Peter and Anne Brooke give collection to HUAM

Peter A.B. ’52, M.B.A. ’54 and Anne Brooke of Boston have announced plans to bequeath their collection of 17th century Dutch and Flemish paintings to the Harvard University Art Museums (HUAM).

“This means a great deal to us,” said Ivan Gaskell, Margaret S. Winthrop Curator of Paintings, Sculpture, and Decorative Arts at the Fogg Art Museum. “It will enhance our holdings enormously and complement the Fogg’s extensive collection of 17th century Dutch drawings and prints.”

Among the 18 paintings that the Brookes will bequeath are two landscapes, Jan van Goyen’s striking “Landscape with a View of Rhenen,” painted in 1640, and Aert van der Neer’s “Moonlight Estuary,” made in the 1650s; two high-finish paintings, by Godfried Schalcken (“Portrait of a Lady as the Goddess Diana,” circa 1675-1680) and Willem van Mieris (“Portrait of a Man with a Sword,” 1686); and a magnificent work by Jan van Huysum, “Floral Still Life with Hollyhock and Marigold.”

The Brookes said they elected to publicize their gift in the hope that it might inspire other collectors to make similar gifts and bequests.

Anne Brooke has served on the University’s Committee to Visit the Art Museums and is currently a member of the collections subcommittee on Paintings, Sculpture, and Decorative Arts. She has also been an overseer at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

“I have seen firsthand how Harvard’s great strength is building the collection through gifts,” she said. “We talked it over with our children and they agreed that they did not want the responsibility of the collection. They are delighted to have it going somewhere where it can be seen and used.”

Peter Brooke has served as a Harvard Overseer and as a member of many of its visiting and standing committees. In 2002, he received the Harvard Medal from the Harvard Alumni Association for his extraordinary service to the University. Peter is the founder of T.A. Associates and Advent International, two well-recognized domestic and international private equity firms. He is now chairman of Advent International and a general partner of Brooke Private Equity Partners, a firm that he recently founded with his son, John Brooke A.B. ’85, M.B.A. ’91.