George Perkins Marsh

George Perkins Marsh portrait

In the spring of 1849, the newly founded Smithsonian Institution purchased its first collection, a group of European prints and art books assembled by Vermont Congressman George Perkins Marsh. Although unrelated to the Smithsonian’s then primarily scientific orientation, they were viewed as a comprehensive way to satisfy the Congressional mandate for an art gallery that was part of the original legislation which established the Smithsonian Institution in 1846. Some of the original art books are held in the Libraries and are available here.

...This collection, though not the largest in the country, is believed to be the choicest. It was made with the special design of illustrating the progress and resources of the art of engraving in all its branches, from its early masters to the present time. It required an educated eye, a cultivated taste, an earnest study of the history of the art, much diligent search, and the aid of many friends and correspondents, to bring together so many of the most valuable prints which have ever been executed. The acquisition of this collection has saved to the Institution all expenditure of either time or money, for skill and labor thus bestowed.
[from the Fifith Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution March 7, 1851]

Read more about the collection at the National Museum of American History.

Cover of Faust - esquisses dessinées

Faust

Retzsch, Moritz
Giard, editeur ...
1830
Cover of La calcografia propriamente detta

La calcografia propriamente detta

Longhi, Giuseppe
Stamperia Reale
1830
Cover of Le Musée royal

Le Musée royal Tome 2

Laurent, Henri; Visconti, Ennio Quirino; Clarac, Charles Othon Frédéric Jean Baptiste, comte de; Guizot, M.
Impr. de P. Didot, l'aîné
1816-18
Cover of Lectures on the art of engraving

Lectures on the art of engraving

Landseer, John
Longman, Hurst, Rees and Orme
1807
Cover of Life and letters of George Perkins Marsh

Life and letters of George Perkins Marsh

Marsh, Caroline (Crane)
C. Scribner's sons
1888
Cover of Original designs of the most celebrated masters of the Bolognese, Roman, Florentine, and Venetian schools

Original designs of the most celebrated masters of the Bolognese, Roman, Florentine, and Venetian schools

Chamberlaine, John, F.S.A
Printed by W. Bulmer and Co., sold by G. and W. Nicol [etc.]
1812
Cover of Outlines to Buerger's ballads - Leonora, the song of the brave man, and the Parson's daughter of Taubenhayn.

Outlines to Buerger's ballads

Retzsch, Moritz
E. Fleischer
1840
Cover of Umrisse zu Schiller's Lied von der Glocke - nebst Andeutungen

Umrisse zu Schiller's Lied von der Glocke

Retzsch, Moritz; Schiller, Friedrich
J.G. Cotta
1837