THE remarkable history of one of the region's finest collections of paintings is being set to music.

The story, spanning 250 years, of Auckland Castle's £20m Zurbaran paintings, which were saved from the saleroom last year, starts and ends with two Bishops of Durham.

Next year, it will be told in music and song by Bishop Auckland Choral Society, which has been given a £19,000 grant to stage a specially-commissioned oratorio at the castle, in March.

The larger than life-sized portraits showing Jacob and his Twelve Sons dressed in Spanish peasant costumes should offer plenty of dramatic material for writers Duncan Brown and Greg Pullen, both from Spennymoor, and David Napthine, from Binchester, in County Durham.

Painted by Spanish artist Francisco de Zurbaran, they were sent to Mexico in the mid-17th Century to promote Catholicism among the native population at a time when it was widely believed that the Aztecs were one of the lost tribes of Israel.

Instead, they were hijacked at sea by English pirates and ended up in London in the hands of merchant James Mendez, a Portuguese Jew.

In 1756, he sold them for £125 to the high-living Bishop Richard Trevor, a vigorous campaigner for the recognition of Judaism's role in the Christian story.

One of the set was missing - Mendez sold Benjamin's portrait to the Duke of Ancaster, who believed himself to be a descendant. It now hangs in Grimethorpe Castle, near Peterborough.

Bishop Trevor had to be content with a copy - a fake by artist Arthur Proud, which was installed along with the rest in the castle's Long Dining Room.

The Bishop had his dramatic political statement to display to his dinner guests, but Zurbaran had been left with nothing.

Receiving no money for his stolen masterpieces, he died a ruined man in 1664.

His legacy hung in the castle in relative obscurity until 2001 when, realising their worth, the Church Commissioners voted to sell them as a "non-income-producing asset" to recoup losses on the London property market.

Campaigners, including Bishop Auckland Civic Society, pleaded for a change of heart, realising the prestige they brought not only to the town, but to the whole North-East region.

The Northern Echo and its readers joined the call for the Zurbarans to stay, but it was four years before there was a reprieve.

The present Bishop, the Right Reverend Tom Wright, stepped in, impressing the commissioners by showing them the collection in its original setting before making an impassioned plea at the meeting deciding their fate.

The commissioners relented and allowed the Zurbarans to stay until a review in 2010.

Bishop Wright celebrated their 250th anniversary by giving a televised viewing during an episode of Antiques Roadshow, when expert Philip Mould confirmed their £20m valuation.

The oratorio will be premiered on the weekend of March 23 and 24 and performed in procession from the castle gates.

Project manager Jill Cole said: "The Zurbarans are very special and it is fantastic to get the money to do this. We will involve as many members of the community as we can."

Mr Napthine said: "We wanted to pick up on something relevant to this area, but also with a universal theme and a religious theme. These paintings became an obvious idea. It's nice to finally get our teeth into it."