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with director Arantxa Aguirre, introduced by Ada Vilageliu Díaz
Jacob and His Twelve Sons, a series of thirteen canvases painted by Francisco de Zurbarán in Seville, Spain around 1640, has mesmerized and confounded viewers for centuries. Nothing is really known about these works until they were acquired at auction by a British merchant in the early eighteenth century. Then, in 1756, Bishop Richard Trevor of Durham, England acquired these paintings and hung them in his dining room at Auckland Castle, where they have remained ever since. Recently, the paintings have become the engine of regeneration for this rural community in northern England. Aguirre’s documentary involves well-known scholars in Spanish painting and the directors of many museums, but also the promoters of an ambitious project that uses art as a tool for social transformation. (Arantxa Aguirre, 2020, DCP, English, Spanish, and Hebrew with English subtitles, 73 minutes)
Part of the National Gallery's Film Programs.