August 31, 4:00 pm. Historian and author Francis Morrone, one of Ventfort Hall Mansion and Gilded Age Museum’s most popular speakers, will return, via Zoom only, to tell “The Story Behind the Wrightsman 18th Century French Collections at the Met.” Morrone will give his visual presentation on August 31 at 4:00 pm as part of the museum’s Tuesday Talks.

He was an Oklahoma-born oil tycoon and dashing polo player and she was a Michigan-born beauty who for 40 years traveled the world acquiring French antiques and decorative arts for their 18-room apartment in New York, a home in London and a famed mansion in Palm Beach.

Charles and Jayne eventually gave hundreds of works to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, including porcelain, gilt bronzes, antique furniture, boiseries, paintings and sculpture. Leading experts, even from beyond the Met, were approached to advise on the socially prominent couple’s museum-quality acquisitions.

Their extraordinary collections, a major lasting legacy, are exhibited in a series of recreated and stunning rooms and galleries.After her husband’s death in 1986, Jayne continued to be interested in the collections, even to the point of new textiles, reupholstering and lighting for the rooms, each presented as if it were a different time of day.

Morrone is also the author of eleven books, including architectural guide books. His writings have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the New Criterion, City Journal and the New York Sun, where he was an art and architecture critic. He teaches architectural and urban history at New York University, and is the recipient of the university’s Excellence in Teaching Award. Travel + Leisure magazine named him as one of the 13 best tour guides in the world. He has also received an Arthur Ross Award in the category of History/Writing/Publishing from the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art.

Ventfort Hall has a strict no-refund policy and tickets are nontransferable. Please ensure you have a strong internet connection and access to Zoom before purchasing tickets.

Tickets purchased on Eventbrite are for the streamed lecture online. This lecture will be strictly streamed online with no in-person attendance.

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places and designated by the Massachusetts Cultural Council as an important partner of the Lenox Cultural District, one of the five such Berkshire County districts, Ventfort Hall Mansion and Gilded Age Museum was built in 1893 for George and Sarah Morgan, the sister of legendary financier J. Pierpont Morgan. Tours of the historic mansion are offered daily, as well as Tea & Talks, such exhibitions as the Bellefontaine Collection, concerts, theater and other programs. This elegant Jacobean-Revival Berkshire “cottage” is open to the public year-round and is available for private rental. Ventfort Hall, also an Official Project of Save America’s Treasures program sponsored by The White House, has undergone substantial restoration, which continues.