The one hundred forty-one old master drawings bequeathed to ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø±¬ÍøÕ¾ College in 1811 by James ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø±¬ÍøÕ¾ III comprise the earliest collection of public drawings in the United States. These important works, primarily from Italian and Dutch artists active in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, illustrate a range of themes, compositions, and stylistic conventions.
Launched in December 2015, this online scholarly catalogue, a pioneering project for an academic art museum, enables web users around the globe to study these drawings in new depth. Here, readers can carefully study high-resolution reproductions and find detailed documentation of the objects' history, together with interpretative essays about their larger significance. Building on more than two centuries of art collecting at ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø±¬ÍøÕ¾ College, we invite you to enjoy this publication, which sheds new light on James ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø±¬ÍøÕ¾ III’s revolutionary gift and his visionary commitment to making art a critical part of our shared educational and cultural heritage.