David Murray Bequest Centenary

1908 – 2008

Art Gallery of South Australia

Thursday 14 August 2008 to Sunday 19 October 2008
The name David Murray is synonymous with the Gallery’s fine collection of prints and drawings. This year marks the centenary of his bequest to the Gallery – some 5,000 old master prints, which totally transformed the Gallery’s print collection.

Prior to his bequest, the institution’s fledgling print collection contained only seventy-six items, being mainly British prints. David Murray’s collection was rich in European old master prints, so establishing a new collecting path for the Gallery. Highlights included German Renaissance prints by Albrecht Dürer and Hans Baldung Grien, Dutch and Flemish prints by Hendrick Goltzius, Rubens and Rembrandt, Italian prints by Mantegna, Marcantonio Raimondi and Castiglione, as well as an old master drawing of St Jerome by Giambattista Tiepolo.