A catalogue of British old master paintings in the collection of the Louisiana State University Museum of Art

Abstract

The Louisiana State University Museum of Art owns a collection of British paintings that highlight the popular styles of portrait painting from the sixteenth through the nineteenth centuries. This British collection includes examples of Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo, and neoclassical portraiture along with typical British Romantic landscape paintings, a tradition following earlier Dutch landscape examples. The collection includes works by such internationally known artists as William Hogarth, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Thomas Gainsborough, John Michael Wright, John Hoppner, Sir William Beechey, Patrick Nasmyth, Sir Nathaniel Dance, Sir Henry Raeburn, William Westall, and Peter Monamy. Many of these artists are represented in such famous art collections as the Royal Collection in London, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the Musée du Louvre in Paris. The collection at the Louisiana State University Museum of Art also concentrates on a nautical, or marine, subgenre. This type of art is exemplified by paintings of sailing vessels on the sea, as well as several portraits of famous naval figures, such as Horatio Nelson. The chairman of the Louisiana State University Art Department felt that the collecting of portraits of marine subjects was appropriate due to the seafaring traditions of both Louisiana and Britain. When the Louisiana State University Museum of Art first opened its doors, under the name Anglo-American Museum, its mission was to collect those works of art which would reflect the cultural ties between Britain and the United States. This political agenda was thought to be best illustrated by the works of John Smibert and Benjamin West, and in part by Trevor Fowler. Also included in this thesis are works in the collection by John Partridge, Frederick Marryat, and attributed to Thomas Hudson, as well as several portraits by unidentified artists.