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166-658: Art collecting was common among the wealthy in the Ancient World in both Europe and East Asia , and in the Middle Ages , but developed in its modern form during the Renaissance and continues to the present day. The royal collections of most countries were originally the grandest of private collections but are now mostly in public ownership. However the British Royal Collection remains under

332-502: A 19th-century terracotta bust by Joseph Chinard , a marble bust by Houdon; a bust by Massimiliano Soldani Benzi , and a clock. Acquisitions since the 2010s have included 131 Meissen porcelains , as well as 28 objects from collector Alexis Gregory (including rare clocks and enamels). The Frick Collection has historically hosted temporary exhibitions less frequently than similar museums. It initially focused almost exclusively on its permanent collection, with one temporary exhibit

498-452: A French noblewoman, Monet's Vétheuil in Winter , and a Paul Cézanne landscape. This was followed in the 1950s by three Italian Renaissance paintings, David's portrait of Antonio Bartolomeo Bruni , and Jan van Eyck 's Virgin and Child, with Saints and Donor . The collection had only one 17th-century French work until the 1960s, when the museum obtained Claude Lorrain 's painting of

664-521: A Man , Vermeer's Mistress and Maid , and a Gilbert Stuart portrait of George Washington . In the half-century after Frick died, thirty objects were added to the original collection. After Frick's death but before the opening of the current museum, the Frick estate's trustees bought the Portrait of Comtesse d'Haussonville by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres , as well as a painting by Duccio and

830-502: A date which is contested, with generally accepted evidence for the controlled use of fire dating to 780,000 years ago. Actual use of hearths first appears 400,000 years ago. Dates for the emergence of Homo sapiens (modern humans) range from 250,000 to 160,000 years ago, with the varying dates being based on DNA studies and fossils respectively. Some 50,000 years ago, Homo sapiens migrated out of Africa . They reached Australia about 45,000 years ago, southwestern Europe about

996-476: A decorative-arts conservation program, and the number of annual visitors nearly doubled under his tenure. The museum's collection remained largely unchanged over the next several years, as Helen Frick opposed any expansions, saying that her father would not have wanted items to be added. Helen resigned from the museum's board of trustees in 1961, when the board finally voted to accept Rockefeller's gift. Assistant director Harry D. M. Grier replaced Biebel, becoming

1162-606: A guidebook on the collection, its history, and the Frick House. The Frick launched its Diptych series in 2017; the series consists of short books with essays that relate to paintings from the museum's collection. The museum is ordinarily located at the Henry Clay Frick House at 1 East 70th Street, which is part of Fifth Avenue's Museum Mile . The house spans an entire blockfront on Fifth Avenue between 70th and 71st Streets. The original structure from 1914

1328-479: A half millennia . It began with the incipient unification of Nile Valley polities around 3100 BC, traditionally under Menes . The civilisation of ancient Egypt was characterised primarily by intensive agricultural use of the fertile Nile Valley; the use of the Nile itself for transportation; the development of writing systems – first hieroglyphs and then later hieratic and other derived scripts – and literature ;

1494-753: A historical overview of St. Francis in the Desert . After some works from the Mauritshuis in The Hague were displayed at the Frick in 2013, the Frick displayed several paintings at the Mauritshuis in 2015, marking the first time that the Frick lent paintings to a European museum. During the mid- and late 2010s, the subjects of the Frick's exhibits included paintings from the Scottish National Gallery 's collection, paintings from

1660-496: A large kingdom at three different times in history. These are called the Old (20th to 18th centuries BC), Middle (14th to 11th centuries BC), and Neo-Assyrian (9th to 7th centuries BC) kingdoms, or periods. Mitanni was a Hurrian empire in northern Mesopotamia founded around 1500 BC. The Mitanians conquered and controlled Assyria until the 14th century BC while contending with Egypt for control of parts of modern Syria. Its capital

1826-589: A later emperor, Darius the Great , expanded the empire to the Indus River , creating the largest empire in the world to that date. But Darius and his son Xerxes I failed to expand into Greece , with expeditions in 490 and 480 BC eventually failing. The Achaemenid dynasty and empire fell to Alexander the Great by 330 BC, and after Alexander's death, much of the area previously ruled by the Cyrus and his successors

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1992-620: A million photocopies of artwork, including objects that are not in the museum's collection. The Frick has been part of the New York Art Resources Consortium (NYARC), which also includes the Museum of Modern Art and Brooklyn Museum , since 2007. NYARC operates Arcade, an online catalog that combines the collections of the three museums' libraries. The Center for the History of Collecting, also founded in 2007,

2158-508: A mobile app in 2014, allowing visitors to bookmark artworks in the museum's collection. After the Frick closed for renovation, museum officials launched several digital programs, including drawing classes and discussions about artwork. Every year since 2000, the Frick hosts the Young Fellows Ball, a springtime gala for philanthropists who are largely under age 40. The museum also started hosting an annual Garden Party in 2008;

2324-486: A month in the middle of the year. Artworks were arranged based on how they blended in with the house's ambiance, rather than being arranged by year. Within a year of the museum's opening, demand had declined enough that officials decided to scale down, and then eliminate, its timed-entry ticketing system. The ropes throughout the house were taken down, and visitors were allowed to visit the Frick House's rooms in any order. Museum officials also presented lectures five days

2490-509: A neighboring townhouse at 9 East 70th Street in 1940 and used that building as storage space. Museum officials constructed a vault in 1941 to protect the artwork from air raids . During World War II, the museum continued to host visitors, but some rooms were closed, and more than five dozen paintings and all of the sculptures were moved into storage. Museum officials took these pieces out of storage in May 1945 and restored them; other artworks in

2656-451: A number of dynasties that peaked in power under the reign of Ashoka Maurya, one of India's most legendary and famous emperors. During the reign of Ashoka, the four dynasties of Chola , Chera , and Pandya were ruling in the South, while Devanampiya Tissa (250–210 BC) controlled Anuradhapura (now Sri Lanka ). These kingdoms, while not part of Ashoka's empire, were in friendly terms with

2822-522: A period often known as the Vedic period . Between 1500 and 500 BC these peoples spread throughout most of India and had begun to found small cities. Vedic society was characterized by the varna system which divided society into four broad castes, which were later elaborated. By the end of the Vedic period, this way of organizing society had become central to Indian society. Religion in the late Vedic period

2988-404: A position he would hold for thirty-five years. As part of a master plan in 1967, the Frick's trustees drew up plans for an annex at 7 and 9 East 70th Street. By the early 1970s, the museum recorded about 800 daily visitors and employed 75 staff members. The next year, the museum began asking visitors to pay an optional admission fee due to rising taxes and expenses. After Grier was killed in

3154-482: A set of porcelains. Toward the end of Frick's life, he focused on porcelains, sculptures, and furniture. Although Frick made over a thousand acquisitions over his lifetime, he resold most of the things he bought. The original collection contained 635 pieces of art or decorations when Frick died. When the museum opened, it displayed 136 or about 200 paintings in addition to porcelains, enamels, and bronzes. There were also 80 sculptures on display. Helen Clay Frick and

3320-456: A tradition of bronze production and the manufacture of evermore refined bronze and iron objects, such as plows, axes and sickles with shaft holes, socketed arrows and spearheads and small ornamented items. By about 500 BCE, large and delicately decorated bronze drums of remarkable quality, weighing more than 70 kg (150 lb), were produced in the laborious lost-wax casting process. This industry of highly sophisticated metal processing

3486-592: A traffic accident in 1972, Everett Fahy was appointed as the museum's fourth director in 1973. The museum announced plans to construct an annex at 5–9 East 70th Street. After the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) expressed concerns over the fact that the expansion would require the demolition of the Widener House at 5 East 70th Street, the museum announced a plan for a "temporary garden" on

