Lectures Will Launch Year Of Honoring National Gallery Founder Andrew Mellon

NEW HAVEN — Renowned British historian David Cannadine will deliver a series of three public lectures about Andrew W. Mellon, founder of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., and father of Yale Center for British Art founder Paul Mellon, Tuesday to Thursday, November 28-30, at Yale Center for British Art (YCBA).

All lectures will be held in the Center’s Lecture Hall and are free and open to the public. Each will begin at 5:30 pm.

The first lecture, on November 28, will be “Andrew W. Mellon: An American Life — The Making of a Collector.”

On Wednesday afternoon Mr Cannadine will present “Andrew W. Mellon: An American Life — Grand Designs and Grand Purchases.”

The final lecture will be “Andrew W. Mellon: An American Life — The National Gallery of Art.” The third lecture will be followed by a public reception and book signing in the Library Court. Professor Cannadine’s biography of Andrew Mellon, Mellon: An American Life, was published by Alfred Knopf in October 2006.

Professor Cannadine’s lectures are the first in a series of events scheduled in celebration of the centennial of the birth of Paul Mellon, which will include a spring exhibition at YCBA. “Paul Mellon’s Legacy: A Passion for British Art” will be dedicated to Mr Mellon’s extraordinary collection of British Art and will be on view April 18 to July 29, 2007.

David Cannadine is the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother professor of British History at the Institute of Historical Research, University of London. He is the author and editor of numerous books, including The Decline and Fall of the British Aristocracy, G M. Trevelyan: A Life in History, Class in Britain, and Ornamentalism: How the British saw their Empire.

He is also chairman of the Trustees of the National Portrait Gallery, a trustee of the Kennedy Memorial Trust and the British Empire and Commonwealth Museum, a commissioner for English Heritage, a member of the Advisory Committee of the Royal Mint, and on the editorial board of the History of Parliament.

Presented to the university by Paul Mellon (Class of 1929), the Yale Center for British Art houses the largest and most comprehensive collection of British art outside the United Kingdom. The collection of paintings, sculpture, drawings, prints, rare books, and manuscripts reflects the development of British art, life, and thought from the Elizabethan period onward.

YCBA offers a year-round schedule of exhibitions and educational programs, including films, concerts, lectures, tours and special events. The center also provides numerous opportunities for scholarly research, such as residential fellowships. Academic resources include the Reference Library and Photo Archive, Conservation Laboratory, and Study Room for examining prints, drawings, rare books, and manuscripts from the collection.

An affiliated institution in London, the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, awards grants and fellowships, publishes academic titles, and sponsors Yale’s first credit-granting undergraduate study abroad program, Yale-in-London.

YCBA is at 1080 Chapel Street in New Haven, on the corner of High Street. Admission is always free; donations are accepted.

Hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10 am to 5 pm; and Sunday, noon to 5 pm. From September 15 to November 22, the museum is open until 8 pm on Wednesdays. On Thursdays, December 7, 14 and 21, the museum will also be open until 8 pm.

Call 203-432-2800 or visit yale.edu/YCBA for additional information.