Pierpont Morgan Library
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The Morgan Library & Museum, formerly the Pierpont Morgan Library, is a museum and research library in the Murray Hill neighborhood of
Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. It is situated at 225 Madison Avenue, between 36th Street to the south and 37th Street to the north. The Morgan Library & Museum is composed of several structures. The main building was designed by Charles McKim of the firm of McKim, Mead and White, with an annex designed by Benjamin Wistar Morris. A 19th-century Italianate brownstone house at 231 Madison Avenue, built by Isaac Newton Phelps, is also part of the grounds. The museum and library also contains a glass entrance building designed by
Renzo Piano Renzo Piano (; born 14 September 1937) is an Italian architect. His notable buildings include the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris (with Richard Rogers, 1977), The Shard in London (2012), the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City (2 ...
and
Beyer Blinder Belle Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners LLP (BBB) is an international architecture firm. It is based in New York City and has an additional office in Washington, DC. The firm's name is derived from the three founding partners: John H. Beyer, Ri ...
. The main building and its interior is a
New York City designated landmark The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is the New York City agency charged with administering the city's Landmarks Preservation Law. The LPC is responsible for protecting New York City's architecturally, historically, and cu ...
and 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 liste ...
, while the house at 231 Madison Avenue is a New York City landmark. The site was formerly occupied by residences of the Phelps family, one of which banker J. P. Morgan had purchased in 1880. The Morgan Library was founded in 1906 to house Morgan's private library, which included manuscripts and printed books, as well as his collection of prints and drawings. The main building was constructed between 1902 and 1906 for $1.2 million. The library was made a public institution in 1924 by J. P. Morgan's son
John Pierpont Morgan Jr. John Pierpont Morgan Jr. (September 7, 1867 – March 13, 1943) was an American banker, finance executive, and philanthropist. He inherited the family fortune and took over the business interests including J.P. Morgan & Co. after his father J. ...
, in accordance with his father's will, and the annex was constructed in 1928. The glass entrance building was added when Morgan Library & Museum was renovated in 2006.


History


Phelps Stokes/Dodge houses

In the second half of the 19th century, the Morgan Library & Museum's site was occupied by four brownstone houses on the east side of Madison Avenue, between 36th Street to the south and 37th Street to the north. The houses were all built in 1852 or 1853 by members of the Phelps Stokes/Dodge family. Three houses were built along Madison Avenue on lots measuring wide by deep, while a fourth house to the east measured wide and stretched between 37th and 36th Streets. All the houses were designed in an Italianate style with pink brownstone. The Madison Avenue houses, from north to south, were owned by Isaac Newton Phelps,
William E. Dodge William Earl Dodge Sr. (September 4, 1805 – February 9, 1883) was an American businessman, politician, and activist. He was referred to as one of the "Merchant Princes" of Wall Street in the years leading up to the American Civil War. Dodg ...
, and John Jay Phelps, while the 37th Street house was owned by George D. Phelps. The surrounding neighborhood of Murray Hill was not yet developed at the time, but began to grow after the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and t ...
. Isaac Newton Phelps's daughter Helen married Anson Phelps Stokes in 1865. Their son, architect Isaac Newton Phelps Stokes, was born in the Isaac Newton Phelps house at 231 Madison Avenue two years later. Helen Phelps inherited the house following her father's death. In 1888, she doubled the size of her house and added an attic to plans by architect
R. H. Robertson Robert Henderson Robertson (April 29, 1849 – June 3, 1919) was an American architect who designed numerous houses, institutional and commercial buildings, and churches. Life and career Robertson was born in Philadelphia of Scot ...
.


