The Taft Museum of Art is a

fine art In European academic traditions, fine art is developed primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from decorative art or applied art, which also has to serve some practical function, such as pottery or most metalwork ...

collection in

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

. It occupies the 200-year-old historic house at 316 Pike Street. The house – the oldest domestic wooden structure in downtown Cincinnati – was built about 1820 and housed several prominent Cincinnatians, including Martin Baum, Nicholas Longworth, David Sinton, Anna Sinton Taft and

Charles Phelps Taft Charles Phelps Taft (December 21, 1843 – December 31, 1929) was an American lawyer and politician who served as editor of the ''Cincinnati Times-Star'' and owned both the Philadelphia Phillies and Chicago Cubs baseball teams. From 1895 to 189 ...

. It is on the National Register of Historic Places listings, and is a contributing property to the

Lytle Park Historic District Lytle Park Historic District is a historic district (United States), historic district in Cincinnati, Ohio, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. Roughly bounded by 3rd, 5th, Sycamore, Commercial Sq., and Butler Sts. in downtown Cincinnati, it cente ...

Residents

Joaquin Sorolla Portrait of President Taft

The Taft house was first built for

Martin Baum Martin Baum (15 June 1765 – 14 December 1831) was an American businessman and politician. The son of German immigrants Jacob Baum and Magdalena Elizabeth Kershner, Baum fought with General Anthony Wayne at the Battle of Fallen Timbers. After ...

in 1820 and then was the residence of

Nicholas Longworth Nicholas Longworth III (November 5, 1869 – April 9, 1931) was an American politician who became Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. He was a Republican. A lawyer by training, he was elected to the Ohio Senate, where he initi ...

. The building was designated a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

in 1976, in honor of the murals on its walls that were painted by

Robert S. Duncanson Robert Seldon Duncanson (1821 – December 21, 1872) was a 19th-century American landscape painting, landscapist of European and African ancestry. Inspired by famous American landscape artists like Thomas Cole, Duncanson created renowned landsca ...

under the commission of Nicholas Longworth. Robert S. Duncanson painted the series of eight large-scale landscapes directly on the plaster walls of the art patron and horticulturist Nicholas Longworth's home between 1851 and 1852. Second to the Taft house itself, the murals — recognized as the most significant pre–Civil War domestic murals in the U.S. — are one of the museum's largest pieces of art. Duncanson was also the first widely known African-American landscape painters to rise to international acclaim. After Longworth's residency, the house was purchased by David Sinton, father of museum co-founder Anna Sinton Taft.

David Sinton David Sinton (26 June 1808 – 31 August 1900) was an Irish-born American pig-iron industrialist, born in County Armagh, Ireland, who became one of the wealthiest people in America. Early life Sinton was the son of linen manufacturer John Sinton ...

lived in the house with his daughter Anna, who married

, the half-brother of President

William Howard Taft William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) was the 27th president of the United States (1909–1913) and the tenth chief justice of the United States (1921–1930), the only person to have held both offices. Taft was elected pr ...

. The Tafts lived in the house from 1873 until their respective deaths in 1931 and 1929. William H. Taft accepted his presidential nomination there from its portico in 1908 adding to its significance in the nation's public life. The Tafts were avid art collectors. They bequeathed their home and the collection of art that filled it to the people of Cincinnati in 1927. In the Tafts' deed of gift they stated, "We desire to devote our collection of pictures, porcelains, and other works of art to the people of Cincinnati in such a manner that they may be readily available for all." The Taft Museum opened to the public on November 29, 1932.

Permanent collection

The museum's collections include European old master paintings, with works by

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot ( , , ; July 16, 1796 – February 22, 1875), or simply Camille Corot, is a French landscape and portrait painter as well as a printmaker in etching. He is a pivotal figure in landscape painting and his vast ...

Thomas Gainsborough Thomas Gainsborough (14 May 1727 (baptised) – 2 August 1788) was an English portrait and landscape painter, draughtsman, and printmaker. Along with his rival Sir Joshua Reynolds, he is considered one of the most important British artists of ...

Frans Hals Frans Hals the Elder (, , ; – 26 August 1666) was a Dutch Golden Age painter, chiefly of individual and group portraits and of genre works, who lived and worked in Haarlem. Hals played an important role in the evolution of 17th-century group ...

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

Rembrandt van Rijn Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (, ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), usually simply known as Rembrandt, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker and draughtsman. An innovative and prolific master in three media, he is generally consid ...

Adriaen van Ostade Adriaen van Ostade (baptized as Adriaen Jansz Hendricx 10 December 1610 – buried 2 May 1685) was a Dutch Golden Age painter of genre works, showing everyday life of ordinary men and women. Life According to Arnold Houbraken, he and his brot ...

