The Baltimore City Circuit Court Art Collection

 

    In June of 1896, upon the laying of the cornerstone for the courthouse now named for Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr., U.S. Senator William Pinkney Whyte urged the members of the legal profession to honor the memory of its leaders by displaying their portraits on the walls of the building, "that they may excite the rising generation of lawyers to emulate their example." Today, more than a hundred years later, the Baltimore City Circuit Court, encompassing the Mitchell Building as well as the East Courthouse, contains more than 85 portraits of people who have served the Court from its earliest history through to the present day. The collection includes the work of such celebrated American artists as Thomas C. Corner, Charles Yardley Turner, and Simmie Knox to name only three. The history of the Baltimore City Circuit Court and Bar can be traced through the faces in these portraits. In addition, five murals depicting pivotal scenes in Maryland history are part of the permanent architecture of the Mitchell Building.

    The idea of preserving and properly documenting the portrait paintings and their locations was first championed by Joseph R. Byrnes in the 1930's, then a law clerk, who would later become an Associate Judge of the Supreme Bench of Baltimore City, a Maryland State Senator and President of the Maryland State Senate. In subsequent years this cause was furthered by Byrnes' son, the Hon. John C. Byrnes, along with the Hon. James F. Schneider and the Hon. M. Brooke Murdock. Judge Schnieder, as historian and archivist of the Court, amassed a tremendous amount of information about the individual portraits and their provenances, forming the nucleus of a historical catalogue of the collection. Today, the art collection continues to be preserved and grow under the direction of The Baltimore Courthouse and Law Museum Foundation, Inc.  

  In recent years, the portrait committee has sought the expertise of museum professionals to advise in the display and preservation of these important historical documents. In the summer of 2004, to enhance public access to the collection, the Court sponsored an internship at the Maryland State Archives to create an electronic catalogue of the portrait collection. As part of this project, each portrait has been digitally photographed and presented with complete information about artist and subject. To enhance this electronic presentation, where applicable, the portraits are linked to comprehensive biographical information available through the State Archives web site at www.mdsa.net.