Paintings of Jacob and 12 sons will leave Europe for analysis and to go on display during building work at Auckland Castle

Zurbarán masterpieces to leave UK for US for the first time

Thirteen spectacular paintings by the Spanish master Francisco de Zurbarán are travelling to the US for the first time.

The paintings, of Jacob and his 12 sons, are considered among the finest treasures in north-east England and have only left Auckland Castle in County Durham twice since 1756.

“It is quite emotional to see them going,” said Chris Ferguson, Auckland Castle’s curatorial director. “But it is exciting too. We become a building site for 18 months from September and we had this fantastic opportunity to send the paintings to the US, so off they go.”

The paintings will be the subject of technical analysis for about a year at Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas. They will then go on public display for the first time outside Europe at the Meadows Museum in Dallas, followed by the Frick Collection in New York.

Ferguson expects US audiences to be as excited as Auckland Castle visitors by the paintings, which have always been considered hugely important but came to greater prominence four years ago.

Auckland Castle, the historic palace of bishops of Durham for centuries, opened to the public as a tourist attraction in 2012 thanks to the significant philanthropy of the businessman Jonathan Ruffer, who bought the paintings and castle from the Church Commissioners.

The Zurbarán paintings were made between 1640 and 1644, and are based on the Book of Genesis story in which Jacob, on his deathbed, called together his 12 sons who would become the founders of the 12 tribes of Israel.

They were originally meant to go as Catholic propaganda to the New World where it was commonly believed that indigenous peoples such as the Aztecs were a lost tribe of Israel.

They did not make it, and the precise reasons for that are murky but one story claims English pirates captured them.

It is known that in 1756 they ended up in the possession of the prince-bishop of Durham Richard Trevor. He bought them at auction, although he failed to get Benjamin, so commissioned a copy by an English artist.

Trevor was a vociferous supporter of Jewish emancipation and he hung the 8ft paintings in his dining room where he would lecture his guests. “He bought them as a message of tolerance. He was arguing for the rights of Jewish people in England,” said Ferguson.

“They have a message of tolerance which still resonates now.”

The paintings have left the castle on only two occasions – to London in 1802 for work on their frames, and in 1995 when they went on display at the National Gallery in London and the Prado in Madrid.

The restoration work at Auckland Castle is part of a wider £70m development plan to create a new arts and heritage destination that will include a new gallery exploring faith in the British Isles and a separate Spanish art gallery and research centre.

It is about County Durham becoming the home of Spanish art in the UK, said Ferguson.

Saint Francis in Meditation, Zurbaran (1635-9) Read more

The US galleries are delighted to have the opportunity. Ian Wardropper, the director of the Frick, said: “The sheer visual power and rich narrative content of this series will draw visitors in, and will be beautifully complemented by the Frick’s strong holdings in Spanish art which include our paintings by Velázquez and Murillo –Zurbarán’s contemporaries – as well as by El Greco and Goya.”

Both the Frick and the Meadows will display the works with the benefit of the technical analysis results shining new light on Zurbarán’s techniques and studio.

The analysis will also show Auckland Castle what needs to be done to conserve the paintings and how much it might cost.

Ferguson said the paintings were important to the north-east as a whole. “Until the castle opened to the public in 2012 they were hugely important but little seen and by going to the US we are hoping to raise their profile. It will bring the paintings to a new audience but also bring the north east to their attention.

“I don’t think they’ll ever leave the palace again after this. Once we bring them back into the restored room that’s it, they are there. We are making the most of the opportunity to put them in exciting venues.”

• The Zurbaráns will be at the Meadows Museum in Dallas from 17 September 2017 until 7 January 2018 and at the Frick Collection in New Yorkfrom 31 January until 22 April 2018