Paintings and Sculpture
The Department of Paintings and Sculpture is responsible for a collection of over 2,000 paintings and 250 sculptures from the late medieval to the contemporary.
Access to the collection while we are closed
While the Yale Center for British Art is closed for conservation work, access to the paintings and sculpture collection is limited. More than fifty paintings are on display at the Yale University Art Gallery. It may be possible to view other works by appointment; however, some objects may not be available for the duration of the museum’s closure.
Please contact ycba.paintings@yale.edu to discuss availability. Please be aware that appointments are restricted to individuals or small groups, may not always be available, and may be canceled with little or no notice.
Every effort will be made to support class visits which will be evaluated based on the accessibility, quantity, and size of the requested objects.
Photo by Stephanie Anestis
Particularly strong in the period from 1720 to 1850, the collection is unrivaled in the depth and comprehensiveness of its representation of painting from this era, especially in telling the stories of portrait, landscape, and sporting art. The Center also has the finest group of paintings by George Stubbs, John Constable, and J. M. W. Turner in North America. The collection accepts implicitly the transnational character of British painting and is strong in the art of the British Empire and increasingly in the art of the postcolonial present. Sculpture is represented by outstanding examples of portraits in different media, animalier bronzes, and ideal marbles, as well as important modern and contemporary work by such artists as Rachel Whiteread and Yinka Shonibare CBE RA.
George Stubbs, Zebra (detail), 1763
Featured works
Ford Madox Brown, The Irish Girl, 1860
George Stubbs, Zebra, exhibited 1763
Barbara Hepworth, Biolith, 1948 to 1949
Yinka Shonibare CBE (RA), Mrs Pinckney and the Emancipated Birds of South Carolina, 2017
Studio of Francis Harwood, Bust of a Man, ca. 1758
William Larkin, Portrait of a Young Lady, possibly Jane, Lady Thornhaugh, 1617
Rachel Whiteread, Untitled (Ten Tables), 1996
John Constable, Hadleigh Castle, The Mouth of the Thames—Morning after a Stormy Night, 1829
Sir Joshua Reynolds, Mrs. Abington as Miss Prue in "Love for Love" by William Congreve, 1771
Ben Nicholson, 1940 (composition), 1940–47
Explore the Collections
Over 100,000 records from the Paintings and Sculpture, Prints and Drawings, Rare Books and Manuscripts, Reference Library, and Archives collections are searchable online, along with nearly all of the Yale Center for British Art's historic frames.
Philippe Mercier, The Sense of Sight (detail), 1744 to 1747
Contact the Paintings and Sculpture department at
ycba.paintings@yale.edu | +1 203 432 2844 | +1 203 432 4538 fax