Museum of Art Reinstallation

Completed in January 2020, Gallery 21 is the latest phase of The Ringling's multi-year project to reinstall all 21 original galleries in the Museum of Art.

In the mid-1920s, as John Ringling and his architect were designing the museum's spaces, they incorporated several large architectural sculptures into Gallery 21. The sculpted marble frieze, fireplace, and door surround in the gallery were made in the 1890s for the Huntington Mansion in New York City, and were purchased by Mr. Ringling in 1926 (at the time of the mansion's demolition) and sent to Sarasota.

Taking inspiration from that architectural sculpture, the new display in Gallery 21 focuses on Mr. Ringling's taste for art from the late nineteenth century. Featured works include a massive oil on canvas painting from 1886, Emperor Justinian by the French painter Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant, which had been off view since the 1940s. The painting was conserved in 2019 with generous funding from the Getty Foundation. Other masterworks on view include two paintings by the French artist Rosa Bonheur and a bust by the American sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens.