Art: Largest Gift

There is no telling exactly what it will come to, for the touch of years, lawyers and markets upon an estate in liquidation is more often than not a shriveling one. But when it was announced last week that the will of Publisher Frank Andrew Munsey designated the leading U. S. art museum, the Metropolitan in Manhattan, as his residuary beneficiary, it was apparent that art had received its greatest single gift—in dollars—of all time.

Facing a serious deficit in mere administrative expenses, the Metropolitan was unexpectedly assured of the greater portion, surely more than half, of 40 millions. It was suddenly in a position to outbid any other museum for the world’s masterpieces. Never in life had Mr. Munsey evinced interest in the Metropolitan beyond a perfunctory $10-per-annum subscription such as most prominent Manhattanites instruct their secretaries to renew automatically. Few of the trustees knew him and none intimately. He did not collect works of art privately. Yet without requesting that his money be called “The Munsey Fund” or assigning ends to which it was to be applied, he went down as leader of the following list of donors discoverable on the Metropolitan’s ledgers:

MILLIONS

J. P. Morgan, collection and building fund 15

Benjamin Altman, collection 10

Jacob S. Rogers 5

William H. Riggs, collection of armor 5

Isaac D. Fletcher, collection and cash 4.557

Archer M. Huntington, collection…. 2.5

John S. Kennedy 2.25

Frederick C. Hewitt 1.5

Mrs. Russell Sage 1.4

William K. Vanderbilt, collection 1

Joseph Pulitzer 1

Francis L. Leland 1

John D. Rockefeller Jr 1

George F. Baker 1