Claude Smith's List: Philadelphia Art

The decade also began on an auspicious note for the collections. In 1990, the Museum was able to acquire a superb eighteenth-century Philadelphia secretary bookcase that had descended in the Willing and Cadwalader families, unmatched in importance in any public collection, as well as a spellbinding Mannerist masterpiece by the sixteenth-century Dutch artist Hendrick Goltzius, entitled Without Ceres and Bacchus, Venus Would Freeze. Both of these purchases were made possible by a major grant from the Annenberg Foundation (the Annenbergs had previously donated two rare and important Cézanne sketchbooks comprising over 120 drawings). Having been the first American museum to purchase a major painting by the African American artist Henry Ossawa Tanner (who grew up in Philadelphia) in 1899, the Museum was delighted to acquire in 1993 the tender and eloquent portrait of the artist's mother as the partial gift of Dr. Rae Alexander-Minter, Tanner's grand-niece.

In the film, Rocky, the underdog and out-of-shape contender, does a daily, pre-dawn “battle with the steps” while the city sleeps.  Rocky is “beaten” by the steps day after day, but he keeps at it. 

"The Museum has, since its founding in 1876, been a showcase for Philadelphia's  distinguished cultural heritage as well as home to exceptional works of art from  throughout the world. French art from medieval times through the twentieth century  is particularly well-represented in the Museum's collections, and our holdings of  American art of the Colonial and Federal periods are justly celebrated. We are,  therefore, thrilled to welcome to the Museum Houdon's bust of Benjamin Franklin,  a splendid sculpture that quite literally embodies the vital artistic and intellectual  crosscurrents between France and the United States during the age of the Enlightenment,  and enormously grateful to the generosity of everyone who is helping to bring this  about," said Ms. d'Harnoncourt.