N. Vasselboro, Maine, July 4, 1842 – Farmington, Connecticut, August 5, 1913



In collecting art, Alfred Pope was passionate and discerning. His penchant for Impressionist paintings, in their immediacy and boldness, distinguished him within a select group of connoisseurs at the turn of the 20th century. Favoring quality over quantity, he took home the best works of art, not the most. Today, his Impressionist collection at Hill-Stead contains singular examples by Manet, Monet and Degas.

The Business Years
Alfred Pope epitomized the self-made man, keenly entrepreneurial and opportunistic. He married Ada Brooks, his childhood sweetheart, in 1866, and worked alongside his father and brothers in the family woolen business. In 1869, he bought into the newly formed Cleveland Malleable Iron Company, and within 10 years, at the age of 37, rose to the rank of president. The firm prospered, made acquisitions, and became the Malleable Castings Company in 1891. By some standards, Pope was wealthy. He eventually built a townhouse in one of Cleveland’s most fashionable districts and lived among such neighbors as John D. Rockefeller. After 32 years in industry, Pope and his wife retired to Farmington, Connecticut, where their only child, Theodate, was living. At Hill-Stead, he became a gentleman farmer, and with his daughter, developed a dairy business.

Artistic Pursuits
Pope’s interest in French Impressionist art began in 1888-1889 when he took Ada and Theodate on a European Grand Tour. In addition to visiting such museums as the Louvre and the Luxembourg Palace in Paris, where they viewed seminal works by the old masters, the Popes visited commercial Parisian art galleries, among them Paul Durand-Ruel’s gallery, the best known and influential of its time. There, Pope’s education about the Impressionists began.

Pope purchased his first Impressionist painting, Monet’s View of Cap d’Antibes, in 1889, during a trip to the continent. He returned home with three paintings by Monet, including Grainstacks, White Frost Effect. In 1894, during a four-month sojourn in Europe, he acquired Monet’s Fishing Boats at Sea and Manet’s The Guitar Player. During this trip, he also bought his first painting by the American expatriate artist James McNeill Whistler. In addition to collecting in Europe, Pope acquired Impressionist pieces from dealers in New York City, where he and Ada maintained a residence at the Windsor Hotel.

Pope bought only artwork he could “rise to.” When he purchased a work that did not meet his standards or, perhaps, did not fit with the other works in his collection, he was quick to exchange it. He was both a rugged individualist, relying on his own judgment, and like most collectors, influenced by the trends of his time. A select few helped guide his choices, including brother-in-law and artist Edward (Ned) Brooks, family friend Clinton Peters, and artists Whistler and Mary Cassatt. None of these individuals, however, assumed the role of official advisor.

Today, the Alfred Atmore Pope Collection is a testament to a man who developed a personal aesthetic worthy of a scholar. As one of the earliest Americans to collect Impressionist art, Pope did not rely on the opinions of the past, but instead saw and liked what was fresh and new. The relatively small size of his collection reflects his practicality in having only the number of paintings that could fit comfortably in his house. He loved these paintings and enjoyed them every day—as visitors to Hill-Stead are privileged to do a century later.