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3652-463: A week during the late 1930s, and they started hosting afternoon concert series in November 1938; these concerts and lectures continued throughout Clapp's tenure at the museum. Clapp also obtained fresh flowers each day and placed them in the first-floor galleries for esthetic purposes. Three magnolia trees were planted on the grounds in 1939. To expand their land holdings, museum officials bought

3818-529: A year during the 1960s. Since 1972, the Frick has sometimes hosted small exhibitions on narrowly defined topics; in some cases, exhibitions have consisted of a single painting. By the 2010s, the museum hosted five exhibits a year on average, and exhibitions were scheduled several years in advance. Temporary exhibitions in the 1970s included an exhibit in honor of the museum's late director Harry D. M. Grier, bronzes by Severo Calzetta da Ravenna , and drawings by Fragonard. Topics of temporary exhibitions during

3984-528: Is Harappan, after the first of its cities to be excavated, Harappa in the Pakistani province of Punjab . Harappan civilization grew out of the earlier agricultural communities as they evolved into cities. These communities created and traded jewelry, figurines, and seals that appear widely scattered throughout Mesopotamia, Afghanistan, and Iran. Chickens were domesticated in addition to the earlier crops and animals. They developed their own writing system,

4150-413: Is also prohibited from selling items in its collection and seldom acquires new works. Some of the works are normally not visible to the public but can be displayed as necessary. The Frick has sometimes borrowed paintings for long periods, including a portrait of Cosimo de' Medici that was displayed in the museum from 1970 to 1989. Purchases of new art were funded by the museum's endowment until 2016, when

4316-482: Is housed at a 13-story building at 10 East 71st Street (next to the original mansion). Prior to the library building's opening, the basement bowling alley was used as storage space for the library's collection. The library has always been open to the public, except during World War II, when it was closed for six months, and during the COVID-19 pandemic and 2020 renovation, when it was shuttered while being moved to

4482-588: Is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the development of Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient history covers all continents inhabited by humans in the period 3000 BC – AD 500, ending with the expansion of Islam in late antiquity. The three-age system periodizes ancient history into the Stone Age , the Bronze Age , and the Iron Age , with recorded history generally considered to begin with

4648-574: Is the period before written history. Most of our knowledge of that period comes from the work of archaeologists. Prehistory is often known as the Stone Age , and is divided into the Paleolithic (earliest), Mesolithic , and Neolithic . The early human migrations in the Lower Paleolithic saw Homo erectus spread across Eurasia 1.8 million years ago. Evidence for the use of fire has been dated as early as 1.8 million years ago,

4814-520: Is yet to be confirmed with extensive survey work. With the help of archaeological excavations mainly by Susan and Roderick McIntosh , the site is known to have been occupied from 250 BC to AD 900. The city is believed to have been abandoned and moved where the current city is located due to the spread of Islam and the building of the Great Mosque of Djenné . Previously, it was assumed that advanced trade networks and complex societies did not exist in

4980-569: The Chaldeans in 614 BC. The Achaemenid Empire was founded by Cyrus the Great , who first became king of the Persians, then conquered the Medes, Lydia , and Babylon by 539 BC. The empire built on earlier Mesopotamian systems of government to govern their large empire. By building roads, they improved both the ability to send governmental instructions throughout their lands as well as improving

5146-763: The Congo River and into the Great Lakes area. By AD 1000 these groups had spread throughout all of southern Africa south of the equator. Iron metallurgy and agriculture spread along with these peoples, with the cultivation of millet, oil palms, sorghum, and yams as well as the use of domesticated cattle, pigs, and sheep. These technologies helped increase population, and settled communities became common in sub-Saharan Africa except in deserts or heavy forests. Paleolithic tools have been discovered in India dating to 200,000 years ago, and Neolithic sites are known from near

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5312-564: The Coronation of the Virgin by Paolo Veneziano . The Giuseppe Bastiani painting Adoration of Magi was acquired in 1935. Works by Cimabue, Duccio, della Francesca, and Filippo Lippi entered the museum's collection for the first time between 1924 and 1950. Shortly after the museum opened, it acquired items such as a Renaissance-era panel by della Francesca, a portrait that Boucher painted of his wife, Jacques-Louis David 's painting of

5478-681: The Indus Valley dating to around 8000 BC. Agriculture began in the Indus Valley around 7000 BC, and reached the Ganges Valley by 3000 BC. Barley , cotton , and wheat were grown and the population had domesticated cattle, goats, and sheep. The Indus Valley Civilisation developed around 3000 BC in the Indus and Ghaggar-Hakra river valleys of eastern Afghanistan , Pakistan, and western India. Another name for this civilisation

5644-495: The Indus Valley script , which is still mostly undeciphered. The exact structure of society and the way the cities were governed is not known. By about 1600 BC, the Indus Valley culture had abandoned many of their cities, including Mohenjo-Daro . The exact reason for this decline is not known. Indo-European speaking peoples began to spread into India about 1500 BC. The Rigveda , in Sanskrit , dates to this period and begins

5810-727: The Liechtenstein Museum after nearly 60 years with most in storage. The important collection of the Thyssen family , mostly kept in the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum , which settled in Madrid in 1992, was bought by the Spanish state. Only an exhibited part, the collection of Carmen Cervera , widow of the late Baron Thyssen, remains private but exhibited separately in the museum. Many collections were left to

5976-587: The Maccabean revolt led to independence during Hellenistic period until Roman conquest . Phoenicia was an ancient civilisation centered in the north of ancient Canaan , with its heartland along the coastal regions of modern-day Lebanon , Syria and Israel. Phoenician civilisation was an enterprising maritime trading culture that spread across the Mediterranean between the period of 1550 to 300 BC. One Phoenician colony, Carthage , ruled an empire in

6142-802: The Maritime Jade Road , a jade trade network, in Southeast Asia which existed in Taiwan and the Philippines for 3,000 years from 2000 BCE to 1000 CE. The trade was established by links between the indigenous peoples of Taiwan and the Philippines, and later included parts of Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and other areas in Southeast Asia (known as the Sa Huynh - Kalanay Interaction Sphere). Lingling-o artifacts are one of

6308-603: The Maurya Empire . An alliance existed between Devanampiya Tissa and Ashoka of India, who sent Buddhist missionaries to Sri Lanka. Most of North India was reunited under the Gupta Empire beginning under Chandragupta I around AD 320. Under his successors the empire spread to include much of India except for the Deccan Plateau and the very south of the peninsula. This was a period of relative peace, and

6474-674: The Museo dell'Opera del Duomo in Florence, works by Andrea del Sarto , objects by Pierre Gouthière , and canvases by J. M. W. Turner . When the Frick moved to 945 Madison Avenue in the early 2020s, its exhibits included a showcase of Barkley Hendricks paintings (the museum's first exhibit of a black artist's art) and a pair of paintings by Giovanni Bellini and Giorgio da Castelfranco . The museum hosts special events, such as academic symposiums , concerts, and classes. The educational programs are led by Rika Burnham , who became head of

6640-562: The Museu Calouste Gulbenkian in Lisbon . Other collections remain complete but are merged into larger collections in museums. Some important 19th/20th examples are: [REDACTED] Media related to Private collections at Wikimedia Commons Ancient World Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history through late antiquity . The span of recorded history

6806-576: The Neolithic Revolution , which was in full progress. While in 10,000 BC, the world population stood at 2 million, it rose to 45 million by 3000 BC. By the Iron Age in 1000 BC, the population had risen to 72 million. By the end of the ancient period in AD 500, the world population is thought to have stood at 209 million. In 10,500 years, the world population increased by 100 times. Prehistory

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6972-778: The Nile Delta in the north, as far south as Jebel Barkal at the Fourth Cataract of the Nile. Extensions to the geographical range of ancient Egyptian civilisation included, at different times, areas of the southern Levant , the Eastern Desert and the Red Sea coastline, the Sinai Peninsula , and the Western Desert (focused on the several oases ). Ancient Egypt developed over at least three and

