Corcoran Gallery of Art

▪ museum, Washington, District of Columbia, United States

      museum in Washington, D.C., chartered by Congress in 1870 and established through the provisions made by the banker William W. Corcoran. The collection, noted for its comprehensive display of American painting from the colonial through the modern period, has been housed in its present classical revival building since 1897.

      The museum also houses the private collection of Sen. William A. Clark, bequeathed to the Corcoran in 1926 and contained in a separate wing of the building. It is particularly noted for its French and Dutch paintings and decorative arts.

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