The Cleveland Museum buys a painting by Zoffany

22/10/23 -  Acquisition - Cleveland Museum of Art - It’s a happy coincidence: when the Cleveland Museum’s English galleries were refurbished in 2018, the curators’ intention was to give visitors the feeling of entering an 18th-century flat. To achieve this, the colours of the picture rails and wood panelling, and even the choice of fireplace, were inspired by a painting by Johann Zoffany depicting an English family in a refined drawing room of the period (ill. 1 and 2).
This well-known painting by Zoffany was in a private collection at the time, and had achieved a record - since surpassed by another of his works in 2011 - when it was auctioned by Sotheby’s in 2001, selling for $4.8 million. But now the museum has had the opportunity, very recently, to buy it from its owner, through…