy. And Joseph—he of the and other inspirations. The new siastical patron; some speculate more than 250 years (except for an wearing a crown and an elaborately coat of many colors—is cloaked research shows more connections, that they may have been intended exhibit in London and Madrid in brocaded, fur-collared coat and now in tan and gray. Once, it was adding “The Twelve Apostles” by for export to the New World. 1994-95). In 2012, the commission- holding a star-topped scepter. Issa- lavender and his black leggings Martin Schongauer (c. 1445-1491) They all disappeared until the ers of the Church of England sold char—“a strong donkey,” in Jacob’s were emerald green. to works by Dürer, Jacques de 1720s, when they turn up in Lon- them and the castle to British in- words—walks in profile, very simply Visitors will learn this because Gheyn II and Philip Galle. don, owned by a Jewish merchant. vestor and collector Jonathan dressed and bearing a burden on his the paintings actually left England Many of those prints and en- In 1756, Richard Trevor, the Ruffer, who grew up in once thriv- back, his donkey in tow. Zebulun—a a year ago, shipped to the conser- gravings, as well as the analytical prince-bishop of Durham in north- ing, but now depressed northern sailor—holds an anchor and barge vation labs of the nearby Kimbell discoveries, are on view in side ern England, won all but two of England. Mr. Ruffer is restoring the pole and wears striped, cropped Art Museum. There, technical anal- galleries here. They greatly enrich the 13 at auction (Joseph, which castle and developing a museum of pants that indicate his success. ysis revealed the paint loss and the visitor experience and make he soon purchased privately, and faith there—thus creating the op- The most stunning is Asher— much about Zurbarán’s working “Zurbarán: Jacob and His Twelve Benjamin, which would pass into portunity for this exhibition. whose “food shall be rich.” He is a methods. There are few examples Sons” a many-splendored thing. the collection at Grimsthorpe Cas- In the main gallery, Zurbarán’s ruddy-cheeked farmer, in profile, of pentimenti, for instance, an indi- tle in Lincolnshire). series looks glorious against green nonetheless dressed in richly pat- cation that the works were well Zurbarán: Jacob and His Twelve Trevor hung them, along with a wallpaper that replicates Trevor’s. terned, brilliantly colored garb. Set planned before being executed by Sons, Paintings From Auckland copy he commissioned of Benja- Jacob, grandson of Abraham, and in a wheat field, he carries a basket Zurbarán and his workshop. On the Castle min, in Auckland Castle’s dining bent with age, leans on a cane. Ar- of bread, perhaps subtle reference other hand, there are some “late- Meadows Museum, through Jan. 7, 2018 room. At the time, neither Catho- rayed around him are his sons. to Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. stage edits,” according to conserva- lics nor Jews had full civil rights Each one dominates a bucolic land- The others once were likely as tor Claire Barry. Zurbarán added Ms. Dobrzynski writes about in England. Trevor had argued on scape. Each one is uniquely vivid. Benjamin, in the 18th-cen- more bread to Asher’s basket, for culture for many publications and behalf of Jews in Parliament and, dressed, shod and posed. Each one tury copy, also on display here, example, and he filled out Zebu- blogs at www.artsjournal.com/ by displaying art featuring the an- communicates the “blessing” Jacob wears rose trousers, decorated lun’s face, which had been thinner, realcleararts. vamping and relaunching its overall health: preparing FIT MEALS Meals to Go service. 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