Morgan's trips to Europe
Born April 17, 1837
Nov 1852 - age 15-16 - cure - in Azores - took a square rigger bark Io from Boston
April 15 1853 - left Azores on steamship Great Western - to London - May, to continent Belgium and Germany - Paris - hotel in the Rue Saint-Honore - London June-July, Scotland,
then return
1854 - age 17 - Sept - back to Europe - London - then Nov. Swiss school, Lake Geneva
Aug 1855 - in Paris with his family - time of Crimean War
April 1856 - to Gottingen - age 19
Aug 1856 - waters at Wiesbaden - then to home in London, 14 Princes Gate
Oct 1856 - back to Gottingen for 3 months
Early 1857 - to Rome - then back to US on the Persia, age 20
1859 - Spring Feb, sent off Memieto London on the Persia, later Nov, Pierpont took the Persia
to London, age 22
1860 - returned in May to NY, away for 5 months
Oct 1861 - 24 years old - married Memie Oct 9 left NY on the Persia - she died in Nice
Feb 17, 1862.
April 1862 he returned to the US
1865 - May 31 - married Fanny/Frances - age 28
June 1865 - to Europe - on the Persia
By Sept. back in NY
1868 - summer - age 31 - spent summer in Europe - London - alone - then Paris, Karlsbad,
Vienna, Munich
July 1869 - age 32 - travelled across US via train with Fanny, her sister May Tracy and his
cousin Mary Goodwin.
1869 - helped found American Museum of Natural History - with T. Roosevelt - and when a
group of New Yorkers at the Union League Club aoounced plans to build an art museum in
1869 - he was among the first subscribers - became a patron of the Met in 1871 - with $1000
1871 - July 1 - opened Drexel, Morgan and Co. age 34
a few days later - Pierpont set off with his family for a year abroad - his wife, 3 children, 2
nursemaids, Fanny's sister Mary - England, Germany, Austria, switerland, - then to Egypt
sailed from Brindisi to Alexandria mid December 1871 - 3 wks cruise on the Nile - to Aswan - in
12 Jan returned to Rome 1872 April 17 celebrated his 35th birthday at the Hotel bristol in paris 3-5 Place Vendome - now
occupied by IBM France
Preferred ths hotel in France thereafter
Beg of May in London - then Germany
Then in August 1872 returned to NY
Summer 1876 - age 39 = took his family to europe
6 Morgans sailed from NY in June - England, Dover House - 7 miles from London - 26 minutes
by carriage from Princes gate -stood on ridge of a hill overlooking Wimbleton Common and
Putney heath - villa
16 bed + dressing rooms - 2 kitchens - his father 63 his mother Juliet an invalid
filled with father's interest in art - had begun buying landscape paintings and portraits
spring of 1876 - theft of Gainsborough's Dutchess of Devonshire - Georgina - Junius intended to
buy it - for 14-15000 pounds
younger Morgan stayed at Dover House July 1876 - then Paris - Hotel Bristol
in August Scotland - then he returned to London - rejoined wife and children in August 29 1876
decided to stay abroad all year - autumn in Paris
in December Morgan famly to Egypt - stayed at Cairo's palatial New Hotel - then took a Cook's
steamer the Beni Souef up the Nile
dragoman, French physician, several Egyptian servants, nurse, maid, French waiter, regular
courier Cesar, Fanny's cousin Mary Huntington = the famous group portrait at Karnak
then rest of winter in Rome - then met up with the entire Morgan clan in Paris at the Hotel Bristol
- Junius' 64th birthday on April 14 at the Café Anglais on the Boulevard des Italiens - and
Pierpont's 40th birthday at the Bristol 3 days later.
Crossed channel end of April 1877 - sailed mid May for New York
The Morgan men from 1877 alternated transatlantic trips
Pierpont going to England every spring; and Junius to America in the fall
Spring 1879 - 42 years old - took Louisa, now 13 - on his annual trip to Europe
1880 - on SS Germanic - with Juliet - returned on the Britannic, end of May
Jan 1882 - Morgan Medit. Tour began at Nice - then Corsica, Sicily, Egypt - Shepheard's Hotel
Up the Nile in Feb - Luxor, then Jerusalem - Church of the Holy Sepulcher
Returned to London March - Paris, then returned on Britannic end of May
His mother died at Princes Gate Feb 22 - 1884
Pierpont took Louisa to London a few weeks later
When Morgan and other American collectors of his generation eventually turned away from
salon paintings in the late 1890s, they would look not to the modernist future of Van Gogh,
Picasso and Matisse, but to the hallowed authority of the past
Railroad wars did not prevent Morgan from taking his annual trip to Europe each spring - in May
1885 - shortly before he sailed home with William H. Vanderbilt, Louisa reported to Fanny from
Venice that papa enjoyed it all In 1886 - he was 49 - Pierpont and Junius celebrated their April birthdays in Rome
In April 11889 - age 52 - Pierpont took Louisa to Monte Carlo to celebrate Junius' 76th birthday he drove his daughter into Nice one day to go sightseeing and shopping with friends
After lunch he went off by himself to the Villa St. Georges - where Memie had died 27 years
before.