7138-688: The Old Kingdom , which saw pyramid building on a large scale. After 2100 BC, the Old Kingdom dissolved into smaller states during the First Intermediate Period , which lasted about 100 years. The Middle Kingdom began around 2000 BC with the reunification of Egypt under pharoes ruling from Thebes . The Middle Kingdom ended with the conquest of northern Egypt by the Hyksos around 1650 BC. The Hyksos were expelled from Egypt and

7304-637: The Orleans Collection in Paris, mostly sold in London. When this happens, it can be a large loss to those interested in art as the initial vision of the collector is lost. The Princely Family of Liechtenstein have works by such artists as Hals , Raphael , Rembrandt and Van Dyck , a collection containing some 1,600 works of art, but were unable to show them since 1945 when they were smuggled out of Nazi Germany . The works were finally displayed in

7470-827: The Pitcairns , the Kermadec Islands , and the Norfolk Islands were also formerly settled by Austronesians but later abandoned. There is also putative evidence, based in the spread of the sweet potato , that Austronesians may have reached South America from Polynesia, where they might have traded with the Indigenous peoples of the Americas . Austronesians established prehistoric maritime trade networks in Island Southeast Asia, including

7636-563: The Rijksmuseum , eighteenth- and nineteenth-century drawings from the Stanford Museum , a single Claude Monet painting, drawings by German artists, and drawings by French artists. In 1999, several items in the permanent collection were taken out of storage specifically to complement an exhibition of Ingres's Portrait of Comtesse d'Haussonville . In the early 2000s, the topics of the Frick's exhibitions included drawings in

7802-797: The Seleucid Empire . Parthia had many wars with the Romans, but it was rebellions within the empire that ended it in the 3rd century AD. The Sasanian Empire began when the Parthian Empire ended in AD 224. Their rulers claimed the Achaemenids as ancestors and set up their capital at Ctesiphon in Mesopotamia. Their period of greatest military expansion occurred under Shapur I , who by the time of his death in AD 272 had defeated Roman imperial armies and set up buffer states between

7968-552: The Sermon on the Mount ; the museum also obtained della Francesca's Crucifixion during that decade. The Frick did not acquire anything between c.  1968 and 1991, when the museum obtained its first Jean-Antoine Watteau painting, Portal of Valenciennes . The museum's other acquisitions in the 1990s and 2000s included one of Corot's oil sketches, two of Jean-Baptiste Greuze 's portraits, and Gabriel de Saint-Aubin 's The Private Academy . After former director Ryskamp died in 2010, he bequeathed some of his collection to

8134-442: The Zapotec civilization . The ancient Near East is considered the cradle of civilization . It was the first to practice intensive year-round agriculture; created one of the first coherent writing systems , invented the potter's wheel and then the vehicular wheel , created the first centralized governments , law codes and empires, as well as displaying social stratification , slavery, and organized warfare. It began

8300-431: The 1920s. Collecting of African art was rare until after World War II. In recognition of its importance in influencing the production of new art and the preservation of old art, art collecting has been an area of considerable academic research in recent decades, having been somewhat neglected previously. Very famous collections that are now dispersed include the Borghese Collection and Farnese collection in Rome, and

8466-422: The 1980s included busts by Houdon, French clocks, terracotta sculptures by Clodion , drawings by Ingres, Henry Clay Frick's earliest acquisitions, and Old Master paintings. Especially in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the museum has hosted temporary exhibitions about singular artworks or artists. Among the items exhibited in the 1990s were works by French painter Nicolas Lancret , watercolors from

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8632-446: The 1990s, the library had an estimated 235,000 volumes, which grew to 280,000 by the late 2000s. The collections of the library focus on art of the Western tradition from the fourth century to the mid-twentieth century, and chiefly include information about paintings, drawings, sculpture, prints, and illuminated manuscripts. Archival materials supplement its research collections. The Frick Art Research Library Photoarchive contains over

8798-533: The 2000s, a further expansion was announced in the 2010s. From 2021 until March 2024, during the renovation of the Frick House, the Frick Madison operated at 945 Madison Avenue . The Frick House is scheduled to reopen in April 2025. The Frick has about 1,500 pieces in its collection as of 2021. Artists with works in the collection include Bellini , Fragonard , Gainsborough , Goya , Holbein , Rembrandt , Titian , Turner , Velázquez , Vermeer , and Whistler . The museum has gradually acquired additional pieces over

8964-459: The 70th Street lots, which the LPC approved. The original annex was canceled that November, and Frick officials subsequently decided to build a one-story wing on the Widener House's site. The annex had been proposed because, at the time, the mansion could accommodate only 250 people at once. Under Fahy's tenure, the museum began hosting more temporary exhibits, which it had seldom held before Fahy took over. The Frick began charging admission for

9130-454: The Assyrians, who conquered Israel in 722 BC. The Neo-Babylonian Empire did the same to Judah in 586. After both conquests, the conquering forces deported many of the inhabitants to other regions of their respective empires. Following the fall of Babylon to the Persian Empire, Cyrus the Great allowed the rebuilding of the temple at Jerusalem , and some of the exiles from Judah returned to Judea , where they remained under Persian rule until

9296-422: The Bronze Age. The start and end of the three ages vary between world regions. In many regions the Bronze Age is generally considered to begin a few centuries prior to 3000 BC, while the end of the Iron Age varies from the early first millennium BC in some regions to the late first millennium AD in others. During the time period of ancient history, the world population was already exponentially increasing due to

9462-452: The Egyptians as a possible challenge to their hegemony , but an ethnic group rather than an organised state. Israel had emerged by the middle of the 9th century BC, when the Assyrian King Shalmaneser III named " Ahab the Israelite" among his enemies at the battle of Qarqar (853). Judah emerged somewhat later than Israel, probably during the 9th century BC, but the subject is one of considerable controversy. Israel came into conflict with

9628-451: The Fertile Crescent, alongside the first evidence for agriculture. Other animals, such as pigs and poultry , were later domesticated and used as food sources. Cattle and water buffalo were domesticated around 7000 BC and horses , donkeys , and camels were domesticated by about 4000 BC. All of these animals were used not only for food, but to carry and pull people and loads, greatly increasing human ability to do work. The invention of

9794-409: The Fragonard and Boucher rooms in the 1980s. Charles Ryskamp , the former director of the Pierpont Morgan Library , was appointed as the Frick's fifth director in December 1986 after Fahy's resignation, though he did not assume that position for another six months. Under Ryskamp's directorship, some of the paintings were rearranged or brought out of storage. By the 1990s, the art reference library

9960-415: The Frick Art Reference Library, was organized at the mansion after Frick's death, and a dedicated library building opened the next year. During the 1920s, the library added thousands of volumes and photographs to its holdings. Over the years, four additional trustees had to be appointed after their predecessors died. After Adelaide Frick's death in October 1931, the trustees were finally allowed to open

10126-411: The Frick Collection have included Ian Bostridge , Matthias Goerne , Guarneri String Quartet , Wanda Landowska , Gregor Piatigorsky , Artur Schnabel , and Kiri Te Kanawa . The concerts were broadcast on radio starting in 1939, first on the Municipal Broadcasting System , then on American Public Radio and WNYC . Although visitors originally could listen to the concerts free of charge (even after

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10292-458: The Frick Collection was a public museum. When the rebuilt library opened in January 1935, it had 200,000 photographs, 18,000 catalogs of art sales, and 45,000 books. The museum itself had a soft opening on December 11, 1935; the preview was noteworthy enough that the names of 700 visitors were published in that day's New York Herald Tribune . The Frick Collection officially opened to the public five days later on December 16. When it opened,

