Drawn from one of the oldest and most significant private collections in Europe, Treasures from the House of Alba: 500 Years of Art and Collecting features works by Goya, Murillo, Rubens, Titian, and more from the splendid palaces of the Alba dynasty in Spain. Co-organized by the Meadows Museum and the Casa de Alba Foundation, the exhibition brings together more than 130 works of art dating from antiquity to the twentieth century. This is the first major exhibition outside Spain of works from the collection of the House of Alba—a prominent Spanish noble family with ties to the monarchy since the fifteenth century.
Highlights include masterpieces of Dutch, Flemish, German, Italian, and Spanish painting, such as Francisco de Goya’s The Duchess of Alba in White and Leonardo Bassano’s recently conserved Forge of Vulcan. A map by Christopher Columbus will be on display, along with his list of the people who accompanied him on the Santa Maria on the 1492 Journey of Discovery. Prints and drawings, sculptures, letters, illuminated manuscripts, decorative objects, and tapestries provide further insight into the role of the Alba family in world history.