The Newark Museum is putting Thomas Cole's The Arch of Nero (1846) on the auction block at Sotheby's, carrying an estimate of $500,000-$700,000
An open letter signed by more than 50 art historians, curators and researchers was submitted today to the Newark Museum of Art protesting its plan to sell works from its collection, most prominently Thomas Cole’s 1846 painting
The Arch of Nero, organisers say.
The letter, addressed to Linda Harrison, director and chief executive of the museum, denounces the sales, known as deaccessioning, as a “senseless monetisation” of the art. Among the works being offered by the institution are examples by Albert Bierstadt, Mary Cassatt, Burgoyne Diller, Thomas Eakins, Marsden Hartley, Childe Hassam, Thomas Moran, Georgia O'Keeffe, Frederic Remington and Charles Sheeler.