10458-454: The Frick House while Frick decided whether to buy them. A bust of Henry Clay Frick by Malvina Hoffman was gifted to the museum when it opened in 1935. Other acquisitions of sculpture in the mid-20th century included a Diana bust by Jean-Antoine Houdon , a 15th-century bronze figure of an angel, and a pair of 15th-century Italian marble busts. In the 1990s and 2000s, the Frick received Winthrop Edey 's collection of timekeeping pieces,

10624-424: The Frick House's courtyard. It was relatively low-profile compared to others in New York City, only sporadically expanding its collection and hosting small temporary exhibitions. After Helen Frick died in 1984, the museum took over responsibility for the Frick Art Research Library; initially, the library had no endowment as Helen had not provided anything for the library in her will. Ceiling lights were installed in

10790-535: The Frick House's ornate decoration; the paintings were also grouped according to their age and region of origin. The Frick Madison also included a café. The museum had raised $ 242 million for its capital campaign by the end of 2023. Wardropper announced in January 2024 that he would resign the following year, after the Frick House's renovation was complete. The Frick Madison closed on March 3, 2024. The Henry Clay Frick House and Frick Art Research Library were originally expected to reopen in late 2024, but this

10956-458: The Frick House. A group named Friends of the Fellows of the Frick Collection was formed to raise interest in the museum. Colin Bailey was appointed as chief curator in 2000 after Munhall resigned. During the late 1990s, the Helen Clay Frick Foundation proposed moving its archives in Pittsburgh to the Frick Collection's archives, prompting an intra-family debate over whether the collections should be merged. The foundation's collection ultimately

11122-411: The Frick Madison. The library is typically open free of charge to "any adult with a serious interest in art". In the late 20th century, the library served 6,000 people a year on average, most of whom made advance reservations or requests. Helen Frick acted as director for six decades, during which time its collection expanded to include 50,000 sales catalogs, 400,000 photographs, and 150,000 books. By

11288-437: The Frick announced in June 2015 that it would draw up new designs. To attract younger visitors, the museum began hosting free events in the mid-2010s, such as First Fridays. The Frick hired Annabelle Selldorf to design a revised expansion plan for the museum, which was announced in April 2018; the LPC approved Selldorf's plans that June. The Frick then sought to relocate to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum temporarily, but

11454-447: The Frick family moved from Pittsburgh to New York City in 1905, they leased the William H. Vanderbilt House at 640 Fifth Avenue , and Frick expanded his collection during that time. The collection was spread across their homes in New York, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts. Thomas Hastings of Carrère and Hastings designed Frick's permanent house at 1 East 70th Street , which was completed in 1914. The house had been designed with

11620-443: The Frick increased during the decade. Further restorations of the museum's galleries took place through the late 2000s to attract visitors. Poulet announced her retirement in September 2010, and Ian Wardropper was hired as the museum's director in 2011. A sculpture gallery, designed by Davis Brody Bond , opened at the Frick House in December 2011, becoming the first new gallery at the museum in three decades. Bailey resigned as

11786-437: The Frick's classification as a charity, the museum had to raise a third of its budget from donations. The Frick created programs to attract major donors and art collectors, and it began charging admission fees for concerts in 2005. During the 2000s decade, the Frick did not acquire many additional items. In contrast to larger museums, it generally hosted small, detailed exhibits, though the number of short-term exhibitions at

11952-665: The Frick's first Meissen porcelain show, pieces from the Norton Simon Museum 's collection, and a single painting by Parmigianino. The Frick hosted various exhibits in honor of its 75th anniversary in 2010, including an exhibition on its own founding. Other early-2010s exhibits included works from the Dulwich Picture Gallery , works from the Courtauld Gallery , Picasso drawings, Renoir paintings, Piero della Francesca panels, and

12118-525: The Frick. The museum's other acquisitions in the 2010s included a self-portrait by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo that had been owned by Henry Clay Frick's grandson . In 2023, the Frick obtained Giovanni Battista Moroni 's painting Portrait of a Lady , the first Renaissance-era portrait of a woman in the collection. The modern-day museum's collection includes numerous works of sculpture and porcelain , in addition to 18th-century French furniture , Limoges enamel , and Oriental rugs . The objects in

12284-654: The Guggenheim was available for only four months. By September 2018, the Frick was negotiating to take over the Whitney Museum 's space at 945 Madison Avenue ; the Frick finalized a two-year lease for that building in 2020. The Frick closed in mid-March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City ; the opening of the temporary location was delayed due to the pandemic. The museum's collection

12450-613: The Gupta rulers generally left administration in local rulers. The Gupta Empire was weakened and ultimately ruined by the raids of Hunas (a branch of the Hephthalites emanating from Central Asia), and the empire broke up into smaller regional kingdoms by the end of the fifth century AD. India would remain fragmented into smaller states until the rise of the Mughal Empire in the 1500s. The Neolithic period of Southeast Asia

12616-889: The Malayan-Indonesian " thalassian " zone shared these characteristics with Indochinese polities like the Pyu city-states in the Irrawaddy River valley, the Văn Lang kingdom in the Red River Delta and Funan around the lower Mekong . Văn Lang, founded in the 7th century BCE, endured until 258 BCE under the Hồng Bàng dynasty , as part of the Đông Sơn culture that sustained a dense and organised population that produced an elaborate Bronze Age industry. Intensive wet-rice cultivation in an ideal climate enabled

12782-519: The Marquis Ambrose de Spinola , Rembrandt's An Old Woman Reflecting Over the Lecture , and Gainsborough 's Mall between 1915 and 1916 alone. He also bought four Boucher panels, although he turned down the opportunity to buy additional panels. From 1917 through 1919, Frick obtained several pieces of Boucher tapestry furniture, Van Dyck's Countess of Clanbrazil , Hals's Portrait of

12948-768: The Middle East. Egypt developed its own system of hieroglyphs by about 3200 BC. By 2800 BC the Indus Valley Civilization had developed its Indus script , which remains undeciphered. Chinese Characters were independently developed in China during the Shang dynasty in the form of the Oracle Bone Script dating to the period 1600 to 1100 BC. Writing in Mesoamerica dates to 600 BC with

13114-588: The Money Changers from the Temple , Titian's Portrait of a Man in a Red Cap , one of Rembrandt's self-portraits , and della Francesca's St. John the Evangelist . Some of the earliest works in Frick's collection were portraits of his family, created for his Pittsburgh residence. At the beginning of the 20th century, Frick bought works such as Rembrandt's Portrait of a Young Artist (possibly

13280-588: The Nubians had created a new kingdom further south, known as the Kingdom of Kush , centred on the upper Nile with a capital at Kerma . In the Egyptian New Kingdom period, Kush once more was conquered by Egypt. However, by 1100 BC a new kingdom of Kush had formed, with a capital at Napata . Nubian rulers conquered Egypt around 760 BC and retained control for about a century. The Kingdom of Aksum

13446-653: The Pacific Islands to successfully retain rice cultivation. Palau and Yap were settled by separate voyages by 1000 BCE. Another important migration branch was by the Lapita culture , which rapidly spread into the islands off the coast of northern New Guinea and into the Solomon Islands and other parts of coastal New Guinea and Island Melanesia by 1200 BCE. They reached the islands of Fiji , Samoa , and Tonga by around 900 to 800 BCE. This remained

13612-620: The Sasanians and Roman Empires. After Shapur, the Sasanians were under more pressure from the Kushans to their east as well as the Roman then Byzantine Empire to its west. However, the Sasanians rebuilt and founded numerous cities and their merchants traveled widely and introduced crops such as sugar, rice, and cotton into the Iranian plateau. But in AD 651, the last Sassanid emperor was killed by

