Collins Gallery
European Art from the 15th – 19th Centuries
Some of the most outstanding works in the collection of the Mead —
Rubens's Charity (Enlightening the World), a magnificent
Still Life by Frans Snyders, Sir Joshua Reynolds's
Portrait of Sir Jeffery Amherst, and
Claude Monet's Morning on the Seine, Giverny — are found in the Collins Gallery, which features selections of European art from the 15th through the 19th centuries. Artists of British, Dutch, Flemish, French, German, Italian, and Spanish origins are represented by paintings, sculpture, decorative objects, prints, drawings, and photographs. Particular strengths reside in the areas of French and British art. Extensive holdings distinguish the European print collection, which numbers over 2500 objects with multiple works by many of the greatest masters in the history of printmaking including Dürer, Callot, Rembrandt, Piranesi, Hogarth, Blake, Goya, Daumier, and Degas. Frequent additions are made to this important collection, which builds on the generosity of major donors such as Edward C. Crossett (Class of 1905), whose 1951 gift forms the core of the Mead's western print holdings. There are over 200 lithographs by Daumier, many from the recent gift of Boris Baranovic (Class of 1958).
Highlights of French 19th–century art include paintings by Millet, Bouguereau, and Toulouse-Lautrec, sculpture by Rodin, and prints by Gericault, Delacroix, Manet, and Pissarro. British art is represented by portraits, historical subjects, and landscape painting. Artists include Peter Lely, Thomas Gainsborough, Richard Wilson, Angelica Kaufmann, and Thomas Francis Dicksee. A rich selection of Dutch and Flemish paintings of the 17th century complements strong holdings in Netherlandish prints. Italian art includes late Gothic and early Renaissance panel paintings donated by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation. Representing Spanish art are complete sets of several of Goya's print series including
The Caprichos and
The Disasters of War.
