Lafayette College is one of the premier small private colleges in America, with top-notch programs in liberal arts and sciences and an engineering program that is the envy of many technical colleges. With a heavy emphasis on student research and an innovative approach to learning, Lafayette is distinguishing itself.

Among the rich resources provided for students is a fine, small art collection comprised mostly of gifts from generous alumni and other donors. The collection includes eighteenth-through early twenty-first century American and European paintings, prints, and sculpture; vintage photographs; and contemporary American sculpture and paintings. Recent acquisitions build on the strength of the existing collections.

The mission statement for the art collection is to document, conserve, exhibit, and make accessible the College’s art collection to the students, public, and scholars through exhibitions, publications, reproductions, and by granting access for research purposes.

Also part of the art collection are two superb Tiffany Glass & Decorating Company figurative stained glass windows (1898 & 1899) depicting Alcuin and Charlemagne and "The Death of Sir Philip Sidney" depicting Sir Philip Sidney at the Battle of Zutphen.

The centerpiece of the art collection is the Kirby Collection of Historical Paintings, which consists of American portraits, history paintings, and sculpture. Assembled by Allan P. Kirby '15 with the assistance of his friend and New York art dealer, E. J. Rousuck, Kirby described his criteria: "it was intended to have broadly represented the many fields of achievement through which men can leave lasting impressions upon the nation."

Many of the portraits can been seen in Kirby Hall of Civil Rights, built in 1929–30, given by Allan P. Kirby's father, Fred Morgan Kirby, to house the Department of Government and Law. Of special note are Andrew Jackson by Rembrandt Peale, Thomas Jefferson at the Natural Bridge by Caleb Boyle, Grover Cleveland by Eastman Johnson, George Washington by Charles Willson Peale, and Gouverneur Morris by Thomas Sully. The Kirby Collection’s historical paintings include Barbara Frietchie by Dennis Malone Carter and The Landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock by Peter Frederick Rothermell.

Rousuck also assisted Kirby in acquiring British and European paintings for the 1930s Chateau Chavaniac, built as a private retreat by Allan P. Kirby, and named after the birthplace of the Marquis de Lafayette. The F.M. Kirby Foundation gave the Chateau, located north of the campus in Easton, with its collection of decorative arts and paintings, to the college in 1984.

Of course, there are many representations of the Marquis de Lafayette in the collection, including a full-size bronze sculpture of Lafayette by Daniel Chester French, which was cast from a plaster model given to the college by French. Another gift from French is a small bronze cast of the maquette for his bas relief sculpture of Lafayette at Prospect Park, Brooklyn, New York—the same plaster model of Lafayette was used for both sculptures.

Please check back in the future to see images of a representative selection of artwork in the collection including the outdoor sculpture collection.

Photo Services:

Wharton Esherick (1887–1970), Alabama—Live Oak, 1929
Woodcut and wood engraving; black ink on buff-colored paper, image size 7 x 8 inches; signed within plate at TR corner: WE; signed and inscribed in pencil "Alabama—live oak Wharton Esherick 29"

Lafayette College Art Collection. Gift of Peter Esherick '53, 2003