The Frick Collection

Designed by Carrere and Hastings, the same architects who worked on the New York Public Library the Frick Collection is located in the former mansion of Henry Clay Frick and his family , whose private art collection was turned into a museum after his death in the early part of the twentieth century; the museum retains its feel of a private home. The mansion it self is a true work of art; the low stone building and courtyard take up almost an entire city block and statues stand prominently by the entrance way. In the center is a a beautiful court yard providing a quite space to escape the cities hustle and bustle.Many rooms of the house have painted walls like the frescoes of a Renaissance church or castle, and the furniture that adorns all the rooms of the house is almost entirely from the sixteenth century. All the other rooms have rich wood walls and floors, marble fireplaces and decorative columns, giving visitors the sense of being in an old, musty castle or cathedral.

To complement its cozy permanent collections the Frick often hosts international exhibitions and is often temporary home to special long-term loans that complement its permanent holdings. A pair of imposing, late fifteenth-century Florentine panel paintings are now displayed in the West Gallery, on loan from The Mari-Cha Collection. Painted in 1487 to embellish a marriage chamber, the so-called Tornabuoni-Albizzi panels depict scenes from the Argonautica, the famous myth of Jason’s quest for the golden fleece. The Departure of the Argonauts by Pietro del Donzello (1452–1509) and The Argonauts in Colchis by Bartolomeo di Giovanni (active 1475–1511) are rare examples from a complete suite of painted domestic decoration that illustrates the high level of achievement typical of the artists who worked in Florence at the same time as their better known contemporaries, Ghirlandaio and Botticelli. When recently shown at The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s exhibition Art and Love in Renaissance Italy, the panels notably illuminated aspects of Florentine culture during the golden age of Lorenzo the Magnificent. At the Frick these compelling works bring the gallery a fresh focus and offer a new point of departure for appreciating many of the Collection’s Renaissance masterpieces.

Frick Collection is located at 1 E 70th St, New York, NY – (212) 288-0700

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