Tate and the National Portrait Gallery in London have jointly acquired William Dobson's rare self-portrait (circa 1635-40) for £2.4 million, supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. The painting will debut at Tate Britain in November before touring the UK. Separately, the George Eastman Museum in Rochester, New York, will digitize the complete moving-image works of Bill Viola, following a donation of over 200 works by the Viola-Perov Trust. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art has acquired a monumental Tiffany Studios stained-glass window by Agnes F. Northrop, originally installed in a San Antonio chapel, for its campus expansion opening in 2026.
These acquisitions highlight significant institutional efforts to preserve and present key works of art history. The Dobson self-portrait fills a gap in British portraiture from the Civil War era, while the Viola digitization project ensures the long-term preservation of pioneering video art. The Tiffany window acquisition underscores the growing trend of museums expanding their collections of decorative and stained-glass works, with Crystal Bridges preparing a major new building to showcase such pieces.