Great colleges have great art. In addition to the treasures at the Martin Museum of Art and in the Armstrong Browning Library, scattered throughout Baylor University’s campus are a handful of widely recognized classics. But what’s different about Baylor’s collection is that several of these paintings in particular have been hiding in plain sight–seen, yet unseen by generations of students, faculty, staff, and alumni despite their prominent placements.
Debbie Williams loves talking about art. As arts and collections coordinator with the Controller’s Office, Williams’ domain includes all art on campus–save for the Martin Museum and Armstrong Browning collections–a whopping 1,300 pieces of art (though she shares inventories and documentation with both museums). This includes the massive sculptures of Judge Baylor and Rufus C. Burleson by the famed Italian-born sculptor Pompeo Coppini.
Williams said her portfolio includes both gifts and university purchases: “I have little old ladies call me all of the time and say, ‘My daddy gave you this painting. Where is it?’ And I can pull it up on my computer and tell them, ‘It’s here.’”
Williams came to her position after several years working with Baylor athletics in fixed assets accounting, then initially as part of a campus-wide art and collections inventory. Her first task? To survey all Baylor art in 2008.
“That was a treasure hunt,” she recalled. “I had so much fun in that first year. I had it all located, documented, matched up with what I had on the spreadsheet. But there were many things that had sprouted legs and walked off.”
Williams enjoyed the process so much she went on to receive a master’s degree in art history at Baylor in 2017 and, with a boost from Susan Anz (now executive controller), arts and collections coordinator became a permanent position.
The most valuable painting on campus, according to Williams’ research, may be Ballerina Vera Fokina by the Russian American painter Nicolai Fechin (1881-1955), a master of portraiture known for his paintings of Native Americans and whose work hangs in the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Ballerina Vera Fokina was one of 12 paintings gifted to Baylor by Sen. William A. Blakley in 1971. It hung for decades above the circulation desk in Moody Memorial Library, smiling mysteriously at generations of students. Today, however, Ballerina Vera Fokina is now part of the Martin Museum of Art’s permanent collection where it can be better protected from light damage and the open environment.
Williams smiled at the mention of the painting. “Isn’t it gorgeous?” she asked. The painting is currently appraised at $5 million. Russian officials even reached out to Baylor at one point and asked to include the painting in an exhibition, but the University declined.
Williams’ research showed that Ballerina Vera Fokina is a portrait of the famed Russian-American prima ballerina Vera Fokina (1886-1958), who journeyed from Tsarist Russia to become of the most commanding figures in American ballet circles. The oversized painting is dominated by Fokina’s piercing eyes and by startling slashes of black paint that vividly contrast with Fokina’s pale skin and a small splash of muted red in a handful of roses.
The donor, Blakley (1898-1976), is himself a fascinating story. He was twice interim U.S. Senator in Texas and ran two unsuccessful campaigns for election in 1958 and 1961. He was also a successful lawyer, oil man, and rancher. At one time, Blakley was the largest shareholder in Braniff International Airways and donated more than $100 million to the Blakley-Braniff Foundation.
In an interview with the Baylor Institute of Oral History, Baylor Law School Dean Angus McSwain said that Blakley was “a good friend” of President Abner McCall. In addition to making “substantial money gifts” to the law school, McSwain said Blakley also gifted the school with a priceless copy of the Justinian Code printed on Gutenberg’s original press, an intricately decorated copy of the Magna Carta, a first edition of Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England, and in 1968 (with attorney James H. Walker) donated 3,413 volumes of the National Reporter System to the law school.
(Blakley also made a number of other contributions to Baylor, including copies of the two original arrest warrants for the outlaw Jesse James, now housed in the Texas Collection.)
Dominating the Great Hall in Truett Theological Seminary is a magnificent painting titled La Santa Cena, also known as The Last Supper. The work is dated circa 1690 during the Spanish Baroque era but comes with a convoluted past and provenance. The massive painting (76 ¾ inches by 145 inches) was probably painted for a convent in Valencia. Originally attributed to Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, it is now considered to have been painted by the School of Seville, of which Murillo was a leading figure.
Williams said she believes the painting changed hands repeatedly during the Napoleonic Peninsular Wars between the British and their erstwhile Spanish and Portuguese allies and the French from 1807-1814. The Last Supper reappears at the 1982 World’s Fair in Knoxville and was gifted to the Armstrong Browning Library in 1985, but was kept in storage because of its sheer size.
Williams’ research showed Joe and Bessie Baxter donated $80,000 toward the cleaning and restoration of The Last Supper when it was chosen to be prominently hung in the then in-progress Great Hall at Truett.
“This painting needed a great hall,” Williams said, “so when Baylor built Truett, the University had donors who gave money to specifically prepare the painting and have the wall structurally prepared for it.”
Williams said The Last Supper is currently valued at $125,000, in part because at least three copies are known to exist.
“And to think, how many people on this campus go into Truett and they don’t realize that that’s the real deal,” she said. “That’s a Spanish Baroque.”
Baylor University also owns two paintings once attributed to John Constable, the famed English Romantic painter of pastoral scenes, particularly of his beloved Dedham Vale in Essex, now known as “Constable Country.”
One of the two paintings, Scene in Scotland, was purchased by the Baylor Centennial Foundation to be placed in the Student Union building in 1950. Williams said the foundation paid $895 for the painting. Baylor records, she added, show that Scene in Scotland was originally purchased, along with several others pieces of art, from the estate of the William Cameron Company of Waco.
The other Constable, A Village Near Norwich, is part of the Martin Museum of Art’s permanent collection. It also was one of the 12 paintings donated by Blakeley in 1971 and hung in what was then called Moody Library. At the time of the gift, McCall expressed his gratitude, albeit in his typically understated way: “We’re pleased this gift of fine paintings has been given to Baylor by Sen. and Mrs. William A. Blakley so that future generations of students can enjoy them.”
The 12 paintings comprised the largest art collection ever given to the University. According to the official Baylor press release, “The gift is expected to increase the cultural impact of the three-year-old Moody Library.”
Alas, in neither case, was the provenance provided–which is problematic for a painter as often copied as Constable. Baylor’s longtime treasurer Howard Dudgeon III, who oversaw the University’s art collection before Williams, said in an email that Sotheby’s declined to attribute either painting to Constable. Mike Schutze, the collections manager at the Martin Museum of Art, provided this information about A Village Near Norwich in an email:
Analyzed by Christie’s, Sothebys’, the Fogg Museum, and by Dr. Paul Joannides of Cambridge, and all unanimously agreed that this painting is not an authentic Constable. All suggested that this is either in the School of Norwich or inspired by the School of Norwich. It was also suggested that it could be the work of John Crome, or someone heavily influenced by him. Authors to investigate: Norman Goldberg, Derrick and Timothy Clifford, all write about John Crome.
Williams said she is currently working on the provenance for both Baylor paintings. Neither of the two have been appraised.
Incidentally, the Student Union Building, Williams said, as well as other buildings on campus, have security measures in place to protect their artwork, including the Student Union’s small “Constable.” When Scene in Scotland needed to be moved in December 2024, Williams said that the protective measures first had to be temporarily disabled.
And does Williams have a favorite among the many, many paintings on the Baylor campus?
“Well, of course,” she said. “The Last Supper. And the Fechin. She’s just gorgeous. They’re just my favorite paintings, regardless of their value.”
