In 1896 Charlotte Cranch donated the print collection of her late husband, portrait painter John Cranch (1807-1891). While studying art in Italy during the 1830s, he acquired several hundred prints, mainly 17th- and 18th-century engravings of Renaissance paintings and sculpture. He seems to have been taken especially by the great works in the Vatican, representing Old and New Testament stories, as well as classical mythology and antiquities. Cranch and other collectors of the time were interested in owning engraved representations of the great masterpieces of Western art. He also bought costume prints and Italian views as souvenirs of his visit.