Philadelphia seminary to sell Eakins paintings

March 26, 2014

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia has announced that its seminary will sell seven of its paintings, including five by the famed realist painter Thomas Eakins.

“The seminary has long been a steward of these works, but this was the right time to seize an opportunity to do what is best for the artwork and for the seminary itself,” said Bishop Timothy Senior, rector of Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary. “We will keep many of the paintings in our collection, but the core mission of the seminary is to form men for service in the priesthood. We are not a museum.”

The seminary will also sell a work by impressionist painter Colin Campbell Cooper and a portrait of Archbishop Jean Jadot, the former apostolic nuncio to the US, by Alice Neel.

The proceeds of the sale will help fund seminary building renovations.

 

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Further information:

• Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary Announces Sale of Selected Works by Thomas Eakins Through Christie’s Private Sales (Archdiocese of Philadelphia)
• Update: St. Charles Seminary selling its Eakins paintings as well as other important works (Main Line Times)