Displaying items by tag: english art

The Delaware Art Museum in Wilmington has launched a website that allows users to explore its vast collection from any location. The eMuseum features the institution’s best known works of art, many of which are not currently on view, and allows visitors to browse collections by object or artist. Users can view images of each work and create their own collections through the site.

To date, over 1,000 paintings, drawings, and sculptures have been photographed, catalogued, and uploaded to the website. The museum’s entire 12,500-work collection will be available online by 2018. The first phase of the project was made possible thanks to a $13,000 Museums for America grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services and support from the Welfare Foundation. 

The Delaware Art Museum focuses on American art of the 19th through the 21st centuries and English Pre-Raphaelite art of the mid-19th century. To access the museum’s new database, click here.

The Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, CT has received a $9.6 million gift from the estate of Charles H. Schwartz, a former museum member. The generous donation, which is the largest bequest in the Atheneum’s history, will help the museum establish an endowment to develop its collection of English and European art from the 18th century and earlier.

The Wadsworth Atheneum is the oldest public art museum in the United States and boasts one of the most extensive European art collections in the country, with exceptionally strong Old Master and Impressionist holdings. The museum is in the midst of a $33 million renovation project and plans to reinstall its collection of European paintings, sculpture and decorative arts before the restoration wraps up in September 2015.  

Schwartz, who joined the museum in 1987, was a member of the Society of Daniel Wadsworth -- the Atheneum’s premier membership program -- until he passed away in 1995. Schwartz was an avid collector of Old Master paintings as well as European decorative arts. David W. Dangremond, the President of the museum’s Board of Trustees, said, “It is an honor to receive such a transformative gift from a man who was a visionary in his own collecting endeavors, and who was a dear friend to many in the Wadsworth family. Museums thrive on the generosity and foresight of donors like Charles Schwartz.”

The Cleveland Museum of Art acquired a rare enamel-on-copper copy of Titian’s (1485-1576) iconic 16^th century masterpiece Bacchus and Ariadne by the English enamel painter Henry Bone (1755-1834). The museum purchased the 19^th century work at Christie’s London on July 4, 2013 for $478,346. Curator John Seydl made the winning bid over the telephone from a London hotel in an effort to disguise the museum’s interest from other bidders.

The enamel measures 16 inches by 18 inches, which is exceptionally large for the medium typically used to execute portrait miniatures. The work includes an ornate gilt-wood and gesso frame and serves as a prime example of Bone’s innovative and widely admired enamel technique.

After being shipping to Cleveland, the Titian copy is expected to hang in the museum’s early 19^th century gallery, which features French and English art.