If you haven’t ventured to SMU’s pristine Meadows Museum yet, now there are six more reasons to go.

The museum, which houses the largest collection of Spanish art outside of Spain, has acquired six new paintings and drawings in what is being called a “milestone expansion” of their permanent collection.

“We are thrilled to add six extraordinary works by artists who are so central to the history of Spanish art,” said Mark A. Roglan, the Linda P. and William A. Custard Director of the Meadows Museum and Centennial Chair, in the Meadows School of the Arts at SMU. “We are particularly excited to acquire such exquisite paintings by Cano and Melendez as the first examples of works by these two prominent artists to enter the Meadows collection.”

The six new works are Alonso Cano’s painting “Christ Child” (c. 1636-38); pendant paintings by Miguel Jacinto Melendez, Portraits of Philip V, King of Spain, and his first wife, Maria Luisa Gabriela of Savoy (c. 1701-03); a sanguine and black chalk drawing by Juan de Valdes Leal, “Apparition of Christ to Saint Ignatius on his Way to Rome” (c. 1662); a chalk drawing by Zacarias Gonzalez Velazquez, “Mary Magdalene and Head of a Moor” (1793); and a pencil drawing by Antonio Carnicero, “Maria Luisa of Parma, Queen of Spain” (1789).

“As one of the most comprehensive museums of Spanish art in the world, the Meadows Museum is constantly growing,” said Linda Custard, chair of the Meadows Museum Advisory Board.

“These works will greatly enhance and help complete the Museum’s distinguished permanent collection.”

The art will be featured under the museum’s newest push called “Launching the Next 50 Years: Continuing the Legacy of Collecting at the Meadows Museum.”

The acquisition comes just before the museum’s 50th anniversary in April 2015. SMU Students with a valid student ID get free admission to Meadows Museum.