13778-667: The Western Mediterranean until being defeated by Rome in the Punic Wars . The Phoenicians invented the Phoenician alphabet , the forerunner of the modern alphabet still in use today. The history of Pre-Islamic Arabia before the rise of Islam in the AD 630s is not known in great detail. Archaeological exploration in the Arabian Peninsula has been sparse; indigenous written sources are limited to

13944-492: The ability of their military forces to be deployed rapidly. Increased trade and upgraded farming techniques increased wealth, but also exacerbated inequalities between social classes. The empire's location at the centre of trading networks spread its intellectual and philosophical ideas throughout a wide area, and its religion, while not itself spreading far, had an impact on later religions such as Christianity , Islam , and Judaism . Cyrus' son Cambyses II conquered Egypt, while

14110-537: The age of 69, bequeathing the house as a public museum for his art collection. His widow Adelaide Howard Childs Frick continued living in the mansion with her daughter Helen ; if Adelaide died or moved away, the house would be converted to a public museum. At the time, the collection alone was worth $ 30 million, and Frick also provided a $ 15 million endowment for the maintenance of the collection. Nine people, including Adelaide, Helen, and Helen's brother Childs , were named as trustees of his estate; Childs served as

14276-492: The archipelago of the Philippines , intermingling with the earlier Australo-Melanesian population who had inhabited the islands since about 23,000 years earlier. Over the next thousand years, Austronesian peoples migrated southeast to the rest of the Philippines, and into the islands of the Celebes Sea and Borneo. From southwestern Borneo, Austronesians spread further west in a single migration event to both Sumatra and

14442-535: The board of trustees expanded the collection after his death; in 2006, the New York Times estimated that about 30 percent of the collection had been acquired after Frick died. Nonetheless, until 1948, the museum accepted donations of art only from Frick family members. The museum can lend works acquired after Frick's death, but not works that he owned in his lifetime; this restriction has prevented works from appearing in other museums' exhibitions. The Frick

14608-527: The capital of the Akkadian Empire. Despite an extensive search, the precise site has never been found. Akkad reached the height of its power between about 2330 and 2150 BC, following the conquests of King Sargon of Akkad . Through the spread of Sargon's empire, the language of Akkad, known as Akkadian from the city, spread and replaced the Sumerian language in Mesopotamia and eventually by 1450 BC

14774-555: The care of the Crown, though distinguished from the private property of the British Royal Family . The cabinet of curiosities was an important mixed form of collection, including art and what we would now call natural history or scientific collections. These were formed by royalty but smaller ones also by merchants and scholars. The tastes and habits of collectors have played a very important part in determining what art

14940-627: The casting of iron with molds and then hammering it which enabled weapons and tools to be made stronger and also cheaper. Although chariots had been used previously, the use of spoked wheels allowed the chariots to be much lighter and more maneuverable. In 1274 BC the Hittites clashed with the Egyptians at the Battle of Kadesh , where both sides claimed victory. In 1207 the Hittite capital of Hattusa

15106-455: The chief curator in 2013, and Xavier F. Salomon was hired as the chief curator the same year. During the 2010s, the Frick began raising $ 290 million for its renovation. The collection had reached more than 1,100 works by the mid-2010s. In addition, the museum was hosting an average of five temporary exhibits per year. The Frick House's facilities were not adequate for the museum's modern needs. For example, paintings had to be carried into

15272-614: The coastal regions of southern Vietnam, becoming the ancestors of the speakers of the Malayic and Chamic branches of the Austronesian language family. Soon after reaching the Philippines, Austronesians colonized the Northern Mariana Islands by 1500 BCE or even earlier, becoming the first humans to reach Remote Oceania . The Chamorro migration was also unique in that it was the only Austronesian migration to

15438-448: The collection in mind. James Howard Bridge , Frick's personal assistant, was hired as the house's curator in 1914 and worked at the house for fourteen years. Frick, who was known for being especially particular in his tastes, spent an estimated $ 10 million to acquire pieces during his lifetime. Duveen opened four art-purchasing accounts for Frick, including two accounts specifically for art from Morgan's estate. Frick died in 1919 at

15604-520: The collection include 18th-century tapestries that belonged to Louis XV and Louis XVI of France. Frick had acquired some objects from the J. P. Morgan estate specifically to complement the visual art in his collection. Some of these acquisitions included 18th-century French sculptures and furniture, a hawthorn beaker, and Chinese porcelains. In one case, Frick paid $ 1.5 million for some of Morgan's 44 enamels and 225 bronzes. He also acquired 40 Limoges enamels from Morgan's collection in 1919, one of

15770-468: The collection of J. P. Morgan and moved the panels to his house's drawing room. At the time of the house's completion, he owned paintings by such artists as El Greco, Goya, Hals, Rembrandt, Romney, Titian, Anthony van Dyck, and Velázquez. In the late 1910s, Frick acquired additional pieces from outside the Morgan collection, such as Hans Holbein 's portrait of Thomas Cromwell , Rubens 's Portrait of

15936-529: The collection of the Albertina museum, paintings from John Hay Whitney 's collection, El Greco paintings, antique clocks, pieces from the Toledo Museum of Art 's collection, a set of Parmigianino paintings, and three consecutive exhibits of antique bronzes. Later in the decade, the temporary exhibitions included portraits by Hans Memling , paintings by Paolo Veronese , a show of French art,

16102-568: The collection was reassessed at $ 13 million in 1921; this figure was repeated in a revised appraisal of Frick's estate that was filed with the New York state government in 1923. Meanwhile, Helen Frick studied plans for the Witt Library in London in the early 1920s, as she wanted to create a library for Frick's personal collection. Helen catalogued most of the collection over the next decade. The Frick Art Research Library , originally named

16268-532: The collections of those who would normally qualify for the term had to be considerably larger, and some were enormous. Increasingly collectors tended to specialize in one or two types of work, although some, like George Salting (1835–1909), still had a very wide scope for their collections. Apart from antiquities , which were regarded as perhaps the highest form of collecting from the Renaissance until relatively recently, and also books, paintings and prints from

16434-538: The empire was Aksum , now in northern Ethiopia. The Nok culture appeared in Nigeria around 1000 BC and mysteriously vanished around AD 200. The civilisation's social system is thought to have been highly advanced. The Nok civilisation was considered to be the earliest sub-Saharan producer of life-sized Terracotta which have been discovered by archaeologists. The Nok also used iron smelting that may have been independently developed. The civilisation of Djenné-Djenno

16600-507: The end of the 19th century, and his acquisitions during the 1900s were increasingly composed of Old Master artworks. By the early 1910s, his collection consisted largely of English and Dutch paintings, with scattered French and Spanish paintings; a magazine article from that time described him as having relatively little interest in Italian Renaissance work. The paintings ranged from the 14th to 19th centuries, and many of

16766-498: The entire territory. Among large, thin-walled terracotta jars, ornamented and colorized cooking pots, glass items, jade earrings and metal objects were deposited near the rivers and along the coast. Around 3000 to 1500 BCE, a large-scale migration of Austronesians , known as the Austronesian expansion began from Taiwan . Population growth primarily fueled this migration. These first settlers settled in northern Luzon , in

16932-512: The event, which began as a members-only gathering, evolved into an annual fundraiser. In 2016, the Frick introduced First Fridays, in which patrons could visit the museum for free on the first Friday of every month. First Fridays include gallery talks and activities for visitors. The Concerts from the Frick Collection series was launched in 1938 and has continued through the 20th and 21st centuries. Musicians who have performed at

17098-486: The expanding Islamic Arabs. The Hittites first came to Anatolia about 1900 BC and during the period 1600-1500 they expanded into Mesopotamia where they adopted the cuneiform script to their Indo-European language. By 1200 their empire stretched to Phoenicia and eastern Anatolia . They improved two earlier technologies from Mesopotamia and spread these new techniques widely – improved iron working and light chariots with spoked wheels in warfare. The Hittites introduced

