William and Henry Walters, The Reticent Collectors

By William R. Johnston

In the mid-19th century, Baltimore businessman William Thompson Walters began to patronize the artists of Maryland. Today, the museum that bears his name-the Walters Art Museum-excels in fields as diverse as Egyptian bronzes, Byzantine silver, illuminated manuscripts, medieval carved ivories, early Renaissance paintings, Sèvres porcelain, Islamic metalwork, and Japanese ceramics. With this book, William R. Johnston, a senior curator of 18th- and 19th-century art at the Walters, restores William and Henry Walters to their rightful place among America's great art collectors. Drawing upon the knowledge of the early museum staff and gathering valuable information from other rare sources, Johnston has painstakingly re-created the collector's life and world.

Hardcover
309 pages
6 × 9 inches