Cornell Fine Arts
Museum
About
our Collection
Selections from the Collection
The richly diverse art collection
of the Cornell Fine Arts Museum at Rollins College boasts more than
6,000 works, one of the largest and most distinguished collections
in Florida. It is also the oldest in the state, the first paintings
having been given to Rollins more than a century ago.
The Samuel H. Kress Foundation in 1937 donated several Italian Renaissance
paintings, including Madonna and Child Enthroned c.1475-80 by Cosimo
Rosselli, an important Renaissance artist. In 1941, Winter Park
resident and Rollins trustee Jeannette Morse Genius, an art patron
and artist in her own right (married to Dr. Hugh McKean, president
of Rollins 1951-69), donated the funds to erect the Morse Gallery
of Art. Its collection of American and European art was soon the
focus of many benefactors. In 1950, George H. Sullivan, a Winter
Park resident, donated a Louis Sonntag painting; other Sullivan
gifts works by Francesco de Mura and others followed in 1952 and
1959.
During the 1960s, the collection was vastly enriched by Jack and
June Myers, alumni from Jacksonville, whose gifts form the backbone
of the Old Masters collection. In 1966, the McKeans' superb collection
of Tiffany glass began a ten-year-long exhibition at the Morse Gallery.
In 1976, George, Rollins
class of 1935, and Harriet Cornell contributed more than one million
dollars to construct a fine arts complex. The George D. and Harriet
W. Cornell Fine Arts Center opened in 1978, and the renovated and
enlarged Morse Gallery of Art became the Cornell Fine Arts Museum.
While the Cornell has always
played a vital role in the community, the past decade has reflected
extraordinary growth as notable works from the collection have been
publicly viewed for the first time and more than 700 new works have
been added by donation or purchase.
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