Morgan estate

Hartford, Connecticut-born banker
John Pierpont Morgan John Pierpont Morgan Sr. (April 17, 1837 – March 31, 1913) was an American financier and investment banker who dominated corporate finance on Wall Street throughout the Gilded Age. As the head of the banking firm that ultimately became kno ...
was looking to buy his own house by 1880. He wished to live in Murray Hill, where many of his and his wife's friends and business contacts lived. Morgan sought to buy John Jay Phelps's house at 219 Madison Avenue, at the corner with 36th Street, which was offered for $225,000. He acquired the house in 1881 and renovated it over the following two years. The exterior was largely retained to harmonize with the other houses, owned by the Phelpses and Dodge, but the interior was extensively renovated by the Herter Brothers. During this time, Morgan began to amass a large collection of fine art, inspired by that of his father Junius Spencer Morgan. The art was stored in his house in England to avoid import taxes. J. P. Morgan also began collecting rare books and other bindings upon his nephew Junius's suggestion; since books were not subject to import taxes, they were stored in the basement of his New York residence. In subsequent years, Morgan became one of the most influential financiers in the United States. J. P. Morgan's collection began to grow quickly after his father died in 1890. While part of Morgan's collection was stored in the basement of his house, other items were loaned or placed in storage. By 1900, the plots north and east of J. P. Morgan's house became available for sale after the death of Melissa Stokes Dodge, who lived in the Dodge mansion just north of Morgan's house. Morgan bought a plot east of his residence in 1900, and, two years later, acquired two adjacent lots with a total frontage of . On the far eastern side of that plot,
McKim, Mead & White McKim, Mead & White was an American architectural firm that came to define architectural practice, urbanism, and the ideals of the American Renaissance in fin de siècle New York. The firm's founding partners Charles Follen McKim (1847–1909), Wil ...
designed a six-story house at 33 East 36th Street for Morgan's daughter Louisa and her husband Herbert Satterlee. The Satterlees' house was made of limestone, as contrasted with the brownstones on Madison Avenue. It was connected to Morgan's own home by tunnels. Morgan acquired William E. Dodge's home in April 1903. While the Satterlee house was under construction, the couple moved into the Dodge mansion; afterward, it was razed and replaced with a garden designed by Beatrix Farrand. By December 1904, Morgan had also purchased the old Isaac Newton Stokes house at 229 Madison Avenue for his son J. P. Morgan Jr., who was known as "Jack". When Jack Morgan and his wife Jane finally moved into 229 Madison Avenue in 1905, he commissioned a major renovation of the interior and renumbered it as 231 Madison Avenue. Jack Morgan also performed $1,900 in changes to the house's exterior. J. P. Morgan's holdings on the city block, by 1907, included the whole frontage on Madison Avenue, stretching on 36th Street and on 37th Street.


Founding of library


Construction

Morgan's book collection took up more space than could fit in his residence by 1900. On 36th Street, between his residence and the Satterlee house, Morgan initially hired Warren and Wetmore to design a Baroque-style library. After rejecting Warren and Wetmore's plans, Morgan hired Charles McKim of McKim, Mead & White to design the library in 1902. C. T. Wills was hired as the builder. The library was to be a classical marble structure with a simple design; Morgan had told McKim that "I want a gem".
Whitney Warren Whitney Warren (January 29, 1864 – January 24, 1943) was an American Beaux-Arts architect who founded, with Charles Delevan Wetmore, Warren and Wetmore in New York City, one of the most prolific and successful architectural practices in the U ...
of Warren and Wetmore had then just completed the elaborately decorated New York Yacht Club Building, and Morgan's preference for an austere structure may have led him to reject Warren and Wetmore. Morgan and McKim planned the library's design for two years and, while McKim was responsible for the overall design, Morgan had final say over the aspects of the plan. An initial proposal for the design entailed building a projecting central mass with two recessed wings on either side, which Morgan deemed to be unwieldy. The second version of the plan reduced the size of the central mass and added a recessed entrance. The final designs called for the front facades of either wing to be flush with the central mass. Morgan was insistent that the library be made of marble, even though he was fine with giving brownstone residences to the rest of his family except for his daughter Louisa. Construction began in April 1903, and the library was being dubbed as "Mr. Morgan's jewel case" by 1904. Morgan acquired two hundred cases of books, which were temporarily stored in the Lenox Library and moved to Morgan's personal library starting in December 1905. Around the same time, Morgan hired Belle da Costa Greene as his personal librarian. ''
The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'' reported in June 1906, when the library was near completion, that Morgan had "wanted the most perfect structure that human hands could erect and was willing to pay whatever it cost". For example, the usage of dry masonry marble blocks, an uncommon construction method in which masonry blocks were shaved precisely to remove the need for joints made of mortar, added $50,000 to the cost of construction. McKim had suggested the dry masonry blocks to Morgan after having unsuccessfully tried to place a knife blade in the joints of Athens's Erechtheion, and he ordered a plaster cast from his former employee Gorham Stevens, who worked in Athens. Morgan was impressed with the quality of the work, as McKim would recall in a February 1906 letter to his colleague, Stanford White. Even so, Morgan often upheld the library as an accomplishment of McKim's. The final design was more representative of the work of
William M. Kendall William Mitchell Kendall (13 February 1856 – 8 August 1941) was an American architect who spent his career with the New York firm of McKim, Mead & White, the leading American architectural practice at the turn of the century, renowned for its ...
from McKim, Mead & White.


