The Metropolitan Museum of Art - The Collection: Recent Acquisitions

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Director's Note

The past year has been far from ordinary. The Museum has felt constraints on a number of fronts as the economic climate has worsened. However, I am delighted—and not altogether surprised, knowing the character of the parties involved—that our donors of works of art, and of the funds for their acquisition, have remained as steadfast as ever. The ancient world was once again well represented in our acquisitions program with the addition of a striking, monumental granite lion of the Old Kingdom that will greet us majestically at the entrance to the Egyptian galleries in late 2003 (when their reinstallation is complete), while the idealized head of a Ptolemaic queen of the Hellenistic period is already on view in the magnificent Mary and Michael Jaharis Gallery. Both of these purchases are accompanied by impeccable provenances, which make them especially attractive in this time of heightened concern for the legitimate pedigrees of antiquities.

To the Cloisters Treasury was added a splendid enamel plaque from a monumental Limoges crucifix, and a rare pictorial marble relief of the Renaissance, by Benedetto da Maiano, was acquired for the Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts. As we have come to expect in recent years, several master drawings of great distinction enliven the pages of this Bulletin, the Salviati, the Bellange, and the Poussin being recent discoveries. A much admired Emanuel de Witte church interior that was included in last year's exhibition "Vermeer and the Delft School " is now, happily, in our permanent collection, as is our first still life by the highly original Strasbourg master Sébastien Stoskopff. Another first for us, which was chosen as the cover of this publication, is the dashing pastel by the Venetian artist Rosalba Carriera.

Thanks to the Annenberg Foundation, we were able to acquire our first example of steel-cut furniture from the Russian imperial factory at Tula—it is absolutely one of the finest of its kind—and thanks to Jayne Wrightsman, Madame de Talleyrand-Périgord's portrait by Gérard is now hanging close to that of her husband by Pierre-Paul Prud'hon, a Wrightsman acquisition of 1994.

In recent years we have, through our exhibitions, installations, and acquisitions, focused increasingly on the fascinating, albeit too little studied, field of Central Asian art, and this year we are immensely pleased to have received as a gift from Mr. and Mrs. Eugene V. Thaw a group of more than 150 works in the animal style from the Eurasian steppes, which considerably enhances our holdings in this area.

Finally, as I thank all those who have contributed to the augmentation and amelioration of the collection, I note once again and applaud the generosity of Ambassador and Mrs. Walter Annenberg for the partial gift of several more paintings from their great collection.

As this Bulletin was going to press, we learned the sorrowful news of Ambassador Annenberg's death on October 1, 2002. The Trustees and staff of the Metropolitan Museum mourn his passing with profound sadness.

Philippe de Montebello
Director

(This note is adapted from Recent Acquisitions: A Selection: 2001–2002, a special issue of The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin.)

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