Art Institute of Chicago Gains a Neoclassicist Trove with Sizable Gift of French Art

A wealth of Neoclassicist art has joined the holdings of the Art Institute of Chicago via collectors Jeffrey and Carol Horvitz, who have gifted the museum around 2,250 works of French art made between the 16th and 19th centuries.

The gift comes after held two shows devoted to the Horvitzes’ collection, one focused on Neoclassicist paintings, the other on drawings. Both exhibitions were staged last year.

Jeffrey, a private investor, appeared solo on the annual ARTnews Top 200 Collectors list between 1994 and 1999. Carol is currently a trustee at the Art Institute of Chicago.

The majority of the artworks they gifted to the Art Institute—some 2,000 of them—are drawings. Of the remaining 250, 200 are paintings, while 50 are sculptures. Their collection is being touted by the museum as the largest grouping of French art produced between the 16th and 19th centuries held privately in the US.

Alongside the artworks, the Horvitzes have also provided funding for the care of these pieces, though the museum did not specify how much money they would give.

Though the gift includes works covering a wide breadth of French art history, with the works by Rococo painter François Boucher and Romantic painter Théodore Géricault included, it is richest in objects related to Neoclassicism, a movement that emerged during the mid-17th century as a response to the extravagance of art at the time. Neoclassicist artists sought a return to reason and morality, often offering images of ancient Greece and Rome as something to be aspired to.

In a statement, Jeffrey said, “We have always envisioned this collection remaining as a whole in order to be more than the sum of its parts, and for it to go to a major American museum where the most visitors can experience these artistic treasures, where scholars and curators can avail of the resources and advance this important research, and where our enthusiasm will resonate long after we are gone. We spent years thinking about where the collection should ultimately go—there was no more perfect choice than the Art Institute.”

Below are just seven of the works that the Horvitzes gave to the Art Institute of Chicago.