Highlights of the Robert L. Stuart Collection

The New-York Historical Society collection is a collection of collections: the Museum stewards the essentially intact private holdings of several prominent nineteenth-century New York art patrons. Among these is the collection of Robert Leighton Stuart (1806–1882)—a group of over 200 paintings reflective of the collector’s individual tastes and his efforts to help build the cultural landscape of the young nation.

Stuart patronized contemporary American artists like Asher B. Durand, Jasper Francis Cropsey, and Frederic Edwin Church and later began collecting works by such European artists as Jacob van Ruisdael, Constant Troyon, and Jean-Léon Gérôme. His collection prioritizes landscapes and genre paintings. Many feature overt Christian references reflective of his devout Protestant beliefs while others demonstrate his interest, developed through his support of the Union cause during the Civil War, in African American subjects.

Upon his passing in 1882, the New York Times reported that “Mr. Stuart’s gallery of paintings was collected with great pains and lavish outlay and was one of the finest in the City.” His wife, Mary McCrea Stuart (1815–1891), bequeathed the collection to the New York Public Library in 1892. In 1944, the Library turned stewardship of the collection over to the New-York Historical Society. It remains today one of the most significant collections of Western art from the early-nineteenth century United States to survive intact.