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Rembrandt van Rijn, Portrait of a Lady with an Ostrich-Feather Fan, c. 1656/1658, oil on canvas transferred to canvas, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Widener Collection, 1942.9.68

Canceled—Collectors and Connoisseurs: Stories of Art and Origin

Words and Images: Readings on Art 2020

  • Friday, May 22, 2020
  • 1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.
  • West Building Lecture Hall
  • In-person

The significant gifts of the Gallery’s founding benefactors—the Mellons, Samuel Kress, the Wideners, Chester Dale, and Lessing J. Rosenwald—form the core of the collection. Many of these “gifts to the nation,” as well as the works that have entered the collection in subsequent years, have captivating histories of ownership that include monarchs, captains of industry, notable authors, and famous dealers. We will examine the ownership histories of artworks from the Gallery’s collection using readings from America's National Gallery of Art and the Gallery’s systematic catalogs.

Molli Kuenstner, lecturer

Suggested Readings

America's National Gallery of Art (PDF 7.7MB)