Tag: Samuel and Roberta Vickers

Osceola of Florida by Robert John Curtis (1816–1867), c. 1838. Except as noted, the objects illustrated are in the Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida Art Collection, gift of Samuel H. and Roberta T. Vickers; photographs by Randy Batista. For one who grew up in Puritan New England as I did, among those chilly folk who are sometimes termed “the ice people,” the warm southern charm of Samuel and Roberta Vickers of Jacksonville, Florida, has always been wonderfully disarming. My visits to their home have also been unforgettable, since they assembled one of the greatest collections of American art in the country, though one with a peculiar focus: paintings of Florida. Recently, they decided to give their collection of some twelve hundred paintings to the Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art at the University of Florida in Gainesville, the largest gift of artworks in the history of the university, and one of the largest in the history of Florida. This provided a pleasant occasion to sit down with Sam to discuss what the Vickerses have accomplished, what got them started, and what they hope their gift will achieve. What got you interested in collecting? Oleanders by Martin Johnson Heade (1819– 1904), c. 1885. Both our families had some means before the Depression. My grandmother attended the New England Conservatory of Music when she was sixteen. She loved fine furniture and oriental rugs. She went to school with and was a friend of Ima Hogg, whose Bayou Bend Collection in Houston is probably the second-best collection of American furniture after Winterthur’s. Both our families lost everything in the Depression and had to start over. But we had seen beautiful things; we were interested. We started our collection with furniture. Deanne Levison at Israel Sack helped