Don Gaspar de BRACAMONTE
A Count who loved paintings
Peñaranda wouldn't be what it is today without the key role Don Gaspar de Bracamonte, III Count, who was born in this town in 1595, played in its history.
A statesman and diplomat of great political relevance in the 17th century, he occupied a long list of high positions during the reigns of Felipe IV and Carlos II. Among his most important jobs was the diplomatic mission he developed in Münster, which marked the end of the Thirty Year War. In his endless curriculum there are also positions like that of Archbishop of Toledo, president of the Council of Military Orders, president of the Council of the Indies or member of the Council of State and War.
But it was his designation as Viceroy of Naples, a position he held between 1658 and 1664, which had the most direct consequences for Peñaranda, since this was the reason that so many Italian and Neapolitan works of art made their way to the town, with the purpose of embellishing the Discalced Carmelites convent he had founded in 1664.
The Count died in Madrid on the 14th of December, 1676, and was buried in the cloister of the Discalced Carmelite Mothers, in Peñaranda de Bracamonte.