The Taft Museum of Art is one of America's charming small art museums. Housed in one of the finest examples of Federal architecture in the Palladian style in the country (c1820) -- now a National Historic Landmark -- the Taft holds a notable collection that includes European and American master paintings, Chinese porcelains, and European decorative arts.
The collection includes many works by Rembrandt, Hals, Goya, Gainsborough, Reynolds, Turner, Ingres, Whistler, and Sargent; 19th-century American paintings; Chinese porcelains; European decorative arts; Limoges enamels; sculpture; and early-19th-century New York furniture.
Notable is the Virgin and Child (c.1270) which is one of the best examples of Gothic ivory sculpture in America. It was produced in Paris for the treasury of the Abbey Church of Saint-Denis.
Also of interest are the eight large Duncanson landscape paintings that decorate to foyer. The paintings, painted in the Hudson River School style, are surrounded by trompe l’oeil frames.