Opening and early years

Morgan began to use his office in November 1906 with a reception for the
Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
's purchasing committee. The details were not completed until January 1907, and the Morgan collection was relocated into the library later that year. Morgan's library had cost $1.2 million (equivalent to $ million in ). Several publications praised the completed library. In 1906, the ''Real Estate Record and Guide'' wrote of McKim, Mead & White: "the new Morgan Library, in Thirty-sixth street, is among their most carefully studied designs." The library building was described in another publication as "one of the Seven Wonders of the Edwardian World". A correspondent for the London ''Times'', in 1908. characterized John Pierpont Morgan as "probably the greatest collector of things splendid and beautiful and rare who has ever lived". During the Panic of 1907, Morgan used his library to convene a meeting among the city's major financial figures, with bank presidents meeting in the east room and trust company presidents in the west room. To find a solution to halt the panic, he locked his guests in the library overnight, and his secretary relayed messages between the two rooms. Morgan continued to collect material for his private library until his death in March 1913. His estate was valued at $128 million (about $ billion in ), over half of which lay in the worth of his collection. J. P. Morgan's will bequeathed the art collection to Jack, with the request that Jack make the collection "permanently available for the instruction and pleasure of the American people". The month after J. P. Morgan's death, the New York state legislature granted a two-year exemption enabling Jack to import his father's overseas collection without having to pay import duties. However, Jack Morgan sold off much of the overseas collection rather than importing it. During 1914, the collection was displayed in full at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the only time the whole collection was displayed. The import duty exemption expired in April 1915, and Jack sold various items in the collection to pay the inheritance taxes and to raise money for the cash bequests in his father's will. The taxes were substantial, totaling $7.5 million in 1916. Frances Morgan, Jack's mother and John Pierpont's widow, continued to live at J. P. Morgan's old residence until her death in November 1924.


Public institution and expansion


Incorporation and mid-20th century

Jack and Jane Morgan continued to employ da Costa Greene as the librarian, expanding the collection with items in which they were personally interested. In March 1924, the Pierpont Morgan Library was incorporated as a public institution. The Morgans transferred the library's building, and the land under J. P. and Frances Morgan's old residence at 219 Madison Avenue, to the Pierpont Morgan Library. The move came as, despite Jack's opposition, the surrounding stretch of Madison Avenue was being redeveloped as a business street. By 1927, the library was planning to double its area; the old J. P. Morgan residence was being demolished to make way for the annex. The plans called for an expanded two-story Italianate style structure designed by Benjamin Wistar Morris, with space for offices, exhibitions, and a research library. The annex, made of the same Tennessee marble as the original, was completed in 1928. While architectural historian Robert A. M. Stern said the addition "did not frame McKim's jewel box so much as sidle up to it like an unattractive sibling",
Norval White Norval Crawford White (June 12, 1926 – December 26, 2009) was an American architect, architectural historian and professor. He designed buildings throughout the U.S., but he is best known for his writing, particularly the ''AIA Guide to New Yor ...
and Elliot Willensky thought the annex "modestly defers to its master". Jack Morgan continued to live at 231 Madison Avenue until his death in 1943; his wife had died in 1925. Subsequently, the United Lutheran Church in America bought that house for its headquarters, and built a five-story annex in 1957. Next door, the Pierpont Morgan Library continued to expand its collections. The Fellows of The Pierpont Morgan Library was formed in 1949 to raise funds for the collections and distribute funds to scholars and publications. In the following decade, the Pierpont Morgan Library started to host concerts and tours. In 1960, the main library and its annex were connected by a cloister structure. The renovation, designed by J. P. Morgan's nephew Alexander P. Morgan, was completed in 1962 and included office space, a gallery, and meeting space. The Phelps Stokes/Morgan house was designated by the
New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is the New York City agency charged with administering the city's Landmarks Preservation Law. The LPC is responsible for protecting New York City's architecturally, historically, and cu ...
(LPC) in 1965 as one of the first structures to be protected under New York City's Landmarks Law. Next door, the LPC designated the exterior of the library's main building as a city landmark in 1966, and that structure was declared 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 liste ...
the same year. However, the Lutheran Church had hoped to erect an office structure on the site of the Phelps Stokes/Morgan house and heavily opposed the house's designation. As a result, in 1974, the landmark status was removed from that house following a
New York Court of Appeals The New York Court of Appeals is the highest court in the Unified Court System of the State of New York. The Court of Appeals consists of seven judges: the Chief Judge and six Associate Judges who are appointed by the Governor and confirmed by ...
ruling. The Pierpont Morgan Library constructed a five-story, addition to the annex in 1975 to plans by Platt, Wyckoff & Coles; the addition was intended to house storage vaults and offices. In 1982, the main library building's interior was designated a city landmark.


