MEMPHIS, TN.- Memphis Brooks Museum of Art will host an exhibition of masterpieces from a private British collection this fall. Masterpieces from an English Country House: The Fitzwilliam Collection will be on view at the Brooks Museum from September 16 through December 3, 2006. The show includes spectacular paintings by Anthony van Dyck, Joshua Reynolds, Claude Lorraine, Salomon van Ruysdael, and other noted artists.

Masterpieces from an English Country House: The Fitzwilliam Collection celebrates a great British family collection from its origins in the 17th century to the present day. The exhibition comprises thirty-two superb Old Master paintings, with extraordinary works by Flemish, English, Dutch, French, and Italian artists, as well as a full set of Audubon’s Birds of America and a selection of English porcelain. Also included is a fascinating exploration of the history and design of Wentworth Woodhouse, the celebrated English country estate that housed the collection for many years.

The works in Masterpieces from an English Country House: The Fitzwilliam Collection have seldom been seen by the public. The exhibition offers a glimpse of one of the world’s great private art collections, including several ancestral portraits of the influential English family that brought these works together. Their story is a fascinating one marked by beauty, power and tragedy.

“I am indebted to Lady Juliet Tadgell for so generously lending her collection to the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art so that our community can enjoy these astonishing masterpieces,” states director Kaywin Feldman. “It is appropriate that as we celebrate the museum’s 90th year of enriching the lives of our visitors, we mark the occasion with this stunning exhibition. The Brooks Museum’s fine permanent collection includes many of the artists who are represented in Masterpieces from an English Country House.”

Masterpieces from an English Country House: The Fitzwilliam Collection is organized by the Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, Virginia. Presenting sponsors are Regions and Morgan Keegan.