Mia announces gift of 43 works of European art entering its collection

The Minneapolis Institute of Art has announced a significant gift of art that will enhance the museum's collection.

Longtime supporters and local collectors, Drs. Norman and Brenda Canedy, have gifted the museum 43 works of European art, including 13 paintings, 24 drawings, and six prints.

The centerpiece of the gift is Nicolaes Berchem's "The Allegory of Seasons, Elements, and Time," a cabinet painting from 1670, acquired by the donors in 1962 from London's Hazlitt Gallery. The piece has regularly been on display in the Mia as a loan since 2017.

Another piece by Berchem is promised to the museum and on display through Aug. 25 in the "Destined for Mia: A Collection of Dutch Paintings" exhibition , a showcase of Dutch art promised to the Mia by an anonymous donor.

The gift introduces new artists in the Mia's collection, including pieces by Antonio del Castillo, Michele Rocca, and Christoph Unterberger. It'll also enhance the collection by adding works from artists already in its holdings like Giulio Bonasone, Gioacchino Assereto, and Scarsellino.

Related: Planned gift of Dutch paintings brings new depth, stories to Mia collection

“Their generosity will have a lasting impact on our museum, providing our visitors with unparalleled access to works of significant historical and artistic value," Katie Luber, Nivin and Duncan MacMillan Director and President of Mia, said in a statement.

"But it is also a reflection of the strengths of institutions such as ours, which has been built and continues to be sustained by generations of engaged collectors and donors who share the Canedys’ commitment to their local art museum, and who see Mia as an essential steward for works of art that benefit the whole community.”

Other pieces in the gift from the Canedys, who have supported the museum since the '60s, include del Castillo’s “Saint John the Baptist," two monochrome roundels by Unterberger, Giovanni Francesco Grimaldi's “Sunrise on a Pastoral Landscape: Apollo and the Hours," and an oil sketch titled "Saint Monica Healing the Possessed" by Assereto, among others.

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