17264-521: The farming communities to produce a regular crop surplus that was used by the ruling elite to raise, command and pay work forces for public construction and maintenance projects such as canals and fortifications. The earliest known evidence of copper and bronze production in Southeast Asia was found at Ban Chiang in north-east Thailand and among the Phùng Nguyên culture of northern Vietnam around 2000 BCE. The Đông Sơn culture established

17430-702: The first Old Master painting in the collection ), Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot 's Ville d'Avray , Constant Troyon 's A Pasture in Normandy , and Vermeer's Girl Interrupted at Her Music . From 1905 to 1915, Frick also acquired paintings such as Hals's Portrait of a Woman , Velázquez's Portrait of Philip IV in Fraga , Rembrandt's A Dutch Merchant , and Rembrandt's The Polish Rider . After Frick had finished his own mansion, he brought over several paintings of his firstborn daughter Martha, who had died in her childhood. He also obtained 14 Fragonard panels from

17596-472: The first time in 1976. The annex was completed the next year, along with a garden, designed by British landscape architect Russell Page . The Frick renovated the Boucher Room and cleaned and rearranged its paintings during the following decade. By the mid-1980s, the museum displayed 169 works of art, and the galleries occupied 16 rooms. The museum periodically hosted chamber music performances in

17762-687: The furthest extent of the Austronesian expansion into Polynesia until around 700 CE, when there was another surge of island colonization. It reached the Cook Islands , Tahiti , and the Marquesas by 700 CE; Hawaii by 900 CE; Rapa Nui by 1000 CE; and New Zealand by 1200 CE. For a few centuries, the Polynesian islands were connected by bidirectional long-distance sailing, with the exception of Rapa Nui, which had limited further contact due to its isolated geographical location. Island groups like

17928-500: The head of the Frick estate's board of trustees until his death in 1965. Per the terms of Frick's will, the trustees moved to incorporate Frick's art collection in April 1920, submitting articles of incorporation to the New York state government. The Frick Collection Inc. was incorporated that month. The New York and Pennsylvania state governments fought over which government should collect taxes from Frick's estate. Amid this dispute,

18094-660: The house have been modified over the years specifically to accommodate the artwork, including a room for the Fragonard panels. In addition to the artwork and artifacts on display, there are bookcases placed throughout the Frick House's rooms, and some rooms have various other pieces of furniture such as a dining table. The Frick Collection oversees the Frick Art Research Library, which was established in 1920 and opened to researchers in June 1924. The library

18260-537: The house to the public; they announced in January 1933 that the collection would likely open to the public within a year. John Russell Pope was hired to alter and enlarge the house. Frederick Mortimer Clapp , who had joined the Frick Collection as an advisor in 1931, was hired as the museum's first director. Work on the mansion began in December 1933. A new library wing was constructed on 71st Street to replace

18426-444: The house were rearranged and cleaned as well. The Frick acquired another townhouse at 7 East 70th Street in 1947 and replaced it with a service wing. By the late 1940s, the museum had cumulatively spent about $ 2.9 million in acquisitions since Frick's death. When John D. Rockefeller Jr. offered to donate several pieces of artwork in 1948, Helen Frick objected, arguing that the museum only accepted gifts from Frick family members. In

18592-555: The land was reunited in the New Kingdom around 1550 BC. This period lasted until about 1000 BC, and saw Egypt expand its borders into Palestine and Syria. The Third Intermediate Period was marked by the rule of priests as well as the conquest of Egypt by Nubian kings and then later Assyria, Persia, and Macedonians. The Ta-Seti kingdom in Nubia to the south of Egypt was conquered by Egyptian rulers around 3100 BC, but by 2500 BC

18758-415: The last things he would personally purchase. Outside of the Morgan collection, Frick also bought the bronzes Bust of a Jurist by Danese Cattaneo , Antonio Galli by Federico Brandani , and Duke of Alba by Jacques Jonghelinck . Although Frick had planned a sculpture gallery to his home in the late 1910s, the lack of other statuary caused him to cancel the plan. Duveen displayed numerous marble busts in

18924-447: The late 15th century onwards, until the 18th century collectors tended to collect fairly new works from Europe. The extension of serious collecting to art from all periods and places was an essentially 19th-century development, or at least dating to the Age of Enlightenment . Trecento paintings were little appreciated until about the 1830s, and Chinese ritual bronzes and jades until perhaps

19090-408: The lawsuit that followed, a New York Supreme Court judge ruled that the terms of Frick's will did not prevent the museum from accepting external gifts; the court's Appellate Division upheld this ruling. Rockefeller, who had been on the board of trustees, resigned amid the dispute. Clapp resigned in 1951 and was replaced by the museum's assistant director Franklin M. Biebel . Biebel established

19256-467: The many inscriptions and coins from southern Arabia. Existing material consists primarily of written sources from other traditions (such as Egyptians, Greeks, Persians, Romans, etc.) and oral traditions later recorded by Islamic scholars. A number of small kingdoms existed in Arabia from around AD 100 to perhaps about AD 400. Carthage was founded around 814 BC by Phoenician settlers. Ancient Carthage

19422-420: The mid-1890s, and he began devoting significant amounts of time to his collection. This made Frick one of several prominent American businessmen who also collected art, along with figures such as Henry Havemeyer and J. P. Morgan . In explaining why he collected art, Frick said, "I can make money... I cannot make pictures." He curated his collection with the help of Joseph Duveen, 1st Baron Duveen . When

19588-434: The museum did not charge admission fees, but staff distributed timed-entry tickets to prevent crowding. Although about 600 tickets were distributed daily to people who showed up in person, other visitors had to make reservations several weeks in advance due to high demand. Ropes were placed throughout the house to force visitors to follow a specific path. The galleries were originally closed on holidays, Sundays, and for

19754-543: The museum launched a website in the 1990s, and replaced the lighting and hosted additional special exhibitions. Sachs also contemplated expanding the exhibition space, adding a café, and relocating the entrance to the house's garden. In addition, the museum began providing complimentary audio guides for the mansion and artworks and, in the early 21st century, added the Bloomberg Connects smartphone app. Museum officials also began allowing parties to be hosted in

19920-407: The museum started charging an admission fee), a separate admission charge for concerts was instituted in 2005. Prior to the 2020s renovation, the concerts were hosted in the Frick House's music room. The collection is detailed in books such as Masterpieces of the Frick Collection , first published in 1970, and Art in the Frick Collection , first published in 1996. The history of the collection

20086-450: The museum through the house's front door, and portraits had to be placed in storage whenever the Frick hosted a visiting show. The concerts at the museum sometimes sold out as well. In 2014, the museum announced plans for a six-story annex on 70th Street designed by Davis Brody Bond. Russell Page's garden on 70th Street would have been demolished to make way for the annex; this prompted opposition from residents and preservationists, and

20252-459: The museum to start admitting children. Museum officials requested a waiver, saying that they would have to install barriers if children were allowed, and they received such a waiver in 1995. In addition, further lighting upgrades were made in the mid-1990s. Ryskamp announced his retirement in 1997. After Samuel Sachs II was named as the museum's sixth director that May, the trustees tasked him with raising funds. Under Sachs's directorship,

20418-426: The museum's collection have included: Several artists, including Holbein, Vermeer, Rembrandt, Turner, Gainsborough, Van Dyck, Fragonard, and Boucher, painted multiple pieces that are in the collection. Included in the modern collection are Fragonard's The Progress of Love , three Vermeer paintings including Mistress and Maid , two van Ruisdael paintings including Quay at Amsterdam , El Greco's Christ Driving

20584-479: The museum's education department in 2008. The Frick's educational programs include online visits for students at secondary schools and postsecondary institutions, as well as courses where a single piece is discussed at length. The Frick also has partnerships with local educational partnerships such as the Ghetto Film School . Docents began hosting lectures in galleries in 2010, and the museum launched

