Murillo: The Prodigal Son comes to Dallas
Bartolome Esteban Murillo - The Prodigal Son Driven OutBartolome Esteban Murillo - The Return Of The Prodigal Son
From 20 February to 12 June 2022, the Meadows Museum in Dallas is hosting an exhibition focusing on the series of six paintings by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo illustrating the parable of the prodigal son.
Images: Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, "The Prodigal Son Driven Out", 1660s. Oil on canvas, 104.5 x 134.5 cm. National Gallery of Ireland. Photo © National Gallery of Ireland ·· Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, "The Return of the Prodigal Son, 1667/1670. Oil on canvas, 236.3 x 261 cm. National Gallery of Art, Washington.
Along with Zurbarán, Ribera and -of course- Velázquez, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1618-1682) is one of the four fundamental figures of Spanish Golden Age painting. Highly valued by critics in later centuries, to the extent that his Immaculate Conception (known as Immaculate Soult) was sold in 1852 for the then highest price ever paid for a painting (586,000 francs), in more recent times his critical reception has been somewhat cooler, accusing him of being "cloying", although his historical importance remains beyond doubt.
Painted in the 1660s, the series of canvases dedicated to the parable of the Prodigal Son is -according to the Meadows Museum- the only pictorial cycle by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo that has survived in its entirety to the present day, although three paintings depicting the life of John the Baptist remain scattered in museums in Europe and the United States. Also on display are two other paintings by Murillo on loan from American collections -The Return of the Prodigal Son (1667/1670) from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, shown for the first time since its recent conservation, and The Prodigal Son among the Swine (1656-65) from the Hispanic Society of America- as well as a series of prints (by artists such as Albrecht Dürer, Jacques Callot and Pietro Testa) that served as inspiration for the painter.
The exhibition at the Meadows Museum takes place after the works have been shown at the Museo del Prado (between 21 September 2021 and 23 January 2022), and the Meadows Museum -one of the finest collections of Spanish art in the world- will be the only American institution to host the exhibition.

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