The La Salle University Art Museum is located in the basement of Olney Hall at

La Salle University La Salle University () is a private, Catholic university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The university was founded in 1863 by the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools and named for St. Jean-Baptiste de La Salle. History La ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. The museum features six galleries. Collections include European and American art from the Renaissance to the present. Special collections including paper, Japanese prints, rare illustrated Bibles, Indian miniatures, African carvings and implements,

Pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, th ...

pottery and

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

ceramics. Changing exhibits are held of historic and contemporary art drawn from the collections and from outside collections.

Collections

The museum is home to the ''Walking Madonna'', one of four sculptures by the British artist

Dame Elisabeth Frink Dame Elisabeth Jean Frink (14 November 1930 – 18 April 1993) was an English sculptor and printmaker. Her The Times, ''Times'' obituary noted the three essential themes in her work as "the nature of Man; the 'horseness' of horses; and the ...

. Frink created the sculpture in 1981; the other ''Walking Madonna'' sculptures remain in England, with one in

Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of Wil ...

and the other in Frink's garden at her home.

Rembrandt Peale

La Salle University Art Museum contains works from the historic Peale family of Philadelphia.

Rembrandt Peale Rembrandt Peale (February 22, 1778 – October 3, 1860) was an American artist and museum keeper. A prolific portrait painter, he was especially acclaimed for his likenesses of presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Peale's style w ...

's self-portrait is a part of the La Salle Art Museum's collection. Rembrandt Peale was the third child of the six surviving children of

Charles Willson Peale Charles Willson Peale (April 15, 1741 – February 22, 1827) was an American Painting, painter, soldier, scientist, inventor, politician and naturalist. He is best remembered for his portrait paintings of leading figures of the American Revolu ...

. Born in

Bucks County, Pennsylvania Bucks County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 646,538, making it the fourth-most populous county in Pennsylvania. Its county seat is Doylestown. The county is named after the Englis ...

, in 1778, he spent most of his career in Philadelphia as an American artist. Rembrandt Peale's most notable works are those that he painted alongside his father Charles Willson Peale of political figures such as

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...

and

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...

. Rembrandt Peale left a lasting impression on the community in which he lived. He started an art program at

Central High School of Philadelphia Central High School is a public high school in the LoganLogan Redevelopment Area ...

as the school's first and only Professor of Drawing and Writing at the time. For the first two years of Central's art program, students used the book ''Graphics'' that Rembrandt Peale had authored. Peale was a follower of the Swiss educator

Johann Pestalozzi Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi (, ; 12 January 1746 – 17 February 1827) was a Swiss pedagogue and educational reformer who exemplified Romanticism in his approach. He founded several educational institutions both in German- and French-speaking r ...

, who theorized that writing and drawing skills required similar intellectual and physical transactions. Peale contributed more than 100 portraits of the political figure George Washington during his career. These portraits were painted in a wide range of sizes, including Rembrandt's neoclassical Patriae Pater (father of his country) or "porthole" portrait and his full-length equestrian image.

Art sale controversy

In early 2018, La Salle University announced plans to sell forty-six artworks from the museum to "help fund teaching and learning initiatives in its new strategic plan". Among the art the museum planned to sell were the ''Walking Madonna'',

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres ( , ; 29 August 1780 – 14 January 1867) was a French Neoclassicism, Neoclassical Painting, painter. Ingres was profoundly influenced by past artistic traditions and aspired to become the guardian of academic ...

’s ''Virgil Reading the Aeneid Before Augustus'' from 1865;

Dorothea Tanning Dorothea Margaret Tanning (25 August 1910 – 31 January 2012) was an American painter, printmaker, sculptor, writer, and poet. Her early work was influenced by Surrealism. Biography Dorothea Tanning was born and raised in Galesburg, Illin ...

’s ''Temptation of St. Anthony'';

Georges Rouault Georges Henri Rouault (; 27 May 1871, Paris – 13 February 1958) was a French painter, draughtsman and print artist, whose work is often associated with Fauvism and Expressionism. Childhood and education Rouault was born in Paris into a po ...

’s ''Le Dernier Romantique'' (The Last Romantic); and

Albert Gleizes Albert Gleizes (; 8 December 1881 – 23 June 1953) was a French artist, theoretician, philosopher, a self-proclaimed founder of Cubism and an influence on the School of Paris. Albert Gleizes and Jean Metzinger wrote the first major treatise on ...

’s ''Man in the City'' (L’Homme Dans la Ville). Selling art to fund the university is controversial in the art community and the plan was criticized by artists and museum groups. The national Association of Art Museum Directors, imposed sanctions saying "sanctions will remain in place unless the institutions decide to use the proceeds to acquire art."

Selected works in the museum

File:Louisa as Hope by Thomas Lawrence.jpg, ''Lady Louisa'', 1830, by Thomas Lawrence File:Abraham Willemsens - Peasants Resting at a Well.jpg, ''Peasants resting at a well'', 17th century, Abraham Willemsens File:Eakins G184.jpg, Group of sketches by Thomas Eakins File:Matilda Searight G410.jpg, ''Matilda Searight'' by Thomas Eakins

References

External links

* {{authority control Art museums and galleries in Philadelphia La Salle University University museums in Pennsylvania