20750-557: The museum's third director in 1964. By the mid-1960s, the Frick had 160 portraits, 80 sculptures, and various other items in its collection. The Frick was open six days a week (except in August, when it was closed) and was still free to enter. The collection was small compared to that of the Metropolitan Museum of Art , which at the time had 365,000 items. Edgar Munhall was hired as the museum's first chief curator in 1965,

20916-516: The museum's trustees established an acquisitions fund. As of 2021 , the museum has 1,500 pieces in its collection, including both paintings and other objects; it normally displays 470 objects. Prior to the museum's 2021 renovation, the artwork was displayed in 15 galleries. Frick's collection initially consisted of salon pieces and works by Barbizon School artists, and he bought 90 paintings from Charles Carstairs between 1895 and 1900 alone. He had begun to acquire other types of paintings by

21082-669: The notable archeological finds originating from the Maritime Jade Road. During the operation of the Maritime Jade Road, the Austronesian spice trade networks were also established by Islander Southeast Asians with Sri Lanka and Southern India by around 1000 to 600 BCE. Frick Collection The Frick Collection (colloquially known as the Frick ) is an art museum on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City , New York , U.S. It

21248-442: The organisation of collective projects such as the pyramids ; trade with surrounding regions; and a polytheistic religious tradition that included elaborate funeral customs including mummification . Overseeing these activities were a socio-political and economic elite under the figure of a (semi)-divine ruler from a succession of ruling dynasties . Ancient Egyptian history is divided across various periods, beginning with

21414-400: The original library. Other modifications included a new storage vault and renovations of the Frick family's living space. The museum's opening, originally scheduled for 1934, was postponed because of the complexity of the construction project. The Frick estate also sued the city government in 1935 to obtain a property-tax exemption for the museum, and the taxes were waived the next year, as

21580-536: The paintings depicted women. There were some chronological gaps in the original collection: for example, there were no 17th-century French paintings when the museum opened, even as the museum had both older and newer French paintings. When Frick died, he was variously cited as having collected 103, 137, "about 140", or 250 paintings. Some of the original paintings in Frick's personal collection were discovered to be forgeries after his death, while other paintings were found to be misattributed. Artists with works in

21746-472: The population to settle in one place instead of migrating after crops and herds. It also allowed for a much greater population density, and in turn required an extensive labour force and division of labour. This organization led to the necessity of record keeping and the development of writing. Babylonia was an Amorite state in lower Mesopotamia (modern southern Iraq ), with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged when Hammurabi created an empire out of

21912-609: The public in some form, and are now museums, or the nucleus of a museum's collection. Most museums are formed around one or more formerly private collection acquired as a whole. Major examples where few or no additions have been made include the Wallace Collection and Sir John Soane's Museum in London, the Frick Collection and Morgan Library in New York, The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., and

22078-567: The region in the former savannah of the Sahara. Its inhabitants fished and grew millet. It has been found that the Soninke of the Mandé peoples were responsible for constructing such settlements. Around 300 BC, the region became more desiccated and the settlements began to decline, most likely relocating to Koumbi Saleh. From the type of architecture and pottery, it is believed that Tichit was related to

22244-634: The region until the arrival of traders from Southwest Asia . However, sites such as Djenné-Djenno disprove this, as these traditions in West Africa flourished long before. Towns similar to that at Djenne-Jeno also developed at the site of Dia, also in Mali along the Niger River , from around 900 BC. Dhar Tichitt and Oualata were prominent among the early urban centres, dated to 2000 BC, in present-day Mauritania. About 500 stone settlements littered

22410-427: The rooms on the ground floor, while the majority of the rooms on the second and third floors were decorated by Elsie de Wolfe . Charles Carstairs and Joseph Duveen provided the original decorations for the rooms. Inside the house are the museum's galleries (adapted from the old living spaces of the mansion), as well as a courtyard with reflecting pool, the latter of which is based on a Roman atrium. Some parts of

22576-588: The same time period. Cultivation of millet, rice , and legumes began around 7000 BC in China . Taro cultivation in New Guinea dates to about 7000 BC also with squash cultivation in Mesoamerica perhaps sharing that date. Animal domestication began with the domestication of dogs , which dates to at least 15,000 years ago, and perhaps even earlier. Sheep and goats were domesticated around 9000 BC in

22742-554: The same time, southeastern Europe and Siberia around 40,000 years ago, and Japan about 30,000 years ago. Humans migrated to the Americas about 15,000 years ago. Evidence for agriculture emerges in about 9000 BC in what is now eastern Turkey and spread through the Fertile Crescent . Settlement at Göbekli Tepe began around 9500 BC and may have the world's oldest temple. The Nile River Valley has evidence of sorghum and millet cultivation starting around 8000 BC and agricultural use of yams in Western Africa perhaps dates to

22908-412: The simple plough by 6000 BC further increased agricultural efficiency. Metal use in the form of hammered copper items predates the discovery of smelting of copper ores , which happened around 6000 BC in western Asia and independently in eastern Asia before 2000 BC. Gold and silver use dates to between 6000 and 5000 BC. Alloy metallurgy began with bronze in about 3500 BC in Mesopotamia and

23074-525: The study of the stars and the sciences of astronomy and mathematics. Mesopotamia is the site of some of the earliest known civilisations in the world. Agricultural communities emerged in the area with the Halaf culture around 8000 BC and continued to expand through the Ubaid period around 6000 BC. Cities began in the Uruk period (4000–3100 BC) and expanded during the Jemdet Nasr (3100–2900 BC) and Early Dynastic (2900–2350 BC) periods. The surplus of storable foodstuffs created by this economy allowed

23240-439: The subsequent Ghana Empire. Old Jenne (Djenne) began to be settled around 300 BC, producing iron and with sizeable population, evidenced in crowded cemeteries. The inhabitants and creators of these settlements during these periods are thought to have been ancestors of the Soninke people. Peoples speaking precursors to the modern-day Bantu languages began to spread throughout southern Africa, and by 2000 BC they were expanding past

23406-460: The territories of the former kingdoms of Sumer and Akkad . The Neo-Babylonian Empire , or Chaldea , was Babylonia from the 7th and 6th centuries BC. Under the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II , it conquered Jerusalem . This empire also created the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the still-surviving Ishtar Gate as architectural embellishments of its capital at Babylon. Akkad was a city and its surrounding region near Babylon. Akkad also became

23572-411: The time of Sachs's resignation, the museum recorded 350,000 annual visitors, 20 percent more than in 1997, but it was running at a $ 1 million annual deficit. Annexes to the museum were proposed in 2001, 2005, and 2008, but all of these plans were canceled because it would have required an extended closure of the museum and still would not have provided sufficient space. The art scholar Anne L. Poulet

23738-446: The trustees of Frick's estate formed the Frick Collection Inc. to care for his art collection, which he had bequeathed for public use. After Frick's wife Adelaide Frick died in 1931, John Russell Pope converted the Frick House into a museum, which opened on December 16, 1935. The museum acquired additional works of art over the years, and it expanded the house in 1977 to accommodate increasing visitation. Following fundraising campaigns in

23904-405: The works themselves and their juxtaposition with the Frick House. Henry Clay Frick was a coke and steel magnate. As early as 1870, he had hung pictures throughout his house in Broadford, Pennsylvania . Frick acquired the first painting in his permanent collection, Luis Jiménez's In the Louvre, in 1880, after moving to Pittsburgh . He did not begin buying paintings in large numbers until

24070-461: The years to supplement the paintings in Frick's original collection. In addition to its permanent collection, the museum has hosted small temporary exhibitions on narrowly defined topics, as well as academic symposiums , concerts, and classes. The Frick Collection typically has up to 300,000 visitors annually and has an endowment fund to support its programming. Commentary on the museum over the years has been largely positive, particularly in relation to