At beginning of April1890 - age 53 - Pierpont sailed with Louisa on the White Star Teutonic - to
join his father as usual for their birthdays - his father died day before he arrived - accident stayed at the Charing Cross Hotel - then Paris and MonteCarlo - sailed for New York on April 20
- for a funeral in Hartford. - his father was 77
Now Pierpont the senior on both sides of the Atlantic
25th wedding anniversary May 31 1890 - Fanny ailing in France at Aix - Pierpont crossing
Atlantic with Louisa, Juliet - and a beautiful young widow Edith Sybil Randolph - he was 53 - she
was 36
on landing, Pierpont stopped briefly to see his wife - then to Aix for cures
august 18 returned on White Star's Majestic
in early July 1890 - with Edith Randolph, P toured the Lake district
in 1894 - age 57 - on Corsair at Bar Harbor colony
1897 - 60 years old - built a place at Newport - and bought apartment on Jekyl Island - saw it
the next year and also acquired property in the Adirondack mountains - Camp Uncas - became
commodore of the New York Yacht Club
1898 - to England early - returned end of March
1899 - spring - in Aix les Bains - Edith died in New York - he sent flowers
in 1900 - thinning white hair - occasional trouble hearing, use of a silver-tipped mahogany
walking stick were the chief signs of Morgan's advancing years
at beg of April 1901 - Morgan sailed for Europe in the White Star's Teutonic - to avoid reporters used 2nd class gang way - for first time in years - Louisa 4 months pregnant did not accompany
him - he travelled with his sister Mary Burns instead
played solitaire and slept most of the way
but had more interest in Europe's art markets than its bank vaults - 2 wks after buying Beorgina,
Duchess of Devonshire - then in Paris a Raphael Madonna
lent it to the National Gallery in London - when he died in 1913 it was considered the most
important painting in his collection
in April 1901 - when off to Aix les Bains for a rest - had reserved the suite of rooms he always
took at the Grand Hotel in Aix - Mary Burns with him in 1901 - his daughter Anne left Fanny in
Paris to join them - made very large contribution to the local hospital - town named a street the
Boulevard Pierpont Morgan
May 15 - Fanny's birthday - he left London for Paris
Morgan returned to NY on the Deutschland - sailed June 28 September train to S. Francisco - for the Triennial Episcopal Convention
In SF leased a house for 3 weeks from the railroad builder and banker Charles Crocker
After the convention took his party up the coast to Oregon and Washington - bought furs - in late
Oct escorted thedignitaries home
1902 - Morgan returned from Europe in August
Corsaire in Venice 1902 - April 1902 - with his daughter Anne - Morgan turned 65 - left for
Europe as usual that April
White Star Line purchased in 1901 Morgan met his wife, the Laniers, the Bacons in paris at the Hotel Bristol in April 20 - 3 days
later Fanny left for London and New York with her hired companion - Miss Jones
Anne stayed with her father in Paris
Then to Aix - toward end of May back in London, then to Paris - left May 28 1902 - Switzerland Verona to see Juliet's tomb - Venice to meet Corsair and crew - 2 days in Venice - sailed down
Dalmatian coast - Corinth - Athens - living aboard Corsair - visited Byz churches and the
Erectheum
At the National Museum saw the gold treasure from Mycenae - and one of the famous bronzes
from the sea - then to Delphi, Corfu, Brindisi
June 8 JPM left for London
To dine with the King - returned to Venice June 13 - sailed to Napes - train to Romne
June 20 to London for coronation of Edward
Then to Kiel - appt with Kaiser Wilhelm - on Corsair July 1
To Berlin - called on Wilhelm von Bode - director of the Kaiser Friedrich Museum - Potsdam
Then Paris - london - rescheduled coronation August 9
Sailed for home on August 13
US 1897 Revenue Act - 20% tariff on important works of art
With Henry Walters of baltimore - raised $$ for the American Academy in Rome
On his 1902 trip - purchased the library of William Bennett of Manchester - and other art1903 - Cuba - on way back Jekyl island for several days - then Washington - conversed with
