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Faith rewarded: Spain's religious masterpieces go on show in UK
Louise Jury, Chief Arts Correspondent20 Oct 2009
The man behind the next National Gallery blockbuster today described his struggle to secure the loan of priceless religious treasures from Spain.
Curator Xavier Bray had to move to the country for three months as he tried to negotiate loans of paintings and sculptures.
Churches, convents and cathedrals had been loath to lend their often-fragile treasures to the heretic Protestant UK for fear their religious importance would not be honoured. But Dr Bray succeeded - and the show, entitled The Sacred Made Real - opens tomorrow.
It will feature some of the most important works from Spain's 17th century Golden Age by artists including Diego Velázquez, Francisco Zubáran and Juan Martínez Montañés.
It comes as Britain witnesses an extraordinary outpouring of Catholic devotion. Relics of St Thérèse of Lisieux have toured the country, attracting 250,000 visitors.
But when the National asked Spanish religious institutions to lend their artworks, at first it faced a barrage of rejections. "They didn't understand why the National Gallery wanted to exhibit such work," Dr Bray said.
The gallery had to call on support from the Spanish ministry of culture, Spain's chief cleric Archbishop Braulio Rodríguez Plaza, Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols and the Papal Nuncio in Britain.
To persuade Toledo Cathedral to hand over one work, Saint Francis Standing in Ecstasy by Pedro de Mena, the Spanish government agree to pay for its restoration. It is the first time the work has left the sacristy since it was installed in 1663.
Sixteen nuns at the Convent of Santa Ana and Joaquin in Valladolid required high-level church encouragement to lend their Virgin Dolorosa, after a six-hour presentation by Dr Bray initially failed to convince them. Dr Bray said: "My big joker card was that this was a great occasion for the Spanish Catholic church to show off their heritage and to reach out to a wider audience."
The show challenges conventional thinking on the Golden Age, suggesting that far from being inspired by Caravaggio, the Spanish vivid realism was influenced by painted sculptures of the period. Sixteen have been put alongside 16 paintings to prove the point.
Dr Bray said he had been "very nervous" about his theory until he saw the works side by side. They might seem rather gory for British tastes, he added: "It's a kind of imagery we rejected at the time of the English Reformation."
The Sacred Made Real will be in the Sainsbury Wing until 24 January, with admission charge.
Reader views (1)
I'm glad Dr Bray succeeded and I intend to go see the show.
- Peace Maker, Battersea, 20/10/2009 12:38
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