The Collection of European Art to 1800 includes exceptional examples of art made across the continent of Europe and the British isles from the seventh through the eighteenth centuries.

Objects in the Early European Collection

The earliest pieces in the collection are a pair of toga pins made in Spain in the seventh century. Other examples from the medieval period include enamels and metalwork; architectural fragments; stone, wood and ivory sculpture; manuscript illuminations; and stained glass. The Museum's medieval holdings are strongest in French and German Romanesque (c.1050-c.1200) and Gothic (c.1200-c.1500) art. Highlights include a French St. Christopher, a superb alabaster Madonna, an exquisite head of St. Roch, and a German gilded Christ of exceptional quality.

Early Paintings and Sculpture

The collection of paintings and sculpture comprises work made in Europe between 1300 and 1800. Highlights include a late Titian masterpiece (1570-76) left in his studio at his death; a marble Pan made in Michelangelo's workshop in the 1530s; one of only 37 known works by the baroque master Bartolomeo Manfredi painted around 1615; a copper painting made in 1612 by Artemisia Gentileschi; an important Neo-Classical narrative painting by François-André Vincent exhibited in 1785; and a stunning portrait by Hans Holbein depicting the wife of King Henry VIII's comptroller of 1527.

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Click here to search Early European Art objects in our online collection.