Overview

Not unlike their European forebears, Americans have historically held Italian Renaissance paintings in the highest possible regard, never allowing works by or derived from Raphael, Leonardo, or Titian to fall from favor. The ten essays in A Market for Merchant Princes trace the progression of American collectors’ taste for Italian Renaissance masterpieces from the antebellum era, through the Gilded Age, to the later twentieth century. By focusing variously on issues of supply and demand, reliance on advisers, the role of travel, and the civic-mindedness of American collectors from the antebellum years through the post–World War II era, the authors bring alive the passions of individual collectors while chronicling the development of their increasingly sophisticated sensibilities. In almost every case, the collectors on whom these essays concentrate founded institutions that would make the art they had acquired accessible to the public, such as the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the Morgan Library and Museum, the Walters Art Gallery, The Frick Collection, and the John and Mable Ringling Museum. The contributors to the volume are Jaynie Anderson, Andrea Bayer, Edgar Peters Bowron, Virginia Brilliant, David Alan Brown, Clay M. Dean, Frederick Ilchman, Tiffany Johnston, Stanley Mazaroff, and Jennifer Tonkovich.

Full Product Details

Author:   Inge Reist (Director of the Center for the History of Collecting at the Frick Art Reference Library)
Publisher:   Pennsylvania State University Press
Imprint:   Pennsylvania State University Press
Volume:   2
Dimensions:   Width: 20.30cm , Height: 1.80cm , Length: 25.40cm
Weight:   0.975kg
ISBN:  

9780271064710

ISBN 10:   0271064714
Pages:   168
Publication Date:   12 December 2014
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   To order  
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Table of Contents

