“FRICK BUYS A FREAK”: Dagnan-Bouveret and the Development of the Frick Collection

• Art/Photo

In the final years of the 19^th century, the American steel magnate and art collector Henry Clay Frick purchased two monumental religious paintings from the academic French artist Pascal-Adolphe-Jean Dagnan-Bouveret. The story of their acquisition forms a fascinating chapter in the history of American taste in the visual arts, as well as a pivotal episode in the aesthetic education of the famous collector. Although these works are little-known today, new archival research shows that they were essential in establishing Frick’s reputation as a world-class patron of contemporary art, changing forever the direction of Frick’s activity in the art market and the character of his collection as we experience it today, in his former mansion on 1 East 70^th Street in New York City.