The Museum has a rich collection of paintings by European masters, as well as sculptures and objects from the Middle Ages to the present day, from 14th-century religious scenes to grisaille paintings by Mantegna. Hans Memlinc's Portrait of a Young Man contrasts with the austerity of an El Greco portrait, while the collection of Baroque art features French, Italian, Dutch and Flemish works with paintings by Nicolas Poussin, Salvador Rosa, Rembrandt, Emmanuel de Witte and Pieter Bruegel the Younger. Works from the 18th century include portraits by Largillière, William Hogarth and Gainsborough, with Italian masters represented by Canaletto, Tiepolo and Pellegrini. Most of the works in the 19th-century collection were gifts or bequests from prominent Montreal families and reflect their preference for painters of the Barbizon School such as Corot and Daubigny. A magnificent Daumier ( Nymphs Pursued by Satyrs ), and the striking James Tissot painting October are included with Impressionist and Post-Impressionist works by Renoir , Sisley, Pissarro, Monet and Cézanne. The collection of early 20th-century art counts major artists such as Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Lyonel Feininger, Georges Rouault, Salvador Dalí and Otto Dix, not to mention a fine collection of small bronzes.

Hans Memling  German, Seligenstadt 1433 - Bruges 1494           Portrait of a Man        About 1490         Oil on panel            33.4 x 22.8 cm      Purchase, Horsley and Annie Townsend Bequest and William Gilman Cheney Bequest

Pierre Auguste Renoir French, Limoges 1841 - Cagnes 1919                                                                                            Young Girl with a Hat                                             About 1890                                             Oil on canvas                                            41.5 x 32.5 cm                       Purchase, contribution of the Government of Canada under the terms of                        the Cultural Property Export and Import Act, and gifts of Mrs. A.T.                         Henderson, the families of the late M. Dorothea Millar and the late                       J. Lesley Ross, the Bank of Montreal, Redpath Industries Ltd. and The                          Royal Trust Company, in memory of Huntly Redpath Drummond                                               1984.17