Past

The greatest Spanish draftsmen from the seventeenth through the nineteenth century — Ribera, Murillo, and Goya, among them — created works of dazzling idiosyncrasy. These diverse drawings, which may be broadly characterized as possessing a specifically "Spanish manner," will be the subject of an exclusive exhibition at The Frick Collection in the fall of 2010.

It was the desire of Henry Clay Frick (1849–1919) that his extraordinary art collection and magnificent home at 1 East 70 Street be opened as a museum following his family's period of residence. After the death of his wife, Adelaide, in 1931, the mansion, built in 1913–14 by Thomas Hastings (1860–1929) of Carrère and Hastings, underwent further construction in order to transform it into a space suitable as a public institution.

Dulwich Picture Gallery holds one of the world's major collections of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century paintings. The exhibition, which heralds the Gallery’s bicentenary in 2011, reintroduces American audiences to this institution’s collection through an exceptional group of works, to be shown exclusively at the Frick through May 30, 2010.

Frederik Johannes Lugt (1884–1970) was a Dutch art historian, connoisseur, and collector.

Although it was not until 2008 that the first piece of maiolica entered The Frick Collection, it was an extraordinary debut: a large dish painted with a narrative scene, oristoriato, inspired by Marcantonio Raimondi's print after The Judgment of Paris by Raphael. This scene is surrounded by colorful grotesques delicately painted on a white ground, a specialty of the renowned workshop of Orazio Fontana in Urbino, to which the best pieces are usually attributed.

Between 1914 and 1919, Henry Clay Frick acquired twenty works by James McNeill Whistler: five paintings, three pastels, and twelve prints, a remarkable ensemble that represents the breadth of Whistler’s artistic activity and testifies to Frick’s taste as a collector.

The Frick Collection presented a selection of five masterpieces of European painting from the highly acclaimed Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, California. The exhibition, on view in the Oval Room from February 10 through May 10, 2009, afforded New York and East Coast audiences the occasion to see superb masterworks from the collections of the Norton Simon Art Foundation and The Norton Simon Foundation, a very special opportunity as both institutions generally do not allow their works to travel.

The Frick Collection presented the first monographic exhibition dedicated to Andrea Riccio (1470–1532), one of the most creative sculptors of the Renaissance. On view were thirty-one autograph works representing every phase of Riccio’s career, three bronzes believed to be derived from the artist’s lost compositions, and two life-size terracotta sculptures. Andrea Riccio: Renaissance Master of Bronze was shown exclusively at The Frick Collection.

Particularly beloved among the paintings at The Frick Collection are its three works by Johannes Vermeer (1632– 1675), Officer and Laughing Girl(left), Mistress and Maid (center), and Girl Interrupted at Her Music (right).These rare canvases were purchased by Henry Clay Frick before his death in 1919. This summer, the institution offers visitors their first opportunity in nearly ten years to examine the paintings together on one wall.

The Frick Collection exhibited a selection of Meissen porcelain from the collection of Henry Arnhold. One of the greatest private holdings of early Meissen assembled in the twentieth century, the collection was formed in two phases, the first in Dresden between 1926 and 1935 by Henry’s parents, Lisa (née Mattersdorff; 1890–1972) and Heinrich (1885–1935) Arnhold ; the second, by Henry in New York between 1972 and 2006.