HOUSTON, TEX. - Rienzi, a new European decorative arts wing of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, showcases an important collection of Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century art and antiques. Its opening earlier this year marks the most recent addition to the various structures of the institution, whose public spaces comprise the Caroline Wiess Law Building, the Lillie and Hugh Roy Cullen Sculpture Garden, the Glassell School of Art, and Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens. The opening of the Audrey Jones Beck Building in March 2000 will complete a 15-year period of expansion.

A gift to the MFAH in 1991 from Houston philanthropists Harris Masterson III and his wife, Carroll Sterling Masterson, Rienzi was transformed from home to house museum under the guidance of MFAH director Peter C. Marzio and Katherine S. Howe, the director of Rienzi and curator of decorative arts. Rienzi houses many collections including English furniture, European paintings, precious metals and small objects by artists such as Faberge, and an exceptional collection of Eighteenth Century Worcester porcelain.

The Family

As native Houstonians, Carroll Sterling and Harris Masterson were patrons of Houston's performing and fine arts. Each served as a trustee of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston at various times from 1953 until Harris Masterson's death in 1997.

Masterson also served as its president, first chairman of the board of trustees, and as a life trustee. Carroll Masterson was strongly committed to helping Houston's needy, and supported numerous social service and health agencies.

Harris Masterson began seriously collecting English paintings and ceramics in the 1940s. As early as 1956 he told The Houston Post he was "hoping some day to have a really fine collection to leave to the museum [of fine arts]."

In 1991, this dream became a reality when Carroll and Harris Masterson announced the donation of their home and collections to the MFAH. With great pride Mr Masterson remarked, "My wife and I hope that future generations will enjoy Rienzi as much as we have for the last 37 years.

The Residence

Evocative of an Italian villa, yet with overtones of Georgian England, Rienzi is bounded by formal gardens and surrounded by lush woodlands replete with azaleas and magnolias. Shortly after they were married, the Mastersons commissioned the architect John Franz Staub to design their home on 4Ź acres of property in the Homewood Addition of River Oaks, a prestigious Houston neighborhood. Years later, Harris Masterson said he and Staub selected the site because of its location on Buffalo Bayou and the ancient wild magnolia tree growing on the back of the property.

Staub successfully created a beautifully scaled, multi-level house that conforms to the slope of the property. In the back, four sets of stairs link the house and terrace with the lower terraces, a reflecting pool, and the gardens, which were designed by the landscape architect Ralph Ellis Gunn.

Completed in 1954, the house combines traditional architecture with contemporary elements, incorporating a Palladian arched entry, elliptical windows borrowed from a Neoclassical Italian palace, Corinthian columns, and angular, modern skylights throughout the house.

The Mastersons expanded Rienzi in 1972 with the assistance of the architect Hugo Neuhaus to create additional space for entertaining and displaying their growing collections. The highlight of the expansion was a grand ballroom and gallery.

The Mastersons named their home after Harris Masterson's maternal grandfather, Rienzi Melville Johnston (1849-1926). Johnston served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War and later became the editor-in-chief and publisher of The Houston Post. He was the first vice president of the Associated Press and served as a state senator and a United States senator.

The Architect

John Franz Staub was born in Knoxville, Tenn. He received a bachelor's degree from the University of Tennessee and a master's degree in architecture from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

In 1915, Staub began working for Harrie T. Lindeberg, a New York architect known for his restrained designs of American country houses. In 1919, Staub worked as Lindeberg's on-site architect for two Houston commissions and soon began his own successful practice in Houston.

In Houston, his commissions included Bayou Bend, the former home of Miss Ima Hogg and now part of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; three buildings for Rice University; the original River Oaks Country Club; the first Junior League building, now Brennan's Restaurant; and an extensive list of Houston residences.

English and European Porcelain

The Mastersons' collection of Worcester porcelain, a soft-paste porcelain developed in mid-Eighteenth Century Worcester, England, contains approximately 800 pieces and is one of the best of its type in North America. Primarily concentrating on porcelain from the factory's first period (1751-84), the Mastersons assembled objects that reflect the English style and taste of the Eighteenth Century.

