The story of the Walters Art Museum begins with a very rich, but very generous, family.

Well, the real story begins with William T. Walters, who worked his butt off to earn the money needed to assemble a fabulous art collection. His son, Henry, benefitted from having a rich daddy with great taste in art and ultimately had an infinitely easier time – but isn’t that always the case?

William amassed his fortune in the liquor, banking, and railroad industries in mid-nineteenth-century Baltimore. Like every good rich tycoon, he also started collecting art in 1850. William’s taste in art evolved as he traveled abroad, living in Europe and taking in the local art instead of fighting in the Civil War. He took a liking to the very humble stylings of French imperial art, like the works of Jacques-Louis David, and got busy with his checkbook, establishing his European art collection by 1865.

William had a good eye and an acclaimed sense of taste. He served as the United States art commissioner to the Paris Universal Expositions in 1867 and 1878 and the Vienna Universal Exposition in 1873. He even began showing his glorious collection in a museum-like setting. Once a year, he opened his home to the public, allowing visitors to experience his art for a small fee. Surprisingly, Walters did not profit off these showings; he donated all of the proceeds to the Poor Association of Baltimore. These early, altruistic exhibitions foreshadowed the tuition-free museum that this collection would eventually become.

William left his acclaimed art collection to his son Henry, who expanded on his father’s foundational collection of European and Asian art. Henry’s goal was to create an encyclopedic collection with a little bit of everything from everywhere. It turns out that William walked so Henry could run. Whereas William collected works by artists like Bayre and Millet, Henry collected Ingres, Manet, and Degas. Henry’s most notable acquisition happened in 1900, when he became the first American to own a Virgin and Child painting by the coveted Italian master, Raphael. Henry eventually gifted the entire art collection, two buildings, and some cash money in the form of an endowment to the city of Baltimore, and the museum opened in November 1934.