Carmelite Mothers Convent
Devotion for God and love for Italian art
The Carmelite Mothers convent in Peñaranda, houses the best collection of 17th century Neapolitan art in Castile and Leon. If this comes as any surprise, it's certainly due to the taste, wealth and insistence of Count Gaspar de Bracamonte. The fact that he was, between 1658 and 1664, the viceroy of Naples by appointment of King Felipe IV also has a lot to do with this.
From that time and until his death, both he and his wife did all they could to enlarge and enrich the monastery's artistic collection by importing large numbers of artistic works from Italy. That's how these very relevant Baroque works of art, from the Venetian, Bolognese, Roman or Florentine schools, have made it here, including some signed by J. Bassano, Guido Reni, Andrea Vaccaro and Luca Giordano, among many others.
At the time, the count decided that the first part to be built would be the Nuestra Señora de Loreto chapel, nowadays the main room in the museum. There are some other surprises there, awaiting the visitor, such as its rich collection of bronze pieces, the splendid Calvary scene, known as Oratorio del Conde (the Count's chapel) or the urns holding relics from saints.
The building was designed in the Baroque style, as befitted the aesthetics of the 17th century.