Lecture: The Art of Wealth

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Historian and author Shelley Bennett explores the story of how three generations of the Huntingtons – successful American entrepreneurs - collected art in the decades around 1900. Their personal histories, tastes, and philanthropy all contributed to the way they purchased artworks, especially British portraiture, for display in their lavish homes.

Bennett discusses these remarkable individuals - Collis Huntington railway magnate, from whom the family fortunes came, his quite exceptional young mistress and second wife, Arabella Huntington, a smart woman of great taste, her son Archer Huntington, a rich young museum dreamer, who devoted his life to creating and supporting museums and Collis’ nephew and Arabella’s second husband, Henry Huntington, who built up his phenomenal cultural foundation, the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, California.