Contents List of Illustrations Foreword Inge Reist Introduction: Looking Backward: Americans Collect Italian Renaissance Art David Alan Brown Part I The Lure of Italy: Art and the Market Before Bernard Berenson 1 James Jackson Jarves and the Primitive Art Market in Nineteenth-Century America Clay M. Dean 2 Modern Connoisseurship and the Role It Played in Shaping American Collectors' Taste in Italian Renaissance Art Jaynie Anderson 3 Discovering the Renaissance: Pierpont Morgan's Shift to Collecting Italian Old Masters Jennifer Tonkovich Part II The Ubiquitous BB 4 Boston Collectors in the Wake of Mrs. Jack Frederick Ilchman 5 Henry Walters and Bernard Berenson Stanley Mazaroff 6 Mary Berenson and the Cultivation of American Collectors Tiffany Johnston Part III A Taste of One's Own: A New American Renaissance 7 Collecting North Italian Painting at The Metropolitan Museum of Art Andrea Bayer 8 Building a Renaissance Collection and Museum After the Gilded Age: The Case of John Ringling Virginia Brilliant 9 Samuel H. Kress and His Collection of Italian Renaissance Paintings Edgar Peters Bowron References List of Contributors Index Illustrations Frontispiece Frontispiece: Duccio di Buoninsegna (ca. 1255-ca. 1319), The Temptation of Christ on the Mountain, 1308-11 1 Titian (Tiziano Vecellio, ca. 1488-1576), Europa, 1559-62 2 Giorgione (1477/78-1510), The Adoration of the Shepherds, 1505-10 3 Exhibition Berenson and the Connoisseurship of Italian Painting, held at the National Gallery of Art in Washington in 1979 4 Giovanni Bellini (ca. 1430/35-1516), Saint Francis in the Desert, ca. 1475-78 5 Frances Benjamin Johnston (1864-1952), [Blowing pinwheels], 1899 6 Tebbs & Knell, Inc., the West Room of Pierpont Morgan's Library, ca. 1914 7 The Raphael Room at Lynnewood Hall, the Widener estate 8 Kress apartment, decorated in Italian Renaissance style 9 Kress apartment, decorated in Italian Renaissance style 10 Larkin Goldsmith Mead (1835-1910), James Jackson Jarves (1818-1888), 1883 11 Antonio del Pollaiuolo (ca. 1432?-1498), Hercules and Deianira, ca. 1475-80 12 Magdalen Master (active ca. 1265-95), Virgin and Child Enthroned with Saints Leonard and Peter, ca. 1280 13 Gentile da Fabriano (ca. 1370?-1427), Virgin and Child, ca. 1420-24 14 Unknown artist, Giovanni Morelli, ca. 1880s 15 Unknown German artist, Giovanni Morelli in His Undergraduate Lodgings at the University of Munich, ca. 1835 16 Gaetano Zancon (1771-1816), after Lorenzo Lotto (about 1480-1556/7), Portrait of the Physician Giovanni Agostino della Torre and His Son, Niccolo, 1800-15 17 Lorenzo Lotto (about 1480-1556/7), Giovanni Agostino della Torre and His Son, Niccolo, ca. 1513-16 18 Lorenzo Lotto (about 1480-1556/7), Giovanni Agostino della Torre and His Son, Niccolo, ca. 1513-16 19 The Magnet. Editorial cartoon by Udo Keppler from Puck, June 21, 1911 20 Scipione Vannutelli (1834-1894), The Cardinal's Fete, n.d. 21 The Rotunda. New York, The Morgan Library and Museum 22 Morgan's study. New York, The Morgan Library and Museum. 23 Pierpont Morgan's study with Lippi panels 24 Early Italian Room, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum 25 Piermatteo d'Amelia, ca. 1450-1503/8, Annunciation, ca. 1475 26 Filippino Lippi (1457-1504), The Holy Family with Saint John the Baptist and Saint Margaret, ca. 1495 27 Attributed to Pinturicchio (Bernardino di Betto, ca. 1452-1513), formerly attributed to Fiorenzo di Lorenzo, ca. 1445-1522, Virgin and Child with Saint Jerome, ca. 1475-80 28 The Walters Art Gallery at the time of the grand opening of the Walters' new museum in 1909 29 Salle V in the Massarenti Gallery, Rome, about 1900, showing self-portraits attributed to Michelangelo and Raphael 30 Cartouche with bronze bust of William T. Walters 31 Sodoma (1477-1549), The Holy Family with Saint Elizabeth and the Infant Saint John the Baptist, ca. 1525-30 32 Workshop of Bernardo Daddi (ca. 1290-1348), Madonna and Child, ca. 1340 33 Mary Berenson, ca. 1910. 34 Mary Berenson Colony Club lecture handbill 35 Moretto da Brescia (Alessandro Bonvicino, ca. 1498-1554), The Entombment, 1554 36 Moretto da Brescia (Alessandro Bonvicino, ca. 1498-1554), Christ in the Wilderness, n.d. 37 Giovanni Gerolamo Savoldo (1480/85-after 1548), Saint Matthew and the Angel, ca. 1534 38 Correggio (Antonio Allegri, active by 1514-died 1534), Saints Peter, Martha, Mary Magdalen, and Leonard, n.d. 39 Titian (Tiziano Vecellio, ca. 1488-1576), Portrait of a Man, ca. 1515 40 Unknown photographer, John Ringling in Front of the Ca' d'Zan, ca. 1930 41 John H. Phillips, Air Plane View of the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, 1928 42 John H. Phillips, View of the Italian Room, ca. 1927 43 Veronese (Paolo Caliari, 1528-1588), Rest on the Flight into Egypt, ca. 1570 44 Piero di Cosimo (1461-1521), The Building of a Palace, ca. 1515 45 Workshop of Titian (Tiziano Vecellio, ca. 1488-1576), Sultana Rossa, 1550s 46 Samuel H. Kress (1863-1955), in the early 1900s 47 Andrea di Bartolo (active 1389-1428), Madonna and Child [obverse], ca. 1415 48 Vincenzo Catena (ca. 1480-1531), Virgin and Child with Saint John the Baptist and Joseph, ca. 1525 49 Duccio di Buoninsegna (ca. 1255-ca. 1319), The Calling of the Apostles Peter and Andrew, ca. 1308-11 50 Giotto di Bondone (probably 1266-1337), The Peruzzi Altarpiece, ca. 1310-15

Reviews

Thousands of Italian Renaissance paintings began to find their way to America in the nineteenth century, and the majority of these pictures--by artists great or obscure--can now be enjoyed in public art collections. In this single volume, we are given an overview of this remarkable story of the importation of art--indeed, of culture. Notable experts such as David Brown and Inge Reist recuperate this episode of art history, introduce us to the collectors, their motives, and their methods, and depict the early moments of American museums. The complicated competing interests of connoisseurship and business, optimistic attributions, deceit, and mistakes born of a newly developing expertise are all in these pages. Once these collectors--Henry Clay Frick, Samuel H. Kress, Isabella Stewart Gardner--were known for their great fortunes, but it was the important art that they acquired and their cultural philanthropy that ultimately ensured their fame and brought to American shores more Italian pictures than can be found anywhere else except Italy. --Gail Feigenbaum, Getty Research Institute A Market for Merchant Princes provides an excellent survey and investigation of how great Italian Renaissance paintings came to enter American collections. Key collectors and institutions--such as The Metropolitan Museum of Art, James Jackson Jarves, J. Pierpont Morgan, Henry Walters, Isabella Stewart Gardner, and Samuel H. Kress--are discussed, as are the noted connoisseurs Morelli and Berenson, who had an important impact on them. This will become an essential reference work for the history of collecting in this country. --Eric M. Zafran, Wadsworth Atheneum