24236-414: Was Washukanni , whose precise location has not been determined by archaeologists. The Medes and Persians were peoples who had appeared in the Iranian plateau around 1500 BC. Both peoples spoke Indo-European languages and were mostly pastoralists with a tradition of horse archery. The Medes established their own Median Empire by the 6th century BC, having defeated the Neo-Assyrian Empire with

24402-414: Was a city-state that ruled an empire through alliances and trade influence that stretched throughout North Africa and modern Spain . At the height of the city's influence, its empire included most of the western Mediterranean. The empire was in a constant state of struggle with the Roman Republic , which led to a series of conflicts known as the Punic Wars . After the third and final Punic War , Carthage

24568-408: Was also detailed in Henry Clay Frick: An Intimate Portrait , a biography of Frick written by his great-granddaughter Martha Frick Symington Sanger in 1998. Sanger's subsequent book The Henry Clay Frick House: Architecture-Interiors—Landscapes in the Golden Era , published in 2001, described the Frick House and its collection in detail. In 2011, the Frick and the BNP Paribas Foundation published

24734-438: Was an important trading nation in northeastern Africa centered in present-day Eritrea and northern Ethiopia , it existed from approximately AD 100 to 940, growing from the Iron Age proto-Aksumite period around the 4th century BC to achieve prominence by the 1st century AD. The Kingdom of Aksum at its height by the early 6th-century AD extended through much of modern Ethiopia and across the Red Sea to Arabia. The capital city of

24900-445: Was characterized by several migrations into Mainland and Island Southeast Asia from southern China by Austronesian , Austroasiatic , Kra-Dai and Hmong-Mien -speakers. Territorial principalities in both Insular and Mainland Southeast Asia, characterized as "agrarian kingdoms", developed an economy by around 500 BCE based on surplus crop cultivation and moderate coastal trade of domestic natural products. Several states of

25066-422: Was designed by Thomas Hastings in the Beaux-Arts style. The same style is also used for the 1970s reception wing, designed by Harry Van Dyke, John Barrington Bayley, and G. Frederick Poehler. Both structures have a facade of Indiana Limestone . The house has a lawn that is mostly closed to the public. The interiors were designed by a variety of people. The British decorator Charles Allom furnished most of

25232-422: Was destroyed and then occupied by Roman forces. Nearly all of the territory held by Carthage fell into Roman hands. Ancient Egypt was a long-lived civilisation geographically located in north-eastern Africa. It was concentrated along the middle to lower reaches of the Nile River, reaching its greatest extent during the 2nd millennium BC, which is referred to as the New Kingdom period. It reached broadly from

25398-405: Was developed independent of Chinese or Indian influence. Historians relate these achievements to the presence of organized, centralized and hierarchical communities and a large population. Between 1000 BCE and 100 CE, the Sa Huỳnh culture flourished along the south-central coast of Vietnam . Ceramic jar burial sites that included grave goods have been discovered at various sites along

25564-609: Was developed independently in China by 2000 BC. Pottery developed independently throughout the world, with fired pots appearing first among the Jomon of Japan and in West Africa at Mali . Sometime between 5000 and 4000 BC the potter's wheel was invented. By 3000 BC, the pottery wheel was adapted into wheeled vehicles which could be used to carry loads further and easier than with human or animal power alone. Writing developed separately in five different locations in human history: Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, China, and Mesoamerica. By 3400 BC, "proto-literate" cuneiform spread in

25730-576: Was established in 1935 to preserve the art collection of the industrialist Henry Clay Frick . The collection consists of 14th- to 19th-century European paintings, as well as other pieces of European fine and decorative art. It is located at the Henry Clay Frick House , a Beaux-Arts mansion designed for Henry Clay Frick. The Frick also houses the Frick Art Research Library , an art history research center established by Frick's daughter Helen Clay Frick in 1920, which contains sales catalogs, books, periodicals, and photographs. The museum dates to 1920, when

25896-421: Was evolving into Hinduism , which spread throughout Southeast Asia. Siddhartha Gautama , born around 560 BC in northern India, went on to found a new religion based on his ascetic life – Buddhism . This faith also spread throughout Eastern and Southeastern Asia after his death. This period also saw the composition of the epics Ramayana and Mahabharata . The kingdom of Magadha rose to prominence under

26062-432: Was hired in August 2003 as the Frick's first female director, and the museum was reorganized as a tax-exempt public charity shortly after Poulet became the director. Under Poulet's tenure, she replaced lighting in several galleries and rearranged some of the pieces. She also raised $ 55 million for renovations; the museum's facilities had become dated, and the basement exhibition space was no longer sufficient. Because of

26228-429: Was later pushed back to April 2025. In September 2024, the Frick appointed Axel Rüger , the head of the Royal Academy of Arts in London, as the museum's director beginning in 2025. The Frick has a collection of old master paintings and furniture housed in 19 galleries of varying size within the former residence. Frick ultimately acquired a variety of European paintings, Renaissance bronzes, French clocks, and

26394-455: Was located in the Niger River Valley in the country of Mali and is considered to be among the oldest urbanized centers and the best-known archaeology site in sub-Saharan Africa . This archaeological site is located about 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) away from the modern town and is believed to have been involved in long-distance trade and possibly the domestication of African rice. The site is believed to exceed 33 hectares (82 acres); however, this

26560-452: Was low on funds; the library had a $ 25 million endowment by 1993, and the Frick began charging "frequent commercial users" of the library that year. Through the 1990s, the Frick banned all children under the age of 10, as well as unaccompanied minors between ages 10 and 15, and the museum also did not have a café. The New York City government passed a law banning public institutions from discriminating by age in 1993, which would have forced

26726-448: Was moved to 945 Madison Avenue, which reopened as the Frick Madison in March 2021. The Frick Madison housed the museum's old masters collection, including 104 paintings, along with sculptures, vases, and clocks. Most of the 1,500-piece collection of artwork was placed in storage at 945 Madison Avenue, and about 300 works were placed on display. At the Frick Madison, the artwork was exhibited against stark dark gray walls, in contrast to

26892-404: Was produced, providing the demand that artists supply. Many types of objects, such as medals , engravings , small plaquettes , modern engraved gems and bronze statuettes were essentially made for the collector's market. By the 18th century all homes of the well-to-do were expected to contain a selection of objects, from paintings to porcelain , that could form part of an art collection, and

27058-403: Was ruled by the Seleucid dynasty . Parthia was an Iranian civilisation situated in the northeastern part of modern Iran. Their power was based on a combination of military power based on heavy cavalry with a decentralised governing structure based on a federated system . The Parthian Empire was led by the Arsacid dynasty , which by around 155 BC under Mithradates I had mostly conquered

27224-442: Was sacked, ending the Hittite Empire . Israel and Judah were related Iron Age kingdoms of the ancient Levant and had existed during the Iron Ages and the Neo-Babylonian, Persian and Hellenistic periods. The name Israel first appears in the stele of the Egyptian pharaoh Merneptah around 1209 BC. This "Israel" was a cultural and probably political entity of the central highlands, well enough established to be perceived by

27390-419: Was split between the two cities in 2001, and most of the objects were sent to New York City. After attendance dropped following the September 11 attacks that year, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation provided $ 270,000, in part to fund extended hours on Fridays. Sachs announced in January 2003 that he would resign as the museum's director in eight months, as the board of trustees had not renewed his contract. At

27556-516: Was the main language of diplomacy in the Near East. Assyria was originally a region on the Upper Tigris , where a small state was created in the 19th century BC. The capital was at Assur , which gave the state its name. Later, as a nation and empire that came to control all of the Fertile Crescent, Egypt and much of Anatolia , the term "Assyria proper" referred to roughly the northern half of Mesopotamia (the southern half being Babylonia), with Nineveh as its capital. The Assyrian kings controlled

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