Late 20th century to present

In 1988, the Pierpont Morgan Library bought 231 Madison Avenue from the Lutheran Church. The garden between the house and the main building's annex was redeveloped with a glass conservatory designed by Voorsanger and Mills. The conservatory, the first major expansion to the Pierpont Morgan Library since the completion of Morris's annex, was finished in 1991 and connected the two structures. The house became the Pierpont Morgan Library's bookstore. In 1999, the Morgan opened a drawing center on the second floor of the annex, designed by
Beyer Blinder Belle Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners LLP (BBB) is an international architecture firm. It is based in New York City and has an additional office in Washington, DC. The firm's name is derived from the three founding partners: John H. Beyer, Ri ...
. The same year, the Morgan received $10 million from Eugene V. Thaw and Clare E. Thaw; these funds were used to establish the Thaw Conservation Center in 2002. By 2001, there were plans to expand the Pierpont Morgan Library. The library presented preliminary plans to the LPC in 2002, in which it would build a new structure between 231 Madison Avenue and the original library's annex, to be designed by Italian architect
Renzo Piano Renzo Piano (; born 14 September 1937) is an Italian architect. His notable buildings include the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris (with Richard Rogers, 1977), The Shard in London (2012), the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City (2 ...
and Beyer Blinder Belle. The commission also sought to restore landmark status to 231 Madison Avenue, a move the library did not oppose. In 2003, the Pierpont Morgan Library's buildings were closed for construction and expansion. In the interim, it sponsored numerous traveling exhibitions around the country. The library reopened on April 29, 2006, as the Morgan Library & Museum. With the completion of the renovation, the private office and vault of J. P. Morgan was also opened to the public. A restoration of the main building's interior spaces was completed in 2010. The Morgan Library & Museum announced a four-year restoration of the main building's facade in February 2019, the first in the building's history. As part of the project, the landscape designer Todd Longstaffe-Gowan designed a garden surrounding the original library building. The LPC had initially expressed opposition to the construction of the garden, as there had not been a garden around the original Morgan Library. The agency approved the project after reviewing letters and other correspondences from J. P. Morgan, who had indicated that he had indeed wanted a garden around the library. In addition, Integrated Conservation Resources restored the main building. The project cost $13 million in total. The renovation was completed in 2022.


