The Making of the Met: The Grandest American Museum

Our lecturers very often show us images of art from the “Met”, the greatest and grandest museum in America. How did this come about?  From its founding in 1870, the grandees of New York society have given their prized possessions and paintings and even complete collections to this institution. We examine why this happened, while seeing some wonderful images.

Andrew Hopkins

Andrew Hopkins was previously Assistant Director of the British School at Rome from 1998 to 2002 and since 2004, Associate Professor at the University of L'Aquila. Part of his PhD (Courtauld Institute 1995) on Venetian architecture was awarded the Essay Medal of 1996 by the Society of Architectural Historians (GB). A Fellow at Harvard University's Villa I Tatti in Florence in 2003-2004, and in 2009 was the Paul Mellon Senior Visiting Fellow, Center for Advanced Studies in the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. Amongst his many publications are, with Arnold Witte, Alois Riegl, The Origins of Baroque Art in Rome (2010), and Baldassare Longhena and the Venetian Baroque (2012).