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The Taft Museum of Art is a house museum in Downtown Cincinnati, Ohio. The building which houses the museum was built as a villa on the edge of Cincinnati about 1820 for Martin Baum and then was the residence of Nicholas Longworth. David Sinton lived in the house with his daughter Anna, who married Charles Phelps Taft, the half-brother of President William Howard Taft. The Tafts lived in the house from 1873 until 1929. William H. Taft accepted his presidential nomination here in 1908. [1] The Tafts were avid art collectors. They turned their home into a museum, and donated their Greek Revival house and the collection of art that filled it to the people of Cincinnati in 1927. In the Tafts' gift of deed they stated, "We desire to devote our collection of pictures, porcelains, and other works of art to the people of Cincinnati in such a manner that they may be readily available for all."
The museum's collections include European old master paintings, with works by Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot, Thomas Gainsborough, Frans Hals, Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, and Adriaen van Ostade, among others, and and 19th-century American paintings, including the well known murals by Robert Duncanson. The galleries in the historic house also include Chinese porcelains, European decorative arts, Limoges enamels, watches, sculptures, and furniture.
Collection highlights:
- Frank Duveneck, The Cobbler's Apprentice, 1877.
- Henry Farny, Song of the Talking Wire, 1904.
- Rembrandt van Rijn, Portrait of a Man Rising from His Chair, 1633.
- J. M. W. Turner, Europa and the Bull, ca. 1840-50.
- James Abbott McNeill Whistler, At the Piano, 1858-59.
- Virgin and Child, Paris, Abbey of Saint-Denis, ca. 1260-80.
The museum reopened in May of 2004 after an extensive renovation. The expansion includes a museum shop, the Carl H. Lindner Family Café, and a lecture and performance space, Luther Hall.
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