‘Loaned by the wealthy virtuosi of the city’: How collectors shaped the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1872-1905

The Metropolitan Museum of Art began life as a display hall for privately owned collections. Reflecting New York City’s art market and collectors, loan exhibitions featured the works of contemporary European and American painters and an eclectic selection of objects. Loaned works of fine art were the museum’s chief draw, and their owners' names were their guarantee of authenticity and value. The museum arranged painting displays into ‘modern’ or ‘Old Master’ works, providing minimal art-historical context. Rarely, though, did groups of paintings become donations. Instead, gifts of decorative art collections nurtured the museum’s growth. By 1905 it was a storehouse, not yet a steward, of its holdings.