The Raclin Murphy Museum of Art at the University of Notre Dame is the beneficiary of a significant gift of paintings, sculptures, and decorative art objects from the estate of Ernestine Morris Carmichael Raclin (1927-2024). The gift includes work from iconic masters Gainsborough, Reynolds, Houdon and Guillaumin, among many others.

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The Raclin Bequest includes works from the 15th through the early 20th centuries, but is especially strong in 18th-century art. A portrait by Jean-Baptiste Greuze, a landscape sketch by Hubert Robert and a fête champêtre by Nicolas Lancret, for example, offer further depth to holdings by French masters Élisabeth Vigée Lebrun and François Boucher already in the University’s collection. Portraits by Thomas Gainsborough and Joshua Reynolds bolster the representation of British art in the collection with impressive demonstrations of costume and technique. Jean-Antoine Houdon’s patinated terra cotta portrait bust of his infant daughter is the first of its kind in the collection.

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With origins that date to 1875, the University’s art museum is among the first and most esteemed academic art museums in the nation. The Raclin Bequest is the cornerstone of a major initiative, 150 for 150: Art for Notre Dame, the Sesquicentennial Campaign, to strategically build the collection for students, faculty, researchers and the nation. The goal is to achieve 150 gifts for 150 years. A gift could be a single object or, as with the Raclin Bequest, an entire collection.