Collection


Manuscripts

The most internationally significant part of the Morgan Library and Museum's collection is its relatively small but very select collection of illuminated manuscripts. Among the more famous manuscripts are the Morgan Bible, Morgan Beatus, Hours of Catherine of Cleves, Farnese Hours, Morgan Black Hours, and
Codex Glazier Codex Glazier, designated by siglum copG67, is a Coptic uncial manuscript of the New Testament on parchment. It is dated palaeographically to the 4th or 5th century. Textually it is very close to Greek Codex Bezae. Description It contains ...
. The Morgan holds a copy of the letter written by Andrea Corsali from India in 1516; this letter, one of five in existence, contains the first description of the
Southern Cross Crux () is a constellation of the southern sky that is centred on four bright stars in a cross-shaped asterism commonly known as the Southern Cross. It lies on the southern end of the Milky Way's visible band. The name ''Crux'' is Latin for ...
. The
manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced i ...
collection also contains authors' original manuscripts, including some by Sir
Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy ...
and Honoré de Balzac. Other objects include a
Percy Bysshe Shelley Percy Bysshe Shelley ( ; 4 August 17928 July 1822) was one of the major English Romantic poets. A radical in his poetry as well as in his political and social views, Shelley did not achieve fame during his lifetime, but recognition of his achi ...
notebook; writings from Émile Zola; originals of poems by Robert Burns; a unique
Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian er ...
manuscript of ''
A Christmas Carol ''A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas'', commonly known as ''A Christmas Carol'', is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843 and illustrated by John Leech. ''A Christmas ...
'' with handwritten edits and markup from the author; and a journal by
Henry David Thoreau Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817May 6, 1862) was an American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher. A leading transcendentalist, he is best known for his book ''Walden'', a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and h ...
. There are also writings from George Sand, William Makepeace Thackeray,
Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and has been regarded as among the ...
, and Charlotte Brontë, as well as manuscripts of nine of Sir Walter Scott's novels, including ''
Ivanhoe ''Ivanhoe: A Romance'' () by Walter Scott is a historical novel published in three volumes, in 1819, as one of the Waverley novels. Set in England in the Middle Ages, this novel marked a shift away from Scott’s prior practice of setting ...
''. The Morgan's musical manuscript collection is second in size only behind the
Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The libra ...
. These include autographed and annotated libretti and scores from Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, Mahler and Verdi, and Mozart's Haffner Symphony in D Major. The collection also contains the scraps of paper on which
Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
jotted down " Blowin' in the Wind" and "
It Ain't Me Babe "It Ain't Me Babe" is a song by Bob Dylan that originally appeared on his fourth album ''Another Side of Bob Dylan'', which was released in 1964 by Columbia Records. According to music critic Oliver Trager, this song, along with others on the albu ...
". It also contains a considerable collection of Victoriana, including one of the most important collections of
Gilbert and Sullivan Gilbert and Sullivan was a Victorian era, Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900), who jointly created fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which ...
manuscripts and related artifacts.


Books and prints

The Morgan contains a large collection of incunabula, prints, and drawings of European artists, namely
Leonardo Leonardo is a masculine given name, the Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese equivalent of the English, German, and Dutch name, Leonard. People Notable people with the name include: * Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519), Italian Renaissance scientist ...
,
Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (; 6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known as Michelangelo (), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was ins ...
,
Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (; or ; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual ...
, Rembrandt, Rubens, Gainsborough, Dürer, and Picasso. The collection includes early printed
Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus ...
s, among them three Gutenberg Bibles. There are also many examples of fine bookbinding in the collection. Felice Stampfle was appointed the first Curator of Drawings and Prints at the Morgan Library in 1945. The Morgan also contains material from ancient Egypt and medieval liturgical objects (including Coptic literature examples); William Blake's original drawings for his edition of the ''Book of Job''; and concept drawings for ''
The Little Prince ''The Little Prince'' (french: Le Petit Prince, ) is a novella by French aristocrat, writer, and military pilot Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. It was first published in English and French in the United States by Reynal & Hitchcock in April 1943 an ...
'' by
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Antoine Marie Jean-Baptiste Roger, comte de Saint-Exupéry, simply known as Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (, , ; 29 June 1900 – 31 July 1944), was a French writer, poet, aristocrat, journalist and pioneering aviator. He became a laureate of s ...
. The Morgan has one of the world's greatest collections of ancient Near Eastern cylinder seals, small stone cylinders finely engraved with images for transfer to clay by rolling.


Artwork and other collections

The collection still includes some Old Master paintings collected by Morgan between 1907 and 1911 (works by Hans Memling,
Perugino Pietro Perugino (, ; – 1523), born Pietro Vannucci, was an Italian Renaissance painter of the Umbrian school, who developed some of the qualities that found classic expression in the High Renaissance. Raphael was his most famous pupil. ...
, and Cima da Conegliano). However, this has never been the collection's focus, and Ghirlandaio's masterpiece ''Portrait of Giovanna Tornabuoni'' was sold to Thyssen when the Great Depression worsened the Morgan family's finances. The Morgan also holds medieval artworks such as the
Stavelot Triptych The Stavelot Triptych is a medieval reliquary and portable altar in gold and enamel intended to protect, honor and display pieces of the True Cross.
and the metalwork covers of the Lindau Gospels. Other notable artists of the Morgan Library and Museum are Jean de Brunhoff,
Paul Cézanne Paul Cézanne ( , , ; ; 19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906) was a French artist and Post-Impressionist painter whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th-century conception of artistic endeavour to a new and radically d ...
,
Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, inc ...
, John Leech, Gaston Phoebus,
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 cons ...
, and
John Ruskin John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English writer, philosopher, art critic and polymath of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and pol ...
. In 2018, the Morgan acquired the drawing ''Bathers'' by Renoir, a previously unexhibited work.


