The Huntington Art Collections differ in at least one important
respect from those of the normal community art museum. The collections
are specialized rather than general in character. They focus on
eighteenth-century British and French art, and on American art
ranging in date from the early eighteenth century to the early
twentieth.
The best-known part of the collections is a large group of British portraits created between 1770 and 1800. Around these paintings have been assembled other objects of the same period, particularly French paintings, and French and English sculpture, tapestries, furniture, porcelain, and silver. Additional British paintings, drawings, and watercolors enlarge both the chronological coverage and the variety of types represented, but the focus remains on the late eighteenth century.
In 1984 American art was established as an important part of the Huntington as the result of a major gift from the Virginia Steele Scott Foundation. The American painting collection, housed in a physically separate building, currently consists of about sixty works ranging in date from the 1740s to the 1930s. The emphasis is on the nineteenth century. The Huntington also has important collections of American graphic art, particularly photographs.
Such specialized collections do not illustrate the striking shifts in taste that operate over a longer span of history, nor the dramatic differences in art works produced by cultures widely separated racially and geographically. But they have the advantage of being able to present a rich and explicit view of the periods and countries chosen for the specialization. In particular, the Huntington offers opportunities for the study of British art of the Georgian perid that for quality, variety, and depth cannot be surpassed outside London.
Lady Hamilton in a Straw Hat (H)
Emma (1761–1815), daughter of Henry Lyon, a blacksmith; known
as Mrs. Hart; married Sir William Hamilton, 1791; later Nelson's
mistress.
Canvas: 29-1/2 x 24-1/2 in. Painted not later than 1785.
Coll.: Tankerville Chamberlayne; Alfred de Rothschild;
Lady Carnarvon. Acq.: 1924.
Greuze, Jean-Baptiste (1725–1805)
Young Knitter Asleep
Canvas: 26-3/4 x 22-3/4 in.
Coll.: Chevalier d'Armengaud; Prince de Caraman Chimay;
Comtesse de Greffulhe
Acq.: 1978 (Adele S. Browning Memorial Collection).
Houdon, Jean-Antoine (1741–1828)
Portrait of a Lady (so-called Baroness de la Houze)
Marble, H. 39 in., signed and dated 1777.
Coll.: Marquis Auguste du Blaixel; Maurice de Rothschild
Acq.: 1927.
Rembrandt, Hermanszoon van Rijn (1606–69)
Lady with a PlumePanel: 25-1/2 x 20 in. (?) Signed
and dated 1636.
Coll.: Duke of Choiseul-Praslin; Koucheleff-Besborodko;
Marchese Incontri; Prince of Liechtenstein
Acq.: 1978 (Adele S. Browning Memorial Collection).
Copley, John Singleton (1738–1815)
Charles, Lord Western, and Shirley Western
Canvas: 40 x 61 in. Painted about 1783.
Coll.: Sir Thomas Western.
Acq.: 1914