, and

J. M. W. Turner Joseph Mallord William Turner (23 April 177519 December 1851), known in his time as William Turner, was an English Romantic painter, printmaker and watercolourist. He is known for his expressive colouring, imaginative landscapes and turbulen ...

, among others, and 19th-century American paintings, including the well-known Duncanson murals. The galleries in the historic house also include

Chinese porcelain Chinese ceramics show a continuous development since pre-dynastic times and are one of the most significant forms of Chinese art and ceramics globally. The first pottery was made during the Palaeolithic era. Chinese ceramics range from construc ...

s, European decorative arts,

Limoges enamel Limoges enamel has been produced at Limoges, in south-western France, over several centuries up to the present. There are two periods when it was of European importance. From the 12th century to 1370 there was a large industry producing metal o ...

s, watches, sculptures, and furniture. Collection highlights include: * Joaquin Sorolla, ''Portrait of Mr. Taft, President of the United States'', 1909. *

Frank Duveneck Frank Duveneck (né Decker; October 9, 1848 – January 3, 1919) was an American figure and portrait painter. Early life Duveneck was born in Covington, Kentucky, the son of German immigrant Bernhard Decker. Decker died in a cholera epidemic whe ...

, ''

The Cobbler's Apprentice ''The Cobbler's Apprentice'' is a painting by the American painter Frank Duveneck, painted in 1877. It hangs in the Taft Museum of Art of Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. The oil on canvas portrait measures and it is signed by the artist. Duvene ...

'', 1877. *

Henry Farny Henry François Farny (15 July 1847, Ribeauvillé – 23 December 1916) was an American painter and illustrator. His work was centered on the life of Native Americans in the 19th-century United States. Biography Farny's family left France ...

, ''Song of the Talking Wire'', 1904. *

, ''

Portrait of a Man Rising from His Chair ''Portrait of a Man Rising from His Chair'' is a painting by the Dutch painter Rembrandt, painted in 1633. It hangs in the Taft Museum of Art of Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. The oil-on-canvas portrait measures . It is signed and dated 1633, ...

'', 1633. *

, ''

Europa Europa may refer to: Places * Europe * Europa (Roman province), a province within the Diocese of Thrace * Europa (Seville Metro), Seville, Spain; a station on the Seville Metro * Europa City, Paris, France; a planned development * Europa Cliff ...

and the Bull'', ca. 1840–50. *

James Abbott McNeill Whistler James Abbott McNeill Whistler (; July 10, 1834July 17, 1903) was an American painter active during the American Gilded Age and based primarily in the United Kingdom. He eschewed sentimentality and moral allusion in painting and was a leading pr ...

,'' At the Piano'', 1858–59. * Anonymous author of the 13th century, ''Virgin and Child'', from Paris,

Abbey of Saint-Denis The Basilica of Saint-Denis (french: Basilique royale de Saint-Denis, links=no, now formally known as the ) is a large former medieval abbey church and present cathedral in the commune of Saint-Denis, a northern suburb of Paris. The building ...

, ca. 1260–80. *

Olivuccio di Ciccarello Olivuccio Ceccarello di Ciccarello (died 1439) was an Italian painter. Little is known of his life. He was a native of Camerino and was active from 1388 until his death. In 2002 works formerly attributed to an obscure painter named Carlo da ...

, ''Madonna nursing the Child with Saints''. *

, ''Portrait of Seated Man Holding Hat''. *

Gerard Terborch Gerard ter Borch (; December 1617 – 8 December 1681), also known as Gerard Terburg (), was a Dutch genre painter who lived in the Dutch Golden Age. He influenced fellow Dutch painters Gabriel Metsu, Gerrit Dou, Eglon van der Neer and Johanne ...

, ''Sleeping Soldier''. * Jeronymus Van Diest, ''Sailboats On River with Fisherman''. *

Corot CoRoT (French: ; English: Convection, Rotation and planetary Transits) was a space telescope mission which operated from 2006 to 2013. The mission's two objectives were to search for extrasolar planets with short orbital periods, particularly th ...

, ''Evening:Festival of Pan''. *

Charles Daubigny Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was " ...

, ''Evening on Oise''. * An appreciable collection of

paintings. The museum reopened in May 2004 after an extensive renovation and expansion including a museum shop, the Carl H. Lindner Family Café, and a lecture and performance space, Luther Hall.

References

External links

Taft Museum of Art onlinePostcard Taft Home
{{Authority control National Historic Landmarks in Ohio Art museums and galleries in Ohio Arts in Cincinnati Museums in Cincinnati National Register of Historic Places in Cincinnati Houses in Cincinnati Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Ohio Houses completed in 1820 Former houses in Ohio Art museums established in 1927 1927 establishments in Ohio Former private collections in the United States Individually listed contributing properties to historic districts on the National Register in Ohio Gilded Age mansions

Residents

Permanent collection

See also

References

External links