Architecture


Main building

The main building (also known as the McKim Building), constructed between 1902 and 1906 as the original structure in the complex, was designed in the
Classical Revival style Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy and France. It became one of the most prominent architectural styles in the Western world. The prevailing st ...
by Charles Follen McKim of McKim, Mead & White. The original building occupies a lot of , and was intended to be similarly scaled to New York Public Library branches of the era. The 1928 annex to the building, designed by Benjamin Wistar Morris to harmonize with McKim's original, contains architectural detail differing from that of the original structure. The annex measures , with a later addition.


Facade

The building has a facade of
Tennessee marble Tennessee marble is a type of crystalline limestone found only in East Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. Long esteemed by architects and builders for its pinkish-gray color and the ease with which it is polished, this stone has been u ...
. McKim took his inspiration from the Villa Giulia, particularly the attic of its Nymphaeum. Further inspiration came from the Villa Medici in Rome, constructed in the 16th century by Annibale Lippi. The exterior walls are made of dry masonry, which allowed the marble blocks to be set evenly, thus requiring a minimal amount of mortar. Tinfoil sheeting was placed between the blocks to prevent moisture buildup. The tinfoil sheeting measures thick and is laid between the horizontal joints. Charles T. Wills was responsible for the dry masonry construction. ''
The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'' reported upon the library's completion, "No other building in Europe or America was ever erected with this care." The main entrance is a Palladian arch at the center of the 36th Street facade. It is composed of an arched opening wide, flanked by two openings under flat
lintel A lintel or lintol is a type of beam (a horizontal structural element) that spans openings such as portals, doors, windows and fireplaces. It can be a decorative architectural element, or a combined ornamented structural item. In the case of ...
s, each of which is wide. There are two recessed niches on that facade, one on each side of the entrance. Surrounding the library is a garden, which covers and contains artifacts from J. P. Morgan's collection. The garden also contains pathways embedded with pebbles, which Sicilian craftsman Orazio Porto laid manually. The central archway contains a
portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cul ...
with a groin vaulted ceiling, supported by four Ionic columns, two on each side. A flight of steps, leading to the main entrance, is flanked by two lionesses sculpted by
Edward Clark Potter Edward Clark Potter (November 26, 1857 – June 21, 1923) was an American sculptor best known for his equestrian and animal statues. His most famous works are the marble lions, nicknamed ''Patience'' and ''Fortitude'', in front of the New Yor ...
, who would later create the two lions that guard the
New York Public Library Main Branch The Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, commonly known as the Main Branch, 42nd Street Library or the New York Public Library, is the flagship building in the New York Public Library system in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City ...
. Above the entranceway are allegorical roundels and panels, which was originally given to Andrew O'Connor and then reassigned to Adolph Weinman after O'Connor could not complete his contract. These panels depict tragic and lyric poetry. The portico has a geometric mosaic tile floor with marble. Inside the portico is a pair of bronze doors, imported from
Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...
and made in the style of
Lorenzo Ghiberti Lorenzo Ghiberti (, , ; 1378 – 1 December 1455), born Lorenzo di Bartolo, was an Italian Renaissance sculptor from Florence, a key figure in the Early Renaissance, best known as the creator of two sets of bronze doors of the Florence Baptistery ...
's doors at the Florence Baptistery. Each door contains five carved bronze panels, which depict allegorical scenes. The 36th Street facade contains six
Doric Doric may refer to: * Doric, of or relating to the Dorians of ancient Greece ** Doric Greek, the dialects of the Dorians * Doric order, a style of ancient Greek architecture * Doric mode, a synonym of Dorian mode * Doric dialect (Scotland) * Doric ...
style
pilaster In classical architecture, a pilaster is an architectural element used to give the appearance of a supporting column and to articulate an extent of wall, with only an ornamental function. It consists of a flat surface raised from the main wal ...
s flanking the main entrance.