Thousands of Italian Renaissance paintings began to find their way to America in the nineteenth century, and the majority of these pictures--by artists great or obscure--can now be enjoyed in public art collections. In this single volume, we are given an overview of this remarkable story of the importation of art--indeed, of culture. Notable experts such as David Brown and Inge Reist recuperate this episode of art history, introduce us to the collectors, their motives, and their methods, and depict the early moments of American museums. The complicated competing interests of connoisseurship and business, optimistic attributions, deceit, and mistakes born of a newly developing expertise are all in these pages. Once these collectors--Henry Clay Frick, Samuel H. Kress, Isabella Stewart Gardner--were known for their great fortunes, but it was the important art that they acquired and their cultural philanthropy that ultimately ensured their fame and brought to American shores more Italian pictures than can be found anywhere else except Italy. --Gail Feigenbaum, Getty Research Institute

A Market for Merchant Princes provides an excellent survey and investigation of how great Italian Renaissance paintings came to enter American collections. Key collectors and institutions--such as The Metropolitan Museum of Art, James Jackson Jarves, J. Pierpont Morgan, Henry Walters, Isabella Stewart Gardner, and Samuel H. Kress--are discussed, as are the noted connoisseurs Morelli and Berenson, who had an important impact on them. This will become an essential reference work for the history of collecting in this country. --Eric M. Zafran, Wadsworth Atheneum Thousands of Italian Renaissance paintings began to find their way to America in the nineteenth century, and the majority of these pictures--by artists great or obscure--can now be enjoyed in public art collections. In this single volume, we are given an overview of this remarkable story of the importation of art--indeed, of culture. Notable experts such as David Brown and Inge Reist recuperate this episode of art history, introduce us to the collectors, their motives, and their methods, and depict the early moments of American museums. The complicated competing interests of connoisseurship and business, optimistic attributions, deceit, and mistakes born of a newly developing expertise are all in these pages. Once these collectors--Henry Clay Frick, Samuel H. Kress, Isabella Stewart Gardner--were known for their great fortunes, but it was the important art that they acquired and their cultural philanthropy that ultimately ensured their fame and brought to American shores more Italian pictures than can be found anywhere else except Italy. --Gail Feigenbaum, Getty Research Institute Thousands of Italian Renaissance paintings began to find their way to America in the nineteenth century, and the majority of these pictures by artists great or obscure can now be enjoyed in public art collections. In this single volume, we are given an overview of this remarkable story of the importation of art indeed, of culture. Notable experts such as David Brown and Inge Reist recuperate this episode of art history, introduce us to the collectors, their motives, and their methods, and depict the early moments of American museums. The complicated competing interests of connoisseurship and business, optimistic attributions, deceit, and mistakes born of a newly developing expertise are all in these pages. Once these collectors Henry Clay Frick, Samuel H. Kress, Isabella Stewart Gardner were known for their great fortunes, but it was the important art that they acquired and their cultural philanthropy that ultimately ensured their fame and brought to American shores more Italian pictures than can be found anywhere else except Italy. Gail Feigenbaum, Getty Research Institute A Market for Merchant Princes provides an excellent survey and investigation of how great Italian Renaissance paintings came to enter American collections. Key collectors and institutions such as The Metropolitan Museum of Art, James Jackson Jarves, J. Pierpont Morgan, Henry Walters, Isabella Stewart Gardner, and Samuel H. Kress are discussed, as are the noted connoisseurs Morelli and Berenson, who had an important impact on them. This will become an essential reference work for the history of collecting in this country. Eric M. Zafran, Wadsworth Atheneum Thousands of Italian Renaissance paintings began to find their way to America in the nineteenth century, and the majority of these pictures--by artists great or obscure--can now be enjoyed in public art collections. In this single volume, we are given an overview of this remarkable story of the importation of art--indeed, of culture. Notable experts such as David Brown and Inge Reist recuperate this episode of art history, introduce us to the collectors, their motives, and their methods, and depict the early moments of American museums. The complicated competing interests of connoisseurship and business, optimistic attributions, deceit, and mistakes born of a newly developing expertise are all in these pages. Once these collectors--Henry Clay Frick, Samuel H. Kress, Isabella Stewart Gardner--were known for their great fortunes, but it was the important art that they acquired and their cultural philanthropy that ultimately ensured their fame and brought to American shores more Italian pictures than can be found anywhere else except Italy. --Gail Feigenbaum, Getty Research Institute A Market for Merchant Princes provides an excellent survey and investigation of how great Italian Renaissance paintings came to enter American collections. Key