Mrs. Wrightsman served as a model of the American patrician à la Française: erudite, elegant, and exceedingly generous. Yet, it is Mrs. Wrightsman’s accomplishments in connoisseurship for which she is best remembered. “The fashion in art history today,” observed the French historian and critic Pierre Rosenberg, “is the study of masters and painters, patrons and patronage, collections and collectors. But who gives sufficient attention to their taste? It is clear that there is a Rothschild taste. There is also a Wrightsman taste.” In her 99 years, Jayne Wrightsman’s thoughtful and exquisite taste influenced both her philanthropic contributions and her carefully curated homes. Over time, the Wrightsmans assembled one of the most enviable collections of decorative arts.

Featuring an array of Old Master paintings and eighteenth-century furniture, decorative arts and porcelain, the much-anticipated auction of the arts benefactor’s storied collection — much of which graced and decorated her homes for decades — will take place at Christie’s New York with proceeds to benefit philanthropy.