The Huntington Art Gallery

Free audio guide tour available at the entrance to the Huntington
Art Gallery

The Historic Residence Reopens May 28, 2008 After Extensive Renovation

Once the home of Henry E. Huntington (1850–1927) and his wife, Arabella (1850–1924), the Huntington Art Gallery opened in 1928 displaying one of the greatest collections of 18th-century British art in the country, including the celebrated Blue Boy by Thomas Gainsborough and View on the Stour near Dedham by John Constable, as well as a valuable collection of French decorative arts.

After a $20 million renovation, the gallery offers visitors an enhanced experience with one of the finest collections of European art in the nation as well as a more accurate sense of the lifestyle of one of the most prominent millionaires of the early 20th century. In addition to a thoroughly updated infrastructure, the refurbished mansion includes 5,300 additional square feet of public space, new interpretive components, and new gallery presentations of approximately 1,200 objects of European art from the 15th to the early 20th century. The renovation also brings to light original architectural features that previously had been obscured.

The Huntingtons and Their Home
in San Marino

When the finishing touches were put on Henry E. Huntington’s San Marino villa in 1911, it was proclaimed one of the finest in Southern California, adding to the local achievements by architects Myron Hunt and Elmer Grey.

Now called The Huntington Art Gallery, the building’s function is twofold: to display the Beaux-Arts mansion as a period home, evoking the lifestyle of the Huntingtons, and to provide high-quality displays of the institution’s valuable European art collection.

When planning the residence, railroad and real estate magnate Henry Huntington at first envisioned a more modest retreat, but his uncle’s widow, Arabella Huntington, whom he would marry in 1913, was looking for a grander scale similar to her own lavish residences. Ultimately, the building plan came to some 55,000 square feet, with the south facade reflecting Arabella’s affinity for Paris and French architecture, and the north facade in the emerging Mediterranean style of early-20th-century California.

The loggia on the east side of the house represents a concession by the architect. Archival documents show that Myron Hunt preferred a modest terrace on the east side; Henry Huntington envisioned a bolder, more spacious “outdoor living room.” Huntington ultimately prevailed.

The entry on the north is surprisingly modest—a functional space created to accommodate visitors with parcels and luggage. The real elegance is saved for the private part of the house—the great east-west hall, the large library, drawing rooms, dining room, and the expansive south terrace. Huntington intended the house to function as a public gallery, which is why less remarkable spaces such as bathrooms and the kitchen were not saved. It opened to the public in 1928, a year after Henry’s death.

Highlights include a first-floor small library, the reception area where Huntington could meet with visitors or business callers. Though richly decorated, the large library was also a functional space; Huntington spent many hours reading there. The small and large drawing rooms were for entertainment, furnished with 18th-century French decorative art objects and British portraits. These spaces were planned for recreational moments—for playing cards, conversation, or listening to music.

While the Huntingtons were not known to have entertained regularly, the dining room was nevertheless suitable for important functions. One such occasion was a dinner for the crown prince and princess of Sweden, who visited the Huntington mansion in the early 1920s.

A 2,900-square-foot hall was added in 1934 for displaying the Huntingtons' Grand Manner portraits. Now called the Thornton Portrait Gallery, the addition followed a trend begun with the Wallace Collection in London and the Frick Collection in New York, where grand homes were converted into museums.

The Huntington’s European
Art Collection

The Huntington Art Gallery is home to the European art collection, which focuses on works from the 15th to the early 20th century. Begun by Henry Huntington in 1908, it currently consists of about 400 paintings, 300 sculptures, 2,400 objects of decorative art, and some 20,000 prints and drawings. About 1,200 of these objects are on view at a given time.

British Art

The collection of British portraits of the 18th and early 19th century is considered one of the greatest outside of London. Many of the best works by the most important English painters of the period were large formal portraits; 14 of the finest examples are on display in the Thornton Portrait Gallery, including Thomas Gainsborough’s Blue Boy (ca. 1770), Thomas Lawrence’s “Pinkie” (1794), and Sir Joshua Reynolds’ Sarah Siddons as the Tragic Muse (1783– 84).

The years around 1800 saw the rise of landscape painting. J. M. W. Turner and John Constable are represented by important works from the height of their careers. There are also fine examples of 18th-century British sculpture, miniature portraits, works in silver, ceramics, and furniture.

A recent acquisition of works relating to William Morris established a new focus on the Design Reform movement from the 1840s through the early 20th century. The major renovation of the Gallery, completed in 2008, included the conversion of a stairwell into a space to display a 15-foot-high stained glass window (ca. 1898) produced by Morris and Co. after designs by Edward Burne-Jones.

British drawings and watercolors are presented in changing exhibitions in a dedicated room in the upstairs west wing.

French Art

The collection of French art, mostly from the 18th century, is characteristic of the taste for grand-siècle style among American millionaires in the early 20th century.

Priceless French furniture and decorative objects adorn the period rooms downstairs. A set of Beauvais tapestries after designs by François Boucher hangs in the large library, where the highlights are two of the great Savonnerie carpets designed for Louis XIV’s redecoration of the Louvre palace.

Most of the French art is displayed in the upstairs east wing, beginning with Jean-Antoine Houdon’s original life-size bronze Diana the Huntress, first publicly exhibited in 1782. The sculpture is part of the Arabella D. Huntington Memorial Art Collection, assembled by Huntington in his wife’s memory. The collection also includes five tapestries from the Beauvais factory and a substantial group of Sèvres porcelain.

The Adele S. Browning Memorial Collection of 18th-century French paintings consists of works by leading artists of the ancien régime, such as Antoine Watteau, Jean-Honoré Fragonard, and Jean-Baptiste Greuze.

Paintings of the French Barbizon school and a group of bronzes are displayed in the upstairs northwest hallway.

Other European Art

A small group of Renaissance paintings in the upstairs east wing, also part of the Arabella Huntington collection, has as its centerpiece an exquisite Madonna and Child (ca. 1460) by the Flemish master Rogier van der Weyden. Renaissance bronzes in this wing form a group around Nessus and Deianira, a spectacular cast of a famous work by Giambologna.

With an interest in representing those who influenced great British portraiture, The Huntington holds works such as the full-length Anne (Killigrew) Kirke (ca. 1637) by Flemish artist Anthony van Dyck, among others, that hang in the anteroom near the entrance to the Thornton Portrait Gallery.

City views by Italian artists such as Antonio Canaletto and Bernardo Bellotto were collected by Englishmen as souvenirs of their “grand tours” of Europe and hang on the second floor, in the southeast hallway.

As The Huntington’s European art collection continues to grow by gift and purchase, installations in the Huntington Art Gallery will be dynamic, with new works going on view throughout the year.

View Selections from The Huntington Art Gallery

In addition to a thoroughly updated infrastructure, the renovation also brings to light original architectural features that previously had been obscured.