Interior

The interior of the main library building is richly decorated, with a
polychrome Polychrome is the "practice of decorating architectural elements, sculpture, etc., in a variety of colors." The term is used to refer to certain styles of architecture, pottery or sculpture in multiple colors. Ancient Egypt Colossal statu ...
rotunda. It leads to three public rooms: Morgan's private study to the west, the librarian's office to the north, and the original library to the east. The rotunda has a ceiling with murals and plasterwork inspired by
Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (; or ; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual ...
, created by H. Siddons Mowbray. This ceiling contains themed murals in the
lunette A lunette (French ''lunette'', "little moon") is a half-moon shaped architectural space, variously filled with sculpture, painted, glazed, filled with recessed masonry, or void. A lunette may also be segmental, and the arch may be an arc taken ...
panels, which allude to material in Morgan's collection, as well as a central dome, which contains roundels and rectangular panels with various figures or motifs. The rotunda floors are clad with multicolored marble, the pattern of which is based on the floor of the Villa Pia in Vatican City. The walls contain mosaic baseboards and are separated into panels with vertical pilasters, topped by Composite style pilasters. The doorways to the rooms on the east and west are made of white marble, topped by marble entablatures and flanked by green marble columns. The interior was designed with two rooms for exhibition. The East Library features triple-tiered bookcases, the upper tiers of which could only be accessed by balconies. On the east wall of the East Library is a fireplace with a tapestry showing the "Triumph of Avarice". The fireplace itself had been imported from Italy. Mowbray designed eighteen lunettes and spandrels atop each wall, modeled after the work of Pinturicchio. The figures in the lunettes alternate between allegorical female muses and notable artists, explorers, or teachers. Zodiac symbols are placed on the spandrels, as the signs of the zodiac were particularly important to J. P. Morgan. Particularly prominent are the zodiac signs over the entrance: Aries corresponds to J. P. Morgan's birth on April 17, 1837, and Gemini corresponds to his marriage to Frances Louisa Tracy on May 31, 1865. Two additional spandrels contain allegorical motifs that depict changing seasons. The East Library had three levels of shelves and is the largest room in the main library wing. Morgan's study, now the West Library, was described by historian Wayne Andrews as "one of the greatest achievements of American interior decoration". The design of the study reflected Morgan's tastes; as his son-in-law Herbert Satterlee said, "No one could really know Mr. Morgan at all unless he had seen him in the West Room." The West Library contains low wooden bookshelves as well as a fireplace with a marble mantelpiece. The decorative elements include stained glass panels in the study's windows, as well as a wall covering of red damask. The current damask covering, a replica by Scalamandré, is a copy of a pattern that was displayed at Rome's
Chigi Palace The Chigi Palace ( it, Palazzo Chigi ) is a palace and former noble residence in Rome which is the seat of the Council of Ministers and the official residence of the Prime Minister of Italy. Since 22 October 2022, the tenant of the Chigi Palace h ...
. The coffered ceiling was reportedly purchased in Italian cardinal's palace. The artist James Wall Finn painted coats-of-arms onto the ceiling based on Italian bookplates from Morgan's collection. Finn's work was designed in such an authentic manner that it was frequently mistaken as part of the ceiling's original design.


231 Madison Avenue

Also part of the library grounds is 231 Madison Avenue, an Italianate brownstone house on the southeast corner of Madison Avenue and East 37th Street, which was the home of Isaac Newton Phelps and later J. P. "Jack" Morgan Jr. The house contains the Morgan Shop on its northern side, facing 37th Street, and the Morgan Dining Room on its southern side. The house is set behind a barricade composed of a wrought-iron fence atop a brownstone ledge. The house was originally three stories tall and faced with pink stone, but after R. H. Robertson's renovation of 1888, became four stories tall with a raised basement. An office annex to the east, built in 1957, was originally faced with brick. Before the Morgan acquired it in 1988, it was a headquarters of the Lutheran Church. The Madison Avenue facade consists of three vertical bays. An entrance stoop with a balustrade is on the Madison Avenue side of the structure, extending to a portico in the central bay, which is supported by a pair of Corinthian columns. On either side of the entrance doorway are rectangular sash windows, containing large sills with wrought-iron balustrades. The second and third stories each have three rectangular, multi-pane windows with sills atop
console bracket In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal jutting from a wall to carry a superincumbent weight, a type of bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in the wall, whereas a console is a piece applied to the st ...
s. A cornice runs above the third story. The attic contains small Ionic colonettes, as well as rounded pediments atop two of the bays. Along 37th Street, the
water table The water table is the upper surface of the zone of saturation. The zone of saturation is where the pores and fractures of the ground are saturated with water. It can also be simply explained as the depth below which the ground is saturated. T ...
containing the raised basement is topped by a molding. The original 1853 house to the west and the 1888 extension to the east are divided by a pier about halfway through the length of the facade, which spans the first through third stories. The original section of the house is three bays wide and contains window articulation similar to that of the Madison Avenue facade. On the first floor, the second opening from west has a balcony with an iron balustrade and a pediment supported by Corinthian columns. On the original second floor, the second bay from west is flanked by oval windows on either side, while the third bay from west is an
oriel window An oriel window is a form of bay window which protrudes from the main wall of a building but does not reach to the ground. Supported by corbels, brackets, or similar cantilevers, an oriel window is most commonly found projecting from an upper f ...
. Within the 1888 extension, the first floor contains a projecting three-sided bay supported by pilasters and flanked by carved panels, as well as a blind arch opening to the east. The second floor of the extension contains paired window openings flanking a smaller triple window, while the third floor contains paired windows on either side of an oval window. The cornice above the third floor, as well as the attic, in both the original house and its extension is similar to that on Madison Avenue. The southern facade of the house faces the rest of the library and is mostly obscured behind the 2006 addition. The westernmost portion of that facade, near Madison Avenue, contains rounded first- and second-story windows. There are also three-sided angled windows at the center of that facade.


