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Catharine Lorillard Wolfe
The “Great Lady of Madison Square”
C
atharine Lorillard Wolfe was a prominent American
philanthropist. From early in life she was deeply
committed to assisting her father, John David Wolfe,
in his many charitable and educational enterprises. At the
same time she developed an independent interest in art.
Inheriting at her father’s death both his fortune and millions
through her mother’s family, the Lorillards, she continued
supporting many charitable causes and also began seriously
expanding her own collection of art, with a particular
interest in living artists.
Miss Wolfe believed strongly in the value of education
and the role museums could play in presenting art to the
“Whalers” 1845
Joseph Mallord William Turner(British, London 1775 - 1851 London)Oil on canvas, 36 1/8 X 48 1/4 in.
public. When The Metropolitan Museum of Art was
Purchased by The Metropolitan Museum of ArtCatharine Lorillard Wolfe Collection, Wolfe Fund, 1896
incorporated in 1870 by a group of businessmen, she was the
only woman among the 106 founding members. She ultimately bequeathed
Other artists
her collection of 140 paintings, along with an endowment for its maintenance,
represented in the
to the Museum. Miss Wolfe’s endowment was the Museum’s 昀椀rst, and her
Catharine Lorillard Wolfe
collection formed the beginning of the Museum’s European Painting
Collection of
Collection. Since then the Museum has been able to expand this Collection
The Metropolitan
utilizing the Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Collection, Wolfe Fund. Joseph
Museum of Art
include:
Turner’s “Whalers” and Winslow Homer’s “The Gulf Stream were
purchased with the Wolfe Fund.
Rosa Bonheur
Leon Bonnat
As a life-long supporter of Grace Church, Miss Wolfe also left a
Alexandre Cabanel
substantial bequest to the Church to be used for some form of “women’s
Paul Cézanne
work.” In 1896, the Rector William Reed Huntington, and Mrs. Newell, wife
Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot
of the Rector of the Episcopal Church in Paris, established the Club bearing
Pierre-Auguste Cot
Catharine Lorillard Wolfe’s name. Its purpose was to give aid and counsel
Honoré Daumier
Jacques Louis David
to young women art students, who were often alone and in need of support.
Eugène Delacroix
The Club became a 昀椀tting
Ernest Duez
tribute to Miss Wolfe’s
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes
charitable concerns and
John Hopper
Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres
to her commitment to art.
Gustav Klimt
For many years the Church
Edouard Manet
provided both exhibition
Adolphe J. T. Monticelli
and meeting space for the
Pablo Ruiz Picasso
Club in the Parish House,
Jean F. Ra昀昀aelli
Auguste Renoir
where CLWAC is still
Philippe Rousseau
privileged to have its base
Attilio Simonetti
and hold its meetings.
John Singer Sargent
J. Sorolla y Bastida
“The Gulf Stream” 1890
Winslow Homer (American, Boston, Massachusetts,1836 - 1910 Prout’s Neck, Maine)
Horace Vernet
Oil on canvas, 28 1/8 x 49 1/8 in.
Purchased by The Metropolitan Museum of Art Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Collection, Wolfe Fund, 1906
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