Treasures from the House of Alba: 500 Years of Art and Collecting

Edited by Fernando Checa Cremades

ISBN: 978-0-692-36935-7

Year: 2015

Pages: 360

Illustrations: 205

Binding: hardcover with dust jacket

Size: 24 x 21.5 cm

Published by: Dallas, Meadows Museum, SMU and Madrid, Ediciones El Viso

The Meadows Museum at Southern Methodist University presents to an international audience for the first time the masterpieces from Spain's largest private art collection. These are the treasures of the House of Alba, the extraordinary fruit of more than 500 years of European and Spanish collecting and patronage.
This book not only explains the history of the Alba and Berwick families from the 15th to the 21st centuries, but also offers a detailed account of their collection of paintings, sculptures, furniture, tapestries, and all kinds of objects, as well as their archive and library. The importance of this collection is clearly demonstrated by the works of artists such as Fra Angélico, Diego Velázquez, Francisco de Goya, Titian, Mengs, Ingres, Sorolla, Renoir, and Fantin-Latour, which are studied here. All this without forgetting the collection's connections to the American world in the form of decorative objects, tapestries, and a section of Christopher Columbus's documents preserved in the family library.
This publication reflects the special interest of this lineage in collecting tapestries, the patronage exercised by writers such as Garcilaso de la Vega, the significance in the collection of Empress Eugenia de Montijo, who was directly related to the Berwick-Alba family, and that of the last dukes of the 20th century, who were interested in the art of their time.
The palaces of Liria (Madrid), Monterrey (Salamanca), and Dueñas (Seville) are the custodians of these treasures. A study of each of them also enriches this publication.