Galleries & Collections

Julian Wood GlaSs Jr. Gallery

The Grand Tour gallery room in the MSV Julian Wood Glass Jr. Gallery.

 

Pictured in text

The Shelly Children, c. 1791, by Sir William Beechey (1753-1839).

 

quickfact

The Grand Tour was a time-honored learning tradition in which people pursued their education abroad. Julian Wood Glass Jr. took a Grand Tour almost every year. He visited the great cities, art galleries, museums, and private collections in Britain and Europe to hone his eye, and discern what he liked best in the fields of fine and decorative arts.

Valley collector Julian Wood Glass Jr. (1910–1992) transformed the Glen Burnie Historic House and furnished it with American and English furniture, fine arts, and decorative objects. Glass also amassed a significant collection of furniture and fine arts that was displayed in his New York and Oklahoma homes during his lifetime.

This collection is now on display in the Julian Wood Glass Jr. Gallery, and includes oil paintings, watercolors, pastels, pencil drawings, furniture, and decorative objects from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The work of such artists as Gilbert Stuart (1755–1828), John Singleton Copley (1738–1815), William Merritt Chase (1849–1916), Thomas Gainsborough (1727–1788), and Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723–1792) is included, as is furniture from Boston’s Seymour family of furniture makers and a couch once owned by Queen Charlotte of England.

More than fifty different artists and artisans are represented in this gallery.

Now offering Specialty Guided Art Tours!  On most Wednesdays at 11:30 a.m. and Sundays at 2:30 p.m., take a closer look at selected works in the Museum's Julian Wood Glass Jr. Gallery.  Tours include Fascinating Faces: The Art of Portraiture, Such Sites to See: The Grand Tour, and What Catches Your Eye, a tour that focuses on the techniques artists use to draw the viewer's eye to a particular section of a work of art.  Approximately 30 minutes in length, these tours are offered most Wednesdays and Sundays.  To confirm that a tour will be offered on the Wednesday or Sunday that you plan to visit the MSV, please call the Visitor Information Desk at 540-662-1473m ext, 235.  Free with Museum admission.

Pictured at top: A detail of a Lady's Tambour Secretary, ca. 1793-1798, by John Seymour (ca. 1738-1848) and Thomas Seymour (active in Boston 1793-1848).