2013: Murillo - The Art of Friendship

6 February 2013 - 19 May 2013

“Here are masterpieces from Madrid that must convert even the sceptical Ruskins among us.” - Brian Sewell

Four stars, The Daily Telegraph

Don Justino de Neve, canon of Seville Cathedral, was a friend and patron of Spanish Baroque painter Bartolomé Esteban Murillo. Neve’s commissions made a significant contribution to the artist’s body of work. This dramatic exhibition will bring together over 30 paintings documenting the relationship between Murillo and his patron as well as Dulwich’s own collection of works by the artist.

Curated by Gabriele Finaldi, Deputy Director for Collections and Research, Museo del Prado and Xavier Bray, Holly and Melosi Chief Curator, Dulwich Picture Gallery.

In a first for the Gallery, a section of Dulwich Picture Gallery’s famous enfilade will be transformed into a magnificent evocation of a 17th-century Sevillian church. Three impressively large lunettes will be hung at height, with The Immaculate Conception of the Venerables Sacerdotes forming the high altarpiece, the first time that it will be reunited with its striking altar-frame in the UK.

A special display will focus on the Gallery’s own collection of paintings by Murillo. Three Boys and Invitation to a Game of Argolla  have been cleaned and restored.  Some intriguing findings, including the X-radiography of 'Spring' (?) as a Flower Girl, will be presented in this display.

This exhibition is part of Rediscovering Old Masters: The Melosi Series

Download the interpretation panels (pdf)

Murillo and Justino de Neve: The Art of Friendship was part of Dulwich Picture Gallery's touring exhibition programme: 

Prado, Madrid: 26 June – 30 September 2012

Fundacion Focus-Abengoa, Seville: 11 October 2012 – 20 January 2013