Castellani Art Museum of Niagara University receives conservation treatment grant from Greater Hudson Heritage Network  

Joachim Ferdinand Richardt, Niagara University, New York (detail), c. 1856-73, oil on canvas. Collection of the Castellani Art Museum of Niagara University, 1979

NIAGARA UNIVERSITY — The Greater Hudson Heritage Network (GHHN) is awarding a $4,500 conservation treatment grant to the Castellani Art Museum of Niagara University (CAM) to conserve an important Joachim Ferdinand Richardt painting of the Niagara River from the museum’s permanent collection. The artwork has never been publicly displayed because of its poor condition when first acquired.

The CAM is the only Niagara County cultural institution receiving GHHN grant funding, and it is one of only two organizations in Western New York to be recognized. The GHHN awarded 25 organizations, located in 19 counties of New York state, in partnership with the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA).

Artist Joachim Ferdinand Richardt (1819-1895) was a Danish-American artist. His work is highly sought after and recognized by art collectors around the world. In the United States he is known for his paintings of Niagara Falls and historically significant landscapes throughout the country. The awarded painting, Niagara University, New York, portrays the front of Holy Angels Seminary, now Niagara University, and a sweeping northern view of the Niagara River looking to Lake Ontario.  A barely discernible train from the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad line is visible, which had passed through the Niagara University campus in front of what is now Glynn Hall when the painting was created. Richardt’s painting in the CAM collection is most likely from an 1850s suite of 32 views of Niagara Falls and the surrounding region. 

The Conservation Treatment Grant is a partnership of the NYSCA and GHHN that provides support for treatment procedures by professional conservators to aid in stabilizing and preserving objects in collections of museums, historical and cultural organizations in New York state. The Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation has provided additional dedicated support for conservation treatment projects on Long Island and New York City.