Art museum of Florida established as the legacy of Mable Burton Ringling and John Ringling and offers 21 galleries of European paintings as well as Asian, American, and contemporary art
General Information
The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art is Florida's official state art museum, established in 1927 as the philanthropic legacy of circus magnate John Ringling and his wife Mable. The 66-acre campus on Sarasota Bay brings together the art museum, the Circus Museum, Ca' d'Zan (the Ringlings' Venetian Gothic mansion), the historic Asolo Theater, and Mable's rose garden — where the couple are buried. John Ringling left the entire property, its art collection, and a $1.2 million endowment to the people of Florida when he died in 1936.
Art Museum
21 galleries hold more than 10,000 works spanning ancient to contemporary art, most notably a world-renowned collection of Peter Paul Rubens paintings alongside pieces by Velázquez, Veronese, Bernini, and Gainsborough.
Ca' d'Zan
The Ringlings' 1926 waterfront mansion, designed by Dwight James Baum in Venetian Gothic style, was the center of Sarasota's social scene for years and remains the campus's architectural showpiece.
Circus Museum & Tibbals Learning Center
Founded in 1948, the Circus Museum traces the history of the American circus through posters, costumes, and parade wagons. Next door, the Tibbals Learning Center houses the Howard Bros. Circus Model, a scale recreation of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus billed as the "world's largest miniature circus."
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0
