Catalogue of Paintings in Wadsworth Gallery Hartford. With: Catalogue of Paintings in Wadsworth Gallery

Hartford: Printed by E. Gleason; (and) Press of Case, Tiffany and Company, 1856. 8vo.  235 x 155 mm., [9 ¼ x 6 inches].  4 pp. each pamphlet.  Folded as issued. Together two separate issues of one of the earliest American painting catalogues published in America.  The catalogue lists 139 paintings by such Old Master luminaries at Rubens, Titan, Veronese, and Vernet, and American Masters Gilbert Stuart, Thomas Cole, and. S. F. B. Morse.  Also included are sculptures by Canova and C. B Ives.  The collection is a mixture of European masters and American artists, including many portraits, mostly of the Wadsworth family, views (truncated) of Ancient Rome, historical paintings representing American independence and American and European landscapes.  The Wadsworth Museum is one of Americas most important cultural institutions.  It was founded in 1842 and was one of the first institutions to purchase and import European art into the United States.  In addition to paintings, the Gallery hosted the Hartford Public Library and the Connecticut Historical Society and changed its name to the Wadsworth Athenaeum. (Inventory #: 584)