Entrance building

The most recent addition to the library, completed in 2006, is a four-story, steel-and-glass entrance building designed by Renzo Piano and Beyer Blinder Belle. The entrance building expanded the Morgan Library's area by . The structure links McKim's library building, the annex, and the Phelps Stokes/Morgan house. There are four galleries in this section of the museum: the Clare Eddy Thaw Gallery, the Morgan Stanley Galleries West and East, and the Engelhard Gallery. The steel structural members are covered in rose-tinted paint as an allusion to the designs of main library and Phelps Stokes/Morgan house. Although externally "bland", the building helps to organize the interior spaces of the complex. The entrance building contains the JPMorgan Chase Lobby just inside the main entrance. On the lobby's north wall, stairs lead up to the Morgan Shop and Morgan Dining Room, and there is an admission counter and coat room. The south wall has a corridor to the Marble Hall and the Morgan Stanley Galleries West and East, as well as stairs to the Engelhard Gallery on the second floor. The east wall of the lobby has a stair to the lower level as well as elevators to both the Engelhard Gallery and the second level. Gilbert Court, a covered courtyard at the center of the complex, surrounds the entrance building on the north, east, and south. On the south wall of the court is the Clare Eddy Thaw Gallery, a space inspired by Renaissance chambers that Piano observed in Italy. The facades of the new above-ground buildings contain pinkish steel-and-glass curtain walls, which were intended to recall the design of the earlier buildings. At the court's southeast corner, stairs lead up to the original Morgan Library building, connecting to a vestibule between Morgan's study (the West Library) and the rotunda. The building contains an auditorium about below street level, with 260 or 280 seats. New storage rooms were also created by drilling into Manhattan's bedrock schist.


Management

The scope of the collection was initially curated by Belle da Costa Greene, who had been J. P. Morgan's personal librarian when the private library had been founded in 1905. When the Pierpont Morgan Library became a public institution, she became the library's first director until her retirement in 1948. The library's second director, Frederick Baldwin Adams Jr., served until 1969, when he was succeeded by Charles Ryskamp. Ryskamp, the third director, resigned in 1987 and was replaced by Charles Eliot Pierce Jr. Pierce served as the fourth director of the Pierpont Morgan Library until 2008, when he announced his intention to retire. The library's fifth director, William M. Griswold, served between 2008 and 2015, during which he oversaw the growth of its collections, exhibition programs, and curatorial departments. In 2015, the Morgan named Colin Bailey as its sixth director.


References


Notes


Citations


Sources

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External links

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Virtual tour of the Morgan Library & Museum
provided by
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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Morgan Library And Museum, The 1906 establishments in New York City Art museums and galleries in New York City Morgan, J. P. * Historic house museums in New York City Historic preservation organizations in the United States House of Morgan Libraries established in 1906 Libraries in Manhattan Libraries on the National Register of Historic Places in Manhattan Library buildings completed in 1906 Literary archives in the United States Madison Avenue McKim, Mead & White buildings Murray Hill, Manhattan Museums established in 1906 Museums in Manhattan Museums of Ancient Near East in the United States National Historic Landmarks in Manhattan New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan Rare book libraries in the United States Renzo Piano buildings Special collections libraries in the United States Research libraries in the United States