Samuel H. Kress Collection
of Italian Paintings
Catalogue of the collection 
Bibliography
The Samuel H. Kress Collection of paintings at Fairfield University have
been included in a unique collaboration between ARTstor and the Samuel
Kress Foundation to digitally re-unite as many paintings as possible
from the original Kress Collection. Here is a link to the ARTstor Kress
Collection web page:
http://www.artstor.org/what-is-artstor/w-html/col-kress.shtml
Introduction to the Collection
"Art is born of observation and investigation of nature," noted Cicero. For our academic community, the Kress Collection of Italian paintings offers us the opportunity to examine original paintings for both scholarly analysis and unabashed pleasure. Its vital presence on our campus sparks deliberative and thoughtful investigation allowing students to position these pictorial vessels through the lens of time. Amidst a flood of artificially generated images pouring from mass media and the cyber environment, we take refuge encountering the refreshing authenticity of these ten original paintings.
The catalog entries on this web site represent the industry and labor of the art history majors of the Class of 2004. Having the privilege of mentoring the senior Capstone Seminar that year offered the occasion to integrate these 'mystery paintings' into a unique curriculum experience for these twelve young scholars. The resulting research, built on fragmentary archival notes and previous documentation associated with the paintings, is by no means a definitive statement. It does represent how undergraduate art history students resolved a number of questions about the visual evidence before their eyes. Undoubtedly, future generations of Fairfield art history students will continue to decipher the meanings of these images through ongoing validation of Cicero's methods of observation and examination.
Philip Eliasoph, Ph.D.
Professor of Art History
Curator, Samuel H. Kress Collection at Fairfield University | 