Pres. Roosevelt - met with Senators Aldrich and Hanna - for reduction of the art import duties
would cost him $3 milllion to bring his collections to the US
66th birthday at home - April 17 - Fanny in California - sailed for Europe with Adelaide and Anne
- Aix in May
garland collection 1902 to the met
first VP of Met 1904 - President that fall
anne sailed to europe with father April 1904 - May in Aix
in Sept 1904 - Pierpont, Anne and Adelaide enterained the Archbishop of Canterbury in Maine Bar Harbor - on Corsaire
anne - March 1 1905 - day to leave with JPM on annual trip to europe = Aix
1904 - Morgan in europe - Anne's first trip to Versailles with Bessie - the spring of the Sienese
art exhibition
1905 - 69 years old - Aix - ealry June - Morgan's French doctor reported that M depressed, high
blood pressure
March 1907 - sailed for Europe - celebrated his 70th b.d. at Aix April 17 - with Adelaide and his
sister Mary - then Paris, London - late May met Roger Fry in perugia for a tour of Italian art
Then motored to Assisi - Florence - Sienna - San Gimignano - then on Corsair
Paris - purchased 1/2 Kann collection in summer 1907 - Ghirlandaio … commissioned
catalogues
Morgan abroad 5 months in 1907 - mid-March to mid-august
April 1908 - Aix
Spring 1909 - in egypt - Congress debated tariff bill sponsored by Alrich and Paine - to eliminate
the 20% import duty on art
Morgan returned to US in mid July
To Maine on Corsair
Adelaide's last trip to Europe with Morgan, spring 1908Edward VII died may 1910 - Morgan attended funeral in June - 73 years old
Returned to US in time to receive honorary LLD from Harvard at end of June
Spring 1911 - travelled aborad - Aix remained abroad for the first 8 months of 1911
Sailed again for Eurpe at end of Dec. 1911
In Paris early Jan - stayed with US Amb Bob Bacon - Montecarlo, egypt
The Lythgoes, Mary Burns, Bisho and Mrs. Lawrence - in his own dahabiyeh - named the
Khargeh
From egypt each winter Mortan went on to Itlay and France - in Rome in 1911 after the trip with
Winlock - he made several visits to the site of the new American Academy in Rome
In France gave the Pres a piece stolen from village church - installed placque honoring Morgan
in the Galeri d'Apollon at the Louvre
At end of May 1911, presented to King George V
June - Kiel
Bought in London a Rolls Royce
June - new romance - Lady Victoria Sackville - she was 49, he 73
Combination of LloydGeorge's Death Duties - the Payne Aldrich Act eliminating american import
duty - Morgan's sense of mortality - prompted to begin transfering collections to US
In Nov 1911 he told William Loeb Jr. chief customs officer for the Port of NY - that he planned to
bring the "extensive art collection which I have been gathering during the past 40 years across
the Atlantic
[full story on page 642???]
April 15 1912 - he was at Aix - heard Titanic sunk
Very sunburned and hale after sojourn in Egypt
By end of year 351 cases of art - stored unopened in Met basement
Stayed in Aix longer than usual, then went to Venice at end of April - dedication of a new
Campanile di San Marco - which he had helped pay for - the old one colloapsed in 1902 returned to Aix for another fortnight
In mid May he traveled up to London - phoned Lady Sackville - he was 75 years old
June 1912 - on Corsair with Teddy Grenfell, to attend Kiel regatta at invitation of Kaiser Vilhelm
- sailed with the emperor June 26 - after a 5 hr race - won
Then to Rome - transferred title to some of his properites to the American Academy = raised
money for a bulding - turned the soil for the new building
mid July - sailedfor NY on the titanic's sister the Olympic - took with him Duchess of Devonshire
and several other paintings
Labor day weekend 1912 Pujo hearings
Met - exhibitions of M's art - Nov. 12 1912 - no prospect of city funding - M said had no intention
of leaving art to the Met
Jan 6 1913 - sailed for egypt with Louisa, the Aldriches, the Lythgoes, his favorite Pekinese - on
the Adriatic.