Recent Acquisitions
The ever expanding permanent collections at the Davis currently include over 15,000 objects that span the globe from antiquity to the present day. The Davis actively collects works of art through gifts and purchases, and the staff accessioned over 1,600 works of art in 2019 alone—a record high for the Museum. Promoting and enriching direct experience with authentic art objects, the Davis acquires works of art that demonstrate excellence and diversity, art historical and aesthetic significance, and relevance to curricular emphases and research interests
Davis Objects on the Move
To support our commitments to education and access, the Davis lends artworks to other private and public museums for exhibition, research, study, and publication. In 2019, the Davis sent 18 objects out on loan: some were exhibited locally, such as at the Museum of Fine Art, Boston, while others traveled to international audiences, including at the Uffizi Gallery, Florence and the Prado Museum, Madrid. Hover over each image below for more information.
Conservation Projects
The Davis works with talented local conservators to clean, repair, and protect artworks in the collections, to safeguard and steward our holdings for posterity—for current and future students, scholars, and general visitors to enjoy for decades to come. We highlight major conservation projects through an ongoing series of afternoon "Davis Discoveries" symposia. In 2019, Alicia LaTores, Friends of Art Curatorial Research Assistant, with recent alumna Katherine Davies '20, joined Dr. Frederick Ilchman and conservator Lydia Vagts (both of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) to present papers on the history and technical analysis of a recently acquired sixteenth-century Venetian sacra conversazione panel painting. The symposium was presented in conjunction with the exhibition Hidden Histories: Revealing the Life of a Painting, both sponsored by Peter H. and Joan Macy Kaskell (Class of 1953).
