NEW HAVEN, CT.- As the Yale Center for British Art celebrates its thirtieth anniversary this spring, it will commemorate the centennial of the birth of its founder, Paul Mellon (Yale 1929), with a special exhibition showcasing his extraordinary collection of British art. Paul Mellon's Legacy: A Passion for British Art will feature nearly 250 treasures from the Paul Mellon Collection. Many of these works are not often seen by the public and include drawings and watercolors by William Hogarth, Thomas Rowlandson, William Blake, and J.M.W. Turner, as well as splendid manuscripts and rare books, including colorplate books, maps and atlases, travel guides, and drawing manuals. In addition, major paintings and sculptures will be highlighted throughout the galleries.

The Paul Mellon Collection is one of the most comprehensive representations of the visual arts of a single culture ever assembled. Through its wide-ranging display, Paul Mellon's Legacy will demonstrate Mr. Mellon's unparalleled collecting activity in the field of British art. Arranged chronologically from the fifteenth through the early twentieth century, the exhibition will highlight certain themes in British culture, such as early exploration, architecture, sport, travel, fashion, and the natural world. It will also celebrate Mr. Mellon's remarkable vision in creating an institution in North America that would serve both as a public museum for outstanding British art and as a research institute of international repute, situated within one of the worlds great universities.

Following its premiere at the Center, a selection of nearly 150 masterpieces from Paul Mellon's Legacy, including some of the Centers greatest paintings, will travel to the Royal Academy of Arts, London, where it will be on view from October 20, 2007 to January 27, 2008. This will be the first and only time that certain important works such as Turner's Dort or Dordrecht: The Dort Packet-Boat from Rotterdam Becalmed (181718) will ever leave the Center.

Paul Mellon's Legacy: A Passion for British Art has been co-organized by the Yale Center for British Art and the Royal Academy. The exhibition is curated by Brian Allen, Director of Studies, Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, London; John Baskett, independent scholar; and MaryAnne Stevens, Secretary, Royal Academy of Arts, London, in association with the curators of the Yale Center for British Art.

A catalogue, co-published by the Yale Center for British Art and the Royal Academy in association with Yale University Press, will accompany the exhibition. In addition to introductions by the directors of the Yale Center and the Royal Academy, the book will include essays by Brian Allen, Director of Studies at the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art; John Baskett, friend and adviser to Mr. Mellon; Jules Prown, Professor Emeritus of the History of Art, Yale University, and founding director of the Yale Center for British Art; William S. Reese, independent scholar, rare book dealer, and former adviser to Paul Mellon on his rare book and manuscript collection; and Duncan Robinson, Director of the Fitzwilliam Museum and Master of Magdalene College, University of Cambridge, and former director of the Yale Center for British Art. The publication is generously supported by Mellon Financial Corporation.