A Private Passion: Nineteenth-Century Paintings and Drawings from the Grenville L. Winthrop Collection, Harvard University

Grenville L. Winthrop (1864–1943) was a lawyer and banker by profession, but his true passion was collecting art. He had the resources, the intuition, and talented advisers to help him create a collection that is distinct not only in its depth and breadth, but also in its quality. The Winthrop Collection of French, British, and American art includes the best group of Delacroix and Ingres drawings outside of France, the most significant group of pre-Raphaelite paintings outside of Britain, and a world-renowned collection of Sargent watercolors.

Some seventy paintings and twice as many drawings and watercolors by more than fifty French, British, and American artists will be featured in this selection from the legendary Winthrop Collection, bequeathed in 1943 to the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University. Masterpieces by David, Ingres, Géricault, Chassériau, and Moreau will be seen alongside great works by Blake, Rossetti, and Burne-Jones, as well as Homer, Sargent, and Whistler. They are discussed in the catalogue by more than sixty authors, all of whom are among the leading authorities in their various fields.