The Frick Collection is an anthology of the some of the most
distinguished works of Western art from the early Renaissance
through the late nineteenth century, including masterpieces by
Bellini, El Greco, Rembrandt, Titian, Turner, Vermeer, Whistler,
and many others housed in one of the great mansions remaining
from the Gilded Age.
These paintings are complemented by one of the world's finest
collections of Renaissance bronzes and by great French sculpture
of the eighteenth century. These treasures are surrounded by
outstanding furniture and decorative art works from the ateliers
of Riesener, Lacroix, Boulle, Carlin, Gouthiere, and Sevres.
Each year more than 275,000 visitors from New York, across
America, and around the world come to the Collection at 1 East
70th Street, once the residence of Henry Clay Frick (1849-1919).
Designed by Thomas Hastings of Carrere and Hastings and
constructed in 1913-1914, the building was changed after Mrs.
Frick's death in 1931, with alterations and additions made by
the architect John Russell Pope. In 1935 the Collection opened
to the public. A new Reception Hall, built in 1977, was designed
by John Barrington Bayley, Harry van Dyke, and G. Frederick
Poehler, in addition to two additional temporary exhibition
galleries.
The Frick Collection also operates the Frick Art Reference
Library at 10 East 71st Street, both a research library and a photo archive.
The Library is one of the world's great repositories for the
documentation and study of Western art and has served the
international art world for more than seventy-five years.
Because few ropes or cases are used to guard fragile objects,
children under ten are not admitted to the Collection,
and those under sixteen must be accompanied by an adult. The
Collection attempts to preserve the ambiance of Mr. Frick's
private house, and visitors are therefore asked to observe
several regulations necessary for protecting the works of art
and their domestic setting.
