Secretive Billionaire Collector John Middleton Reveals Major American Art Collection in Philadelphia Exhibitions

John S. Middleton, the primary owner of the Philadelphia Phillies, along with his wife Leigh, has curated an exceptional private collection of American art. This collection, featuring 120 sculptures, artifacts, paintings, and furniture, is being showcased for the first time under the Middleton name in "A Nation of Artists," a dual exhibition at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Coinciding with the 250th anniversary of Philadelphia's founding, the collection highlights works such as Albert Bierstadt's "The Shore of the Turquoise Sea" (1878) and Charles Willson Peale's 1779 portrait "George Washington at Princeton." Alexandra A. Kirtley, the decorative arts curator at the museum, learned of Middleton's identity while at a bar. Middleton's collecting journey began with furniture, including a rare Bombé desk and bookcase by Nathaniel Gould. In 2014, Mark D. Mitchell, then at the museum and currently at the Yale University Art Gallery, exclaimed, "Mr. Big wants us to come to the house!" The collection is considered to be on par with that of Alice Walton’s for the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in northwest Arkansas.