Jayne Wrightsman

The widow of Charles B. Wrightsman, an oil tycoon who died in 1986, Mrs. Wrightsman had no formal training in the arts, but became a connoisseur through decades of study, travel and experience in the field. Over many years, she and her husband gave the Metropolitan many of its most important European paintings and perhaps the finest collection of 18th-century French decorative arts in America. Like her husband, she became a trustee of the Met. While giving millions to buy art and refurbish galleries, her involvement was often more personal. She spent many days walking through the galleries, examining paintings and artifacts, talking to curators, and analyzing the museum’s artistic needs. Mrs. Wrightsman was arguably the most important patron in the modern history of the Met, and was a great patron of the British Museum, the Louvre and the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia, as well. She was only 24 when she married Mr. Wrightsman, a dashing and divorced oilman from Oklahoma who was president of Standard Oil of Kansas. They became close friends of President John F. Kennedy and his wife, Jacqueline, who were neighbors in Palm Beach, and of New York and Washington celebrities including the socialites Brooke Astor, Mercedes Bass and Rachel (Bunny) Mellon; Henry A. Kissinger, the former secretary of state; Annette de la Renta, wife of the fashion designer Oscar de la Renta; Katharine Graham, publisher of The Washington Post; and Allen Dulles, director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Jane Kirkman Larkin was born on Oct. 21, 1919, in Flint, Mich., one of four children of Frederick and Aileen Larkin. Her father headed a construction company. When Jane was about 12, her parents split up. The mother and children moved to Los Angeles. Jane, who added a “y” to her given name, attended Los Angeles High School. She met Mr. Wrightsman at a dinner party and they were married on March 28, 1944. He died on May 27, 1986, at the age of 90. Mrs. Wrightsman had no immediate family survivors. Two brothers, Frederick Jr. and Lawrence, and a sister, Katherine, had died previously.