Art: Gifts to the Northwest

Manhattan’s Samuel H. Kress Foundation, which is in the process of giving half the dime store magnate’s collection of art treasures to some 20 U.S. cities (the National Gallery got the other half), unveiled two gifts to the Northwest:

¶To the Portland Art Museum on its 60th birthday last week: a collection of 27 Renaissance paintings, including masterpieces by Botticelli, Bellini, Ghirlandajo and the 13th century Florentine Giovanni Cimabue.

¶To the Seattle Art Museum this week: a similar gift of 23 Renaissance paintings and two sculptures. Said National Gallery Director David Finley, on hand for both openings: “It’s the sort of thing one can’t believe will happen to a city until it does.”