The Meadows Museum at SMU will debut a major exhibition this weekend called "Murillo: Picturing the Prodigal Son." The exhibition centers on a series of six paintings by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1617-1682) illustrating the popular biblical parable.
On loan from the National Gallery of Ireland, the canvases are in the U.S. for the first time, and the Meadows Museum will be the only venue in the country to present the exhibition, which runs Feb. 20-June 16, 2022.
"Murillo painted (these) at the height of career in Seville," Amanda Dotseth, curator of the Meadows Museum, and curator of the exhibition said. "What's unusual about it is that this series remains intact. We have all six paintings together."
Dotseth said Murillo was so popular in the time after his death, that collectors split up his in-demand works all over the world.
The particular works tell the biblical story of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32). It's a story that Dotseth said relates to us today, and related to people in the 17th Century.
"There's something to relate here, and I think it's important to give people perspective too that just because technologies were different in the past, doesn't mean humans weren't grappling with some of the same issues as today," Dotseth said.
The Meadows Museum at SMU is at 5900 Bishop Blvd. Find out more about the exhibition, hours, and tickets, at this link.
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