Foremost among the recent acquisitions is an enchanting portrait by Raimundo de Madrazo y Garreta, which depicts the 10-year-old son of the German ambassador to Spain in 1890, Baron Ferdinand Eduard von Stumm. The portrait remained in the von Stumm family from the time of its creation until its acquisition by the Meadows. Madrazo used fast, painterly brushstrokes to render the child’s disheveled blond hair and costume but painted his face with meticulous precision. The artist’s nuanced treatment of color in the boy’s face and subtle shadowing around his eyes instill in the image a psychological depth that distinguishes it from the more conventional child portraits of the era.
The artist was a prominent member of the famed Madrazo family, who over three generations included respected artists. Born in Rome in 1841, Raimundo received his initial training from his grandfather José de Madrazo y Agudo (1781–1859), founding director of the Prado Museum, and his father Federico de Madrazo y Kuntz (1815–1894), also a director of the Prado, and both a successful portraitist and a notable art dealer. After studying at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid, Raimundo moved to Paris in 1862 where he spent most of his career. He traveled often to Rome, London, the U.S. and Argentina, garnering international recognition for his fashionable genre scenes and portraits and enjoying commercial and critical acclaim.
This painting contributes to the rich collection of portraiture in the Meadows collection and its holdings by this artist in particular, which include two portraits in oil on canvas, another in pastel on cardboard, and a number of intimate drawings and letters compiled in The Stewart Album (1860–1890). It is currently on display in the museum’s Jake and Nancy Hamon Galleries and will remain on view throughout the summer, after which it will travel to Fundación MAPFRE in Madrid to join the first-ever retrospective exhibition on the artist opening September 18. That exhibition is co-organized by the Meadows Museum, which will welcome it to Dallas in spring of 2026.
Portrait of Baron Ferdinand Carl von Stumm was purchased with funds given by the Meadows Museum Advisory Council in honor of William A. and Linda P. Custard on the occasion of her retirement as chair: Linda Perryman Evans, Debi and Peter Miller, Peggy and Carl Sewell, Pilar and Jay Henry, Susan Albritton, the Honorable Janet Kafka and Terry Kafka, Barbara and Mike McKenzie, Claire Barry, Diane and Stuart M. Bumpas, Gwen and Richard Irwin, Stacey and Nicholas McCord, Jenny and Richard Mullen, Caren Prothro, Elizabeth Solender and Gary L. Scott, Catherine B. Taylor, Julie and George Tobolowsky, President R. Gerald and Gail Turner, Cheryl and Kevin Vogel, Diane and Gregory Warden, Laura Wilson, Dotseth Family Trust, Linda and John McFarland, Estelle and Michael Thomas, Dr. and Mrs. Lawerence S. Barzune and family, George C. Lancaster and Secundino Hernández.
Untitled (Sin título), 2017–19, by Teresa Lanceta (Spanish, b. 1951) is the renowned artist’s second work to join the Meadows collection. The painted and stitched canvas features a structured yet expressive composition with horizontal color bands in dark blue and burgundy. The lower section and left strip are adorned with hand-sewn patterns in black, red, blue and yellow, including circular forms and a delicate grid of lines. The work was purchased with funds from The Meadows Foundation.
Lanceta is internationally celebrated for her profound contributions to textile art, particularly her large-scale tapestries, which bridge the gap between art and craft. She represented Spain at the Venice Biennale in 2017, and in 2023 she was awarded Spain’s highest honor for living artists, the Premio Nacional de Artes Plásticas. Lanceta’s bold textiles and works on paper, including this one, were exhibited at the Meadows Museum in 2024 as part of the Meadows/ARCO Artist Spotlight program, a partnership with Fundación ARCO, organizer of Spain’s premier contemporary art fair.
Earlier, a work on paper by Lanceta was also acquired by the Meadows Museum—Letur or Liétor, Chicago (Letur o Liétor, Chicago) (2004)—a spectacular drawing produced by the artist as part of her exploration of 15th-century rugs made by Spanish artisans working in the Islamic tradition. The central field of this work on paper is adorned with geometric patterns in shades of yellow, red and blue, while the abstract forms along its border evoke Arabic inscriptions.
Untitled and Letur or Liétor, Chicago were purchased with funds from The Meadows Foundation; the latteris currently on view through June 22, 2025, in the museum’s downstairs galleries as part of a special installation, A Decade of Acquisitions: Celebrating Works on Paper.
A major addition to the Meadows’s collection of premodern works is a silver ciborium produced in 15th-century Spain, likely in the Castilian city of Burgos. This exquisite example of late Gothic metalwork was designed for the sacred function of holding the consecrated Eucharist during and after the Mass. The fine silver, intricate engraving, and detailed crucifix that crowns the piece all reflect the high quality of craftsmanship employed in the creation of liturgical vessels during the reign of the Catholic Monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella.
The ciborium is the second example of historic silverwork to enter the collection of the Meadows Museum, where it will join a 16th-century processional cross acquired in 2015. Both objects provide valuable context for the museum’s late medieval and early modern religious paintings and sculptures, enriching understanding of the role of art in the devotional life of Spain.
The ciborium was purchased with funds generously provided by Jo Ann Geurin Pettus.
