The Dahesh Museum of Art is the only institution in the United States solely dedicated to European academic art of the 19th century, making its robust collection second to none. Masterworks from this iconic collection soon head to Jacksonville, Florida. When and where?

If you’re a reader of Fine Art Connoisseur and Fine Art Today, you probably have an unwavering love for academic painters of the 19th century. During an era when the art world was changing rapidly and the avant-garde was becoming fashionable, there remained staunch adherents to artistic tradition and representation. Although many of them were ridiculed — if not outright rejected — in their own day, appreciation for their marvelous works is currently experiencing a resurgence.

Gustav Bauernfeind (1848-1904), “Jaffa, Recruiting of Turkish Soldiers in Palestine,” 1888, oil on canvas, 58 1/4 x 110 1/4 in. (c) Dahesh Museum of Art, New York 2016
Gustav Bauernfeind (1848-1904), “Jaffa, Recruiting of Turkish Soldiers in Palestine,” 1888, oil on canvas, 58 1/4 x 110 1/4 in. (c) Dahesh Museum of Art, New York 2016

The Dahesh Museum of Art in New York City is the only institution in the United States that is solely dedicated to these masters, and many of its most prized possessions compose a memorable exhibition on view soon at Jacksonville, Florida’s Cummer Museum of Art.

John William Godward R. B. A. (1861-1922), “The Necklace,” 1914, oil on canvas, 19 3/4 x 13 1/2 in. (c) Dahesh Museum of Art, New York 2016
John William Godward R. B. A. (1861-1922), “The Necklace,” 1914, oil on canvas, 19 3/4 x 13 1/2 in. (c) Dahesh Museum of Art, New York 2016

“Academic Splendor: Nineteenth-Century Masterworks from the Dahesh Museum of Art” will open on January 28 to great anticipation. Via the Cummer Museum: “‘Masterworks’ features paintings and sculptures by creative artists trained in the academies and private ateliers of France and other countries, including Jean-Léon Gérôme; William Adolphe Bouguereau; Frederick, Lord Leighton; and Lawrence Alma Tadema.” The exhibition will be on view through April 23.

To learn more, visit the Cummer Museum of Art.

This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.


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Andrew Webster
Andrew Webster is the former Editor of Fine Art Today and worked as an editorial and creative marketing assistant for Streamline Publishing. Andrew graduated from The University of North Carolina at Asheville with a B.A. in Art History and Ceramics. He then moved on to the University of Oregon, where he completed an M.A. in Art History. Studying under scholar Kathleen Nicholson, he completed a thesis project that investigated the peculiar practice of embedded self-portraiture within Christian imagery during the 15th and early 16th centuries in Italy.

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