University of Rochester

In Review

BURBANK STUDIOS: Portraits of 19th-century University benefactor and trustee Gideon Webster Burbank (1803–1873) and his wife, Mary Goodrich Burbank (1806–1888), are on exhibit at the Memorial Art Gallery. Thanks to a grant from the American Art Program at the Henry Luce Foundation, the oil paintings—donated to the University in 1973 by the Burbanks’ great-great-grandson—have been restored by the Williamstown Art Conservation Center. The exhibition of the paintings highlights the conservation process itself, with before-and-after images and explanations of the steps involved in restoration.

The 1863 paintings are by William Cogswell (1819–1903), best known for his portrait of Abraham Lincoln, a work that’s held in the White House art collection. A flour-milling magnate, Burbank gave the University $20,000 in 1854, the largest gift in the then four-year-old University’s history. Burbank also designed and operated a steamship on the Erie Canal, and he sent barrels of flour as Rochester’s contribution to the first World’s Fair, held in London in 1851.

The Burbanks, along with some of their 11 children, are buried in Mt. Hope Cemetery.