Arabella Huntington

Catherine Arabella Duval Huntington ( born June 1, 1851 in Richmond, Virginia; † September 16, 1924 in New York City ) was an American patron of the arts, collector and founder of the Foundation Huntington Art Gallery.

Life

Catherine Arabella Yarrington was a daughter of the couple, Richard M. Yarrington (1808-1860) and Catherine J. Maddox, within the family she was called Belle. She received a comprehensive and excellent education, spoke several foreign languages.

In 1869, the 18 year old Catherine Arabella Yarrington married New York businessman John Archer Worsham. However, he died the following year and left them with a toddler, Archer Milton (1870-1955), back. On July 12, 1884 married in New York City co-owner of the railway company Central Pacific Railroad Collis Potter Huntington ( 1821-1900 ), the eldest son of William Huntington and Elizabeth Vincent. The marriage remained childless; However, he adopted their son. After the death of her second husband in 1900, she married in July 1913 in Paris, his nephew and president of the Pacific Electric Railway, Henry Edwards Huntington ( 1850-1927 ). Together with her husband she traveled extensively through Europe and was involved in several charitable organizations. 1919 signed Henry and Arabella Huntington the transfer of their property in San Marino in Los Angeles and their collections in a charitable foundation, which the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens ( Huntington Art Gallery ). The Huntington Gallery, originally the Beaux Arts mansion, contains the most extensive collection of 18th and 19th century British and French art; including Thomas Gainsborough's " The Blue Boy" and Thomas Lawrence's " Pinkie ". The " Virginia Steele Scott Gallery of American Art " in the west wing includes American paintings 1730-1930, including works by John Singer Sargent and Mary Cassatt.

Arabella Huntington died on September 16, 1924 of a heart attack and was in the mausoleum at their house in San Marino, California, buried. The mausoleum of the Huntington family was designed by the architect John Russell Pope (1874-1937) and was considered a prototype for the Jefferson Memorial in Washington DC

Worth mentioning

• Her son, who Hispanist and founder of the Hispanic Society of America in New York, was married twice. In first marriage (1895 ) with the English writer Helen Manchester Gates and after her death he married sculptress Anna Hyatt in 1923 ( 1876-1973 ). For his second wife the Huntington Brookgreen Garden founded in South Carolina, where she could show her and other artists whose works.