European Art

Fourth floor and mezzanine of Elizabeth Huth Coates East Tower

The European painting, sculpture and decorative arts collection of the San Antonio Museum of Art includes Italian, French Dutch and British works from the seventeenth through the twentieth centuries. The Ferguson collection of Wedgwood is of unique importance, mirrored by the outstanding collection of Irish Silver amassed and donated to the museum by John Rowan. Gilbert Denman’s bequest left another small but significant group of paintings to the museum, among which The Woodcutters by Puvis de Chavanne is particularly notable. William Adolphe Bouguereau's Admiration, a prime example of late nineteenth-century academic painting, is another favorite from our collection. Admiration was awarded the highest honors in the Paris Salon of 1899, when Bouguereau was at the height of his fame.