In this lecture, Sophie Lynford, the Annette Woolard-Provine Curator of the Bancroft Pre-Raphaelite Collection at the Delaware Art Museum, will share the story of how DelArt came to hold the largest collection of Pre-Raphaelite art outside of the United Kingdom. Pre-Raphaelite art, produced by British artists during the second half of the nineteenth century, is characterized by abundant detail and brilliant colors. Most Pre-Raphaelite art can be found in Britain. But during the late nineteenth century, Samuel Bancroft, an American textile mill owner in Wilmington, Delaware, began acquiring Pre-Raphaelite drawings and paintings. In 1935, Bancroft’s heirs bequeathed his art to what would become the Delaware Art Museum, thus making Wilmington a destination for enthusiasts of British art. To this day, art lovers from around the world travel to Delaware to seek out the museum’s Pre-Raphaelite treasures.
The lecture is hosted by the University of Delaware’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute of Kent and Sussex Counties, and is open to both OLLI members and the public. Space is limited and will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.
Image: Sophie Lynford with Lady Lilith, 1866-1868. Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828–1882). Oil on canvas, 39 × 34 inches. Delaware Art Museum, Samuel and Mary R. Bancroft Memorial, 1935.