Miniature Locket Album of TOM THUMB

Pamphlets were written about the lives, courtship, and marriage of this celebrated couple and were also available for purchase.

The Somebody’s Luggage locket is a wonderful example of a keepsake celebrating the marriage. About the size of your thumb, the small, brass locket may be opened and inside is an accordion pleat of six small, double-sided brass frames, each containing two prints each of the couple and the wedding.

In 1863, the news of the Civil War was briefly left off of the front page of newspapers and replaced by the wedding of Tom Thumb (Charles Stratton, 1838 – 1883) and Lavinia Warren (1842 – 1919). Held at Grace Church in New York City (802 Broadway at 10th Street), it was a lavish social event that captivated the country. The wedding guest list of 2,000 names included the Astors, Vanderbilts, and President and Mrs. Lincoln. P. T. Barnum funded and promoted the “Fairy

In 1949, ten-year-old Nilsa Fraser was given a Somebody’s Luggage locket while visiting her grandmother, who was a housekeeper in Dorking, England. The Lady of the house, Miss Dawn, gave the locket to Nilsa saying, “Please take care of it because it is very precious.” For safe keeping, the locket was kept in her mother’s jewelry box. The family moved to Toronto, Canada, in 1956; two years later, they moved to Sarasota and the locket safely traveled with them.

Later, Nilsa moved to New York, but the item remained with the family in Sarasota. Returning to Sarasota in 1960, she again found her treasured locket in her mother’s jewelry box. Knowing the special history of the locket, and the mandate to take care of it, she realized that it needed to find a permanent home. This year, Nilsa Fraser donated her Somebody’s Luggage locket to The Ringling, where it will be preserved so that visitors may enjoy her precious piece of history.

Three more galleries in the Museum of Art have been reinstalled during the summer of 2018, as the major project to re-envision all 21 original museum galleries continues. This exciting work is transforming the visitor experience of The Ringling’s collections of European art through new arrangements of artworks, updated labels and didactics, much improved lighting, and modern wall colors. The first phase of the project, completed in 2016, created three new gallery spaces showcasing still life painting, Dutch and Flemish art in the seventeenth century, and the art of the Rococo. Much more than mere rehangings, these new galleries have been a resounding success with visitors. After such a successful start, we were thrilled to be able to continue this work in the summer of 2018.

Proceeding in the south wing of the museum, these three galleries focus on British art, Neoclassical art, and Italian art of the eighteenth century, providing new historical context for these important strengths of The Ringling’s collection. Gallery 16 is the new home of British art, highlighting the museum’s remarkable portraits by Sir Joshua Reynolds, Thomas Gainsborough, and Allan Ramsay, and sees the return of the well-loved Moonlight Landscape by Joseph Wright of Derby. Gallery 17 focuses on the Neoclassical movement in the

UPDATE: MUSEUM OF ART REINSTALLATION

eighteenth century, with the extraordinary Dream of Joseph by Anton Raphael Mengs returning to view alongside favorites by Angelica Kauffmann and Benjamin West. Finally, Gallery 18, by far the largest of the three spaces, is devoted to the museum’s exceptional collection of eighteenth-century Italian art, featuring paintings by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Canaletto, Francesco Guardi, Giovanni Paolo Panini, Giovanni Michele Graneri, and Giuseppe Bartolomeo Chiari. Previously dispersed over three galleries, these works are now united in one space, allowing for a deeper understanding of period style and greater opportunities for comparative viewing.