Clark Art Institute Receives ‘Princely’ Collection of European Treasures

Tavitian, a philanthropist who died in 2020 at age 80, was born in Bulgaria of Armenian descent, immigrated to the United States in 1961 and made a fortune in software. He lived in New York City and Stockbridge, Mass., also in the Berkshires, and developed a deep relationship with the Clark. Tavitian, who began collecting in 2004, served on the Clark’s board of trustees and showed some of his personal holdings there in a 2011 exhibition.

The collection he gave to the museum is “portrait-heavy,” Meslay said. Notable examples include Rubens’s “Portrait of a Young Man” (circa 1613-15), Parmigianino’s “Portrait of a Man” (circa 1530) and Vigée Le Brun’s “Self-Portrait in Studio Costume” (circa 1800).

The donation will give the Clark its first works by more than 100 artists, including the 16th-century Italian painter Jacopo da Pontormo (“Portrait of a Boy,” circa 1535-40) and Bernini, who is considered to be one of the greatest Italian sculptors of the 17th century (two works, one of which is the bronze “Countess Matilda of Canossa,” circa 1630-39).

The earliest work being donated is “Madonna of the Fountain” (circa 1440), by the 15th-century Flemish painter Jan van Eyck and his workshop.

The gift is notable partly because sculpture — a medium that Meslay said has not previously been “a big strength of the Clark” — accounts for nearly half of it.

Sculptural highlights include Andrea della Robbia’s glazed terra-cotta “Portrait of a Youth” (circa 1470-80), Jean-Antoine Houdon’s marble bust “Little Lise” (1775) and Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux’s “La Candeur” (1873).