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Treasures of British Art on view at the Joslyn through Labor Day

TREASURES OF BRITISH ART 1400-2000: THE BERGER COLLECTION is on view at the Joslyn Art Museum through September 9th

Dana E. Cowen, Ph.D., Associate Curator of European Art at Joslyn, says the pieces were selected from the collection, which is on long term loan to the Denver Art Museum. 

Cowen explains the pieces were amassed by William Berger and his wife Bernadette over the course of five years.  

She says the couple was looking for something for their home, saw a portrait of Elizabeth I and knew they had to have it.  She says that started the Bergers on a cascade of collecting. 

Cowen says the Bergers focused on chronology.  They wanted to have a collection that spanned 600 years so viewers could see the cultural evolution of painting in Britain.

"In the center you have Henry VIII.  This is the first portrait of him as king that we know of.  He’s shown as a youthful young man.  He has jewelry on.  He has a beautiful black cap.  He is depicted in a Netherlandish style in which he’s up close to the picture plane and he has his hands resting on what appears to be the picture frame.”

Cowen says the portrait is small but its original frame is intact which is rare.  She says to Henry’s right is a portrait of his son, Edward VI as a toddler.

"So even though he’s just a baby, he is in regal clothing.  He’s holding up his hand as kind of an orator.  And he’s holding a golden rattle as a scepter.  I mean it’s a really great painting that Holbein likely gave to Henry VIII as a New Year’s gift.”

The portrait of Elizabeth I, which started the whole collection, is located to the left of Henry.  For more information on the exhibit and a complete schedule of special events, the website is Joslyn.org.

*IMAGE ABOVE -

Sir Claude Francis Barry (1883–1970)
Victory Celebrations, 1919
Oil on canvas
63 x 69 in. (160 x 172.7 cm)
Lent by the Berger Collection Educational Trust, TL-24828
Reproduced by kind permission of Amyl Holdings SA, owners of the worldwide copyright to the works of Sir Claude Francis Barry, Bart. 1883 – 1970