Ground colors with Sevres-style decoration are particularly well represented, as are pieces that reflect the influence of China, Japan and the Meissen porcelain factory of Saxony. Services named for the Duke of Gloucester and Mrs Arthur James are present, as are numerous examples decorated by the atelier of James Giles.

Rarities include an early Bristol sauceboat, a Wigornia creamboat, a trapezoidal basket in the Marchioness of Huntley pattern, and a yellow-ground teapot with European-style floral decoration. Figures and miniature tea services, also rarities in Worcester porcelain, are important subsets represented in the collection.

The Mastersons also acquired porcelain representing other English and European factories. A polychrome Chelsea goat and bee jug, a Philip Christian and Company tea caddy, and an Anthony and Enoch Keeling tea service are important English examples. Fine Continental pieces include a large Meissen plate from the Swan Service and a monumental Berlin tazza.

The Paintings

Rienzi houses over 50 paintings, with representations of English portraiture and Italian and Spanish religious paintings from the Seventeenth, Eighteenth and early Nineteenth Centuries.

Eighteenth Century portraiture includes a handsome three-quarter portrait of "Lady Blount" by George Romney, "Portrait of a Gentleman with His Hound" by Hugh Douglas Hamilton, and a small portrait of a young woman, "The Morning Walk," by Arthur Devis.

Also adorning the walls of Rienzi are two grand portraits of Carroll and Harris Masterson by the Poland-born portraitist Boleslaw Jan Czedekowski. Among religious paintings, a small "Nativity" painted on slate by Bartolome Esteban Murillo is noteworthy.

Highlighting the collection is "St Joseph and the Christ Child" (1636) by the Seventeenth Century Italian master Guido Reni. A tender depiction of the infant Jesus and St Joseph, the Baroque masterpiece is one of the finest pictures by Reni on view in the United States.

The Furniture

Rienzi's furniture was made primarily in London between 1730 and 1770.

The collection includes a pair of English Regency dolphin-based console tables attributed to Marsh & Tatham (circa 1805), which stand beneath the Mastersons' portraits in the dining room. In the ballroom are two fine gilded stools (circa 1757), attributed to John Vardy, from the Palm Room at Spencer House, which rest on the Royal Armorial Aubusson carpet from the collection of the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos (circa 1795).

Other fine furniture in the collection includes a London settee (circa 1735) attributed to William Hallett, Sr; a pair of gilded pier tables and a gilded armchair in the Adams style (circa 1770); a pair of marquetry decorated corner cabinets by Mayhew and Ince (circa 1773); and a marquetry commode (circa 1770) attributed to the French cabinet maker Pierre Langlois, who was working in London.

Precious Metals

Rienzi is also home to a number of objects, both European and American, made of precious metals. They range from handsome silver German Baroque wall sconces and English silver gilt by Paul Storr and Rundell Bridge and Rundell, to small metal and stone objects by Carl Faberge.

Several gold and stone table sculptures, including one of a leopard and one of a lion, by the American jeweler and friend of the Mastersons David Webb, highlight the collection. A number of examples of Mexican silver, reflecting the Mastersons' affection for Mexico, are also present.

Complex Gardens

Rienzi is surrounded by a complex pattern of gardens and fountains designed by the Texas landscape architect Ralph Ellis Gunn in the mid-1950s.

Symmetrical and formal gardens of azaleas, roses and both southern and Japanese magnolias contrast beautifully with the undeveloped bayou ravines where native plants such as loblolly pines, ash and magnolia trees line the edge of the property. The formal gardens are encircled by more natural ones in which camellias, ginger, crynum and azaleas are interspersed among native trees and other bulbs.

The house is in the heart of River Oaks at 1406 Kirby Drive. It opened for decorative arts tours for museum members on March 25 and to the general public on May 1.

Visitors must reserve parking spaces when making tour reservations. Parking is free. Reservations must be paid for in advance, either by credit card or check. Cancellations must be received at least 48 hours in advance. To reserve a tour, call 713/639-7800.

Rienzi is one of two house museum properties of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. The Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens, an American decorative arts collection, has been part of the museum since 1966.

The permanent collection of The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, spans more than 6,000 years of history with more than 40,000 works from six continents, making the museum the largest in the Southwest and a major educational resource for the region.