Reading between the lines: The Alba collection after the end of entailment (nineteenth and twentieth centuries)

The end of entailed estates, or ‘mayorazgos’, in Spain brought about an unprecedented movement of art objects, although paradoxically the dispersal of art collections also gave rise to a renewed valuation of their restoration as a way to symbolize the restoration of the ‘mayorazgo’. The legislation that ended the status of the ‘mayorazgo’ also gave rise to the proliferation of documentation on collections, often resulting in their reordering in a way that reflected the new paradigms of the institutionalization of the arts. This paper will shed light on the strategies adopted by the dukes of Alba at this complex crossroads, as they navigated the uncharted waters of managing an art collection during and immediately following its disentailment, balancing financial interests and cultural distinction in the transition from the Old to the New Regimes.