Calendar of Events

Edward Russell Thaxter was a promising American sculptor of the late-nineteenth century but died in Florence at just twenty-four years of age before his first masterpiece, Love’s First Dream, was completed. Chief curator Matthew Hargraves explores the story behind Thaxter’s brief career and traces the story of Love’s First Dream from first idea to finished marble and its journey from Florence to Hartford. Free with museum admission. Meet in front of the Museum Shop.

The Wadsworth is pleased to host the season finale performance of the Arazzo Music Festival, a new initiative building community through musical performances here in Connecticut. Join Connecticut cellist and festival director Samuel DeCaprio as he performs an evening of string music in Morgan Great Hall with musicians from across the region. The program centers around Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s String Sextet in D minor “Souvenir de Florence”, Op. 70 (1890). Free with required registration. 

Learn how historic imagery informed the story brought to life on stage in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s award-winning musical Hamilton. Explore Hamilton: The Art of Remaking History with curator Brandy Culp as she takes a fresh look at the past through art and artifacts relating to the era and examines the ways we continue to reevaluate our nation’s history. Free with museum admission. Meet in front of the Museum Shop.

Join Towson University’s art and culinary historian Nancy Siegel for a discussion exploring the connections between food, drink, and politics during the American Revolution. Sample sweet treats from the era to declare the winner of the ultimate Federalist versus Republican cake duel. Tickets are limited, registration required. $25; $10 members.

Explore Naama Tsabar’s immersive installation with curator Patricia Hickson as she illuminates Tsabar’s feminist and political approach to artmaking. Free with museum admission. Meet in front of the Museum Shop. 

Catalan painter Francisco Ribalta vividly captured religious images at the turn of the seventeenth century, positioning himself as one of the major figures of the early Baroque. Paintings conservator Allen Kosanovich examines an in-process treatment of Ribalta’s The Ecstasy of Saint Francis: The Vision of the Musical Angel (c. 1620–1625), discussing how these efforts address the results of four hundred years of aging and numerous restoration attempts. Free with museum admission. Meet in front of the Museum Shop.

Explore how Naama Tsabar creates objects that function both as artworks and musical instruments. Design a musical instrument of your own and watch a presentation by our friends at the Connecticut Science Center as they unravel the mysteries behind sound. Enjoy a dance performance from Spectrum in Motion. Find the Ice Cream for a Dream truck for free ice cream while supplies last. Admission is free noon-2pm on Second Saturdays.

This program is sold out. Join decorative arts curators Brandy Culp and Linda Roth as they consider the complex history of punch and the ways silver and rum were entangled in the eighteenth century. Sample rum from Bloomfield’s Waypoint Spirits distillery and preview the historic objects in the museum’s new Silver Vault that were used to serve this complicated beverage. $15; $10 Members/students with ID. Must be age 21 to attend. 

Join composer, sound artist, and museum educator Adam Lenz for an inside look at artworks in the Wadsworth’s collection that engage with music, sound, and auditory histories. The talk will end in Naama Tsabar / MATRIX 189 where visitors will have a chance to experience a large-scale sound installation. Free with museum admission. Meet in front of the Museum Shop. 

English silversmith Isaac Dighton fashioned silver objects for London’s well-to-do at the end of the seventeenth century, including an ornately decorated punch bowl housed in the Wadsworth’s collection. Objects conservator Casey Mallinckrodt and conservation assistant Kat Sarris discuss the steps taken to prepare the Wadsworth’s silver collection for the new Silver Vault installation and the processes involved in helping Dighton’s punch bowl shine for the occasion. Free with museum admission. Meet in front of the Museum Shop.