Major European art collections in the United States were largely formed during the Gilded Age of the 1890s to the 1920s. Rich Americans such as Isabella Stewart Gardner, J.P. Morgan, Henry Clay Frick and Andrew Mellon became significant collectors of European art in this era and their collections formed the basis for private museums and, in Mellon’s case, the National Gallery of Art. They did so through the concerted efforts of art advisors including Bernard Berenson, Wilhelm Bode, and Charles Carstairs. These advisors in turn worked closely with art dealers such as the Knoedler firm, Duveen Brothers and Agnews of London. The complicated interrelationships of these figures make for fascinating stories about a time when American collectors made off with great art works that left European museums and collectors bewildered on the sidelines.
This course is a part of the Senior Scholars Program.