Gifts: Old England for New

The genteel customs of England's landed gentry, the bright pink coats of fox hunters at their favorite sport, the corruption of London's gin-swilling slums, all these are just a sampling of the subjects contained in the pictorial encyclopedia of Paul Mellon's private English painting collection. So vast has it grown that just to hang its choicest items, Richmond's Virginia Museum of Fine Arts cleared out all its picture galleries 31 years ago. But for all of Virginia's traditional ties to old England, Loyal Yale Grad Mellon ('29) showed 300 of the paintings at Yale last year and last week...

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