The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07.
Museum of Fine Arts
Boston, chartered and incorporated (1870) after a decision by the Boston Athenaeum, Harvard, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to pool their collections of art objects and house them in adequate public galleries. The first building was opened in 1876; the present one, designed by Guy Lowell, in 1909. The museum is supported entirely by private contributions and endowments. Its collection of art from India is thought to be the finest in the United States. The museum’s collections of Chinese and Japanese art are outstanding. The Egyptian wing, housing the Way Collection, includes Old Kingdom sculpture unrivaled except in Cairo. The painting galleries are notable for many examples of Spanish art and are particularly strong in works by American artists; 18th-century portraitists, especially Copley and Stuart, are magnificently represented. The museum owns many canvases by John Singer Sargent as well as his mural decorations in the rotunda. The silver work of Paul Revere is shown in quantities unequaled elsewhere. There is also a rich collection of graphic art.