collectors and institutions--such as The Metropolitan Museum of Art, James Jackson Jarves, J. Pierpont Morgan, Henry Walters, Isabella Stewart Gardner, and Samuel H. Kress--are discussed, as are the noted connoisseurs Morelli and Berenson, who had an important impact on them. This will become an essential reference work for the history of collecting in this country. --Eric M. Zafran, Wadsworth Atheneum Thousands of Italian Renaissance paintings began to find their way to America in the nineteenth century, and the majority of these pictures by artists great or obscure can now be enjoyed in public art collections. In this single volume, we are given an overview of this remarkable story of the importation of art indeed, of culture. Notable experts such as David Brown and Inge Reist recuperate this episode of art history, introduce us to the collectors, their motives, and their methods, and depict the early moments of American museums. The complicated competing interests of connoisseurship and business, optimistic attributions, deceit, and mistakes born of a newly developing expertise are all in these pages. Once these collectors Henry Clay Frick, Samuel H. Kress, Isabella Stewart Gardner were known for their great fortunes, but it was the important art that they acquired and their cultural philanthropy that ultimately ensured their fame and brought to American shores more Italian pictures than can be found anywhere else except Italy. Gail Feigenbaum, Getty Research Institute A Market for Merchant Princes provides an excellent survey and investigation of how great Italian Renaissance paintings came to enter American collections. Key collectors and institutions such as The Metropolitan Museum of Art, James Jackson Jarves, J. Pierpont Morgan, Henry Walters, Isabella Stewart Gardner, and Samuel H. Kress are discussed, as are the noted connoisseurs Morelli and Berenson, who had an important impact on them. This will become an essential reference work for the history of collecting in this country. Eric M. Zafran, Wadsworth Atheneum Thousands of Italian Renaissance paintings began to find their way to America in the nineteenth century, and the majority of these pictures by artists great or obscure can now be enjoyed in public art collections. In this single volume, we are given an overview of this remarkable story of the importation of art indeed, of culture. Notable experts such as David Brown and Inge Reist recuperate this episode of art history, introduce us to the collectors, their motives, and their methods, and depict the early moments of American museums. The complicated competing interests of connoisseurship and business, optimistic attributions, deceit, and mistakes born of a newly developing expertise are all in these pages. Once these collectors Henry Clay Frick, Samuel H. Kress, Isabella Stewart Gardner were known for their great fortunes, but it was the important art that they acquired and their cultural philanthropy that ultimately ensured their fame and brought to American shores more Italian pictures than can be found anywhere else except Italy. Gail Feigenbaum, Getty Research Institute A Market for Merchant Princes provides an excellent survey and investigation of how great Italian Renaissance paintings came to enter American collections. Key collectors and institutions such as The Metropolitan Museum of Art, James Jackson Jarves, J. Pierpont Morgan, Henry Walters, Isabella Stewart Gardner, and Samuel H. Kress are discussed, as are the noted connoisseurs Morelli and Berenson, who had an important impact on them. This will become an essential reference work for the history of collecting in this country. Eric M. Zafran, Wadsworth Atheneum Thousands of Italian Renaissance paintings began to find their way to America in the nineteenth century, and the majority of these pictures--by artists great or obscure--can now be enjoyed in public art collections. In this single volume, we are given an overview of this remarkable story of the importation of art--indeed, of culture. Notable experts such as David Brown and Inge Reist recuperate this episode of art history, introduce us to the collectors, their motives, and their methods, and depict the early moments of American museums. The complicated competing interests of connoisseurship and business, optimistic attributions, deceit, and mistakes born of a newly developing expertise are all in these pages. Once these collectors--Henry Clay Frick, Samuel H. Kress, Isabella Stewart Gardner--were known for their great fortunes, but it was the important art that they acquired and their cultural philanthropy that ultimately ensured their fame and brought to American shores more Italian pictures than can be found anywhere else except Italy. --Gail Feigenbaum, Getty Research Institute A Market for Merchant Princes provides an excellent survey and investigation of how great Italian Renaissance paintings came to enter American collections. Key collectors and institutions--such as The Metropolitan Museum of Art, James Jackson Jarves, J. Pierpont Morgan, Henry Walters, Isabella Stewart Gardner, and Samuel H. Kress--are discussed, as are the noted connoisseurs Morelli and Berenson, who had an important impact on them. This will become an essential reference work for the history of collecting in this country. --Eric M. Zafran, Wadsworth Atheneum

Author Information

Inge Reist is Director of the Center for the History of Collecting at The Frick Collection and Frick Art Reference Library, where her first position was as an Assistant Curator and Lecturer from 1980 to 1983.

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