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Journal of the History of Collections Advance Access published online on June 5, 2009
Journal of the History of Collections, doi:10.1093/jhc/fhp025
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© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.

Medieval art for America

The arrival of the J. Pierpont Morgan collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Flaminia Gennari-Santori


  Abstract

The Metropolitan Museum of Art owns one of the most important collections of medieval art in existence, the core of which was originally assembled by J. Pierpont Morgan, president of the Museum between 1904 and 1913 and the most important American collector of his generation. Morgan died in 1913 and, surprising everybody, he did not leave his works of art to the Metropolitan. While the collection was exhibited on loan at the Museum, his son Jack sold more than half of it. Eventually, in 1917, Jack donated what was left – most importantly the medieval section – to the Metropolitan. Focusing on the making and the reception of Morgan's collection of medieval art, the article examines how art-historical research, politics and evolving notions about the public role of art shaped, during the First World War, the transition of works of art from privately owned objects to museum pieces.

Correspondence: Address for correspondence Flaminia Gennari-Santori, Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, 3251 South Miami Avenue, Miami, FL 33129, USA. flaminia.gennari{at}gmail.com


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