Taft Museum of Art
The Taft Museum of Art is a historic house museum holding an fine art collection in Cincinnati. It is on the National Register of Historic Places listings in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio and is a contributing property to the Lytle Park Historic District.
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 brother of President William Howard Taft. The Tafts lived in the house from 1873 until 1929. William H. Taft accepted his presidential nomination here from its portico in 1908. 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' deed of gift 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 Taft Museum opened to the public on November 29, 1932.
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 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:
- Joaquin Sorolla, Portrait of Mr. Taft, President of the United States, 1909.
- 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.
- Anonymous author of the 13th century, Virgin and Child, from Paris, Abbey of Saint-Denis, ca. 1260-80.
- Olivuccio di Ciccarello, Madonna nursing the Child with Saints.
- Frans Hals, Portrait of Seated Man Holding Hat.
- Gerard Terborch, Sleeping Soldier.
- Jeronymus Van Diest, Sailboats On River with Fisherman.
- Corot, Evening:Festival of Pan.
- Charles Daubigny, Evening on Oise.
- An appreciable collection of Limoges enamel paintings.
Lytle Park
Lytle Park has a storied history and represents one of the oldest areas in the city. Originally a hardwood forest, the park and its vicinity was the early site of Fort Washington, built in 1789 to protect early settlers of the Ohio River town from Indian attacks.
The site later served as the homestead of the prominent Lytle family. Surveyor General of the Northwest Territory William Lytle II built his house there in 1809, about ten years prior to the completion of the adjacent Martin Baum mansion (now the Taft Museum of Art). The land then known as Lytle Square was purchased by the City of Cincinnati in 1905 and Lytle Park was dedicated July 6, 1907.
The 11-foot (3.4 m) bronze statue of Abraham Lincoln facing the entrance of the park was commissioned by the Charles P. Taft family. The unusually beardless statue is the only public monument to an individual ever produced by sculptor George Grey Barnard. The statue was dedicated amid great fanfare on March 31, 1917, by then former president William Howard Taft. The adjacent U.S. Marine Corps Memorial is a granite boulder with bronze plaque and Marine emblem atop a globe. It was dedicated in 1921.
Described as an "urban oasis", Lytle Park is known for its large seasonal flower beds of tulips and chrysanthemums in entirely urban surroundings.
Nearby Taft Location:
AFK to William Howard Taft National Historic Site
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