New Acquisitions at the Georgia Museum of Art

Recently, the museum graciously accepted the Colquitt family’s donation of two representative portraits by George Cooke, which will bring the museum’s holdings of Cooke’s work to five, and the campus-wide holdings to seven. Amazingly, these two portraits have remained together in the Colquitt family since they were painted in the mid-19th century. They depict Mr. and Mrs. Walter Terry Colquitt, most likely in commemoration of their 1841 wedding. It was also around this time that Colquitt served as both senator and congressman of Georgia, and it is after him that Colquitt County, Georgia, is named.

In addition to their excellent provenance and great condition, these two portraits provide skillful examples of Cooke’s middle-period style, as well as his affinity for creating portraits of couples. Although he became involved in the Hudson River school of landscape painting, Cooke stayed true to his love of portraiture throughout his career. The museum is lucky to have examples of both aspects of Cooke’s work, landscape being represented in his oil painting “Tallulah Falls” (1841) and portraiture in his “Portrait of Mary Hattaway Curry and Her Son, John” (1847), both currently on display in the permanent collection.

The University of Georgia is privileged in its access to one of the most extensive known collections of George Cooke’s paintings in the world. The UGA Chapel is home to a Cooke masterpiece, the 17 x 23–foot oil painting “Interior of St. Peter’s Cathedral,” painted from 1846 to 1847. This work is believed to be one of the largest oil paintings created during the time period and demonstrates an exquisite use of trompe-l’oeil. Another notable work, “View of Athens from Carr’s Hill,” belongs to UGA’s Special Collections Library. It was painted in 1843 when Cooke was visiting Athens, a city to which he would eventually move in order to enjoy “the hospitality of the truly Athenian people.”