The William A. Clark Collection: A Homecoming

This exhibition features nine works by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, Jean-Charles Cazin, Jules Dupré, Jean-Honoré Fragonard, Thomas Gainsborough, and a sculpture attributed to Donatello – all new gifts from the Trustees of the Corcoran Gallery of Art to the MMAC Permanent Collection. The works once belonged to the estate of “Copper King” William Andrews Clark, a former Montana senator.

Born in 1839, Clark eventually made his way out West working the roles of farmer, teacher, soldier, prospector, woodcutter, teamster, cattle driver, grocer, mining engineer, banker and eventually a real estate tycoon and a railroad magnate. He became one the most powerful and influential 19th-century Americans with peers including John D. Rockefeller, J.P. Morgan and Andrew Carnegie. MMAC is one of the only non- Washington D.C. entities to receive works because of Clark’s important Montana history.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website