Additional recent acquisitions include the following:
- Saint Bartholomew, c. 1500, by Domingo Ram (Spanish, active 1464–1507). This monumental panel painting by the Aragonese artist Domingo Ram depicts Saint Bartholomew gripping the knife of his martyrdom in one hand and holding an open book in the other. A grotesque demon in chains crouches at his feet, signaling Bartholomew’s power over evil. A popular saint at the time, he was especially venerated in the region of Calatayud, where Ram maintained an active workshop and where the Monastery of Piedra (Zaragoza) preserved a relic of the saint’s belt until the 19th century, believed to cure demonic possession. Executed in egg tempera on pine panel, the painting features a tiled pavement evocative of Manises ceramics, gilding, and a gesso-molded halo. Recent scholarship attributes this panel to Ram’s mature phase, when he collaborated with his son Juan Ram and other regional artists. It once formed part of a multi-panel altarpiece dedicated to Saints Martin, Nicholas, and Bartholomew, likely made for a church in Calatayud. Its acquisition by the Meadows Museum—with funds from The Meadows Foundation—adds a significant work by a major figure in late medieval Spanish painting to the collection, enhancing its representation of the Gothic tradition in the region of Aragon.
- Study of Heads for the Painting “The Holy Family with Saints”, c. 1680–85, by Francisco Ignacio Ruiz de la Iglesia (Spanish, 1649–1703). This preparatory drawing in black chalk and ink on paper includes four studies for an oil painting now in a private collection in Spain. It includes sketches of the faces of the Virgin Mary; her parents, Joachim and Anne; and the latter’s cousin, Elizabeth. The drawing was given to the Meadows by the Galería José de la Mano in Madrid, in memory of the museum’s late director, Dr. Mark A. Roglán.
- Two works by José del Castillo (Spanish, 1737–1793) offer valuable insight into Castillo’s artistic process and the multiple iterations his compositions underwent before reaching their final form. The first work—an oil sketch, Holy Trinity, 1789—represents Christ as the son, next to God the Father, and above them, the dove of the Holy Spirit, with a ray of light falling on the two figures. The second work—a double-sided drawing, Study for a Head of Christ/Study of Angels, c. 1787—contains on the front a preparatory sketch for the figure of Christ. The study of angels on the reverse reveals Castillo’s experimentation with three figures for another painting in the Meadows collection, Pedro de Cevallos Disembarks in the Port of Buenos Aires, c. 1787. The oil sketch and drawing were purchased with funds from Pilar and Jay Henry.
- Self-Portrait in the Guise of a Musician, c. 1860s, by José María Rodríguez de Losada (Spanish, 1826–1896). Deeply inspired by the Spanish baroque, Rodríguez de Losada is especially known for his history paintings and costumbrista works. In this self-portrait in oil on canvas, he depicted himself in period costume as a soldier playing the flute. The painting was purchased with funds donated in memory of Dr. Mark A. Roglán.
- Architectural Study of the Alhambra, c. 1870, by Mariano Fortuny y Marsal (Spanish, 1838–1874). This watercolor on paper by one of the great Spanish masters of the 19th-century depicts a corner in the famed Alhambra Palace in Granada. It colorfully captures the distinctly Islamic architectural and decorative motifs of the medieval palace, and is enhanced by a period frame adorned with Arabic script. This is the first watercolor by Fortuny to enter the collection and was purchased with funds from friends of the Meadows Museum.
- Old Man in the Sun, 1870, by Ricardo de Madrazo y Garreta (1852–1917). This small watercolor on cardboard was produced in Granada when the young Ricardo de Madrazo (brother of Raimundo, cited above) was working alongside Mariano Fortuny y Marsal. This sensitive depiction of an elderly local man was rarely seen and never published prior to its acquisition. The painting was purchased with funds from The Meadows Foundation.
- Clown (Payaso), c. 1960, by Rafael Coronel (Mexican, 1931–2019). This oil painting features one of Coronel’s most frequently used subjects: the payaso, or clown. This work also reflects Coronel’s characteristic style of portraying the figure in profile against a monochrome background. The titular payaso wears an elongated hat (like those seen in other Coronel works in the Meadows collection, Day of the Dead and Pastorela) while a barely visible monkey hides behind him. The clown and the monkey are important figures in Mexican iconography, and both were regularly used by members of the Nueva Presencia movement to which Coronel belonged. Nueva Presencia sought to portray ordinary individuals, in contrast to the heroic figures found in the muralist paintings that dominated the Mexican art scene. Although Payaso is not dated, the range of color and ominous expressions of the figures are consistent with his compositions of the early 1960s. The painting was given to the Meadows in memory of Frederick and Jerrie Smith by their children; it joins three other works by Coronel generously donated by the Smiths to the museum in 2014.
ABOUT THE MEADOWS MUSEUM
The Meadows Museum is the leading U.S. institution focused on studying and presenting the art of Spain. In 1962, Dallas businessman and philanthropist Algur H. Meadows donated his private collection of Spanish paintings and funds to start a museum at Southern Methodist University. The museum opened to the public in 1965, marking the first step in fulfilling Meadows’ vision to create “a small Prado for Texas.” Today, the Meadows is home to one of the largest and most comprehensive collections of Spanish art outside of Spain. The collection spans from the 10th to the 21st centuries and includes medieval objects, Renaissance and Baroque sculptures, and major paintings by Golden Age and modern masters.
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
