biography
| name: |
Corcoran, William Wilson
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| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1798–1888)
|
| biography:
| Banker, art collector, and philanthropist, born in Georgetown, Washington, District of Columbia, USA. He studied at Georgetown College (now university) (c.1814), joined his brothers in a dry goods business (1815), and later established a banking firm, Corcoran & Riggs (1840). In 1854 he retired from banking and devoted himself to collecting 19th-c American works of art. A supporter of the South during the Civil War, he lived abroad during that time. As a philanthropist he donated large sums to many educational, religious, and charitable institutions in America, and founded the Corcoran Gallery of Art (1859), which moved to its present location in 1897. His collection still forms the nucleus of the museum. |
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