Kings and queens, writers and composers, artists and architects, and other celebrities who were contemporaries of Yale's first benefactor are portrayed in "Circa 1701: Printed Portraits from the Time of Elihu Yale," opening Tuesday, Dec. 19, at the Yale University Art Gallery.

This exhibition of about 50 prints, a salute to Yale's 300th birthday, will be on the fourth floor of the gallery through April 1. The exhibition was organized by Suzanne Boorsch -- her first since becoming curator of prints, drawings and photographs.

Elihu Yale was born in colonial Boston on April 5, 1649. His father, David Yale, had lived in New Haven from 1638 until 1641, when he moved to Boston. A decade later David Yale headed back to his ancestral home in Wales. Thus Elihu Yale sailed from Boston at age 3, never to return to his native shores. By 1656 the family was in London. As a boy, Elihu Yale might have witnessed the lavish ceremonies for the coronation of Charles II, which are depicted in the exhibition, and, at age 17, he would have seen the horror of the London fire that raged for five days in September 1666. He settled in Madras, as an agent of the East India Company, in 1672, returning to England in 1699, where he remained until his death in 1721.

It was in 1718 that preacher Cotton Mather convinced Yale that the struggling school in New Haven, then called Collegiate, might be renamed in his honor in gratitude for a sizable gift. Yale responded by sending a gift of three bales of goods, 417 books, a portrait of King George I and a set of royal arms.

The majority of the portraits in this exhibition were made by Yale's British countrymen, or by French artists across the Channel. Most were made in his lifetime. "Together they constitute a time capsule of the world -- or at least the world of celebrated individuals -- of western Europe, including a few glimpses of America in Yale's day," says Boorsch.

Printed portraits of well-known figures had begun to be made early in the 16th century, and by 1600 demand for such portraits was widespread, says Boorsch. These prints were the only means for the general public to know what their rulers and other famous people looked like, she notes, and they began to be collected, along with religious images and works after Raphael and Titian.

The British individuals shown include a long succession of rulers as well as eminent men such as the astronomer Edmund Halley, the poet John Dryden, and the architect Christopher Wren, as well as a few aristocratic beauties. France had just one king for most of Elihu's lifetime: Louis XIV, who inherited the throne in 1643 at age 5 and reigned until 1715. The French portraits are largely of important ministers and other influential figures in Louis's court, and, of course, the king himself. The people in the Dutch portraits did not commission their own paintings, but rather were asked to sit for the works by the artists themselves.

The exhibition begins with what is believed to be the first printed portrait of a Native American, a 23-year-old Algonquian Indian from Virginia. It was made in Europe by Wenceslaus Hollar. Other portraits of Native Americans on view, such as "Sa Ga Yeath Qua Pieth Tow, King of the Manquas" by John Simon, are after paintings by Willem Verelst. Most of the American subjects were depicted by British artists, although the mezzotint of Cotton Mather is by American artist Peter Pelham.

Helping Boorsch to organize the exhibit were Elisabeth Hodermarsky, assistant curator, and Pamela Franks, the Florence B. Selden Fellow. Student interns Brennan Gerard and Jennifer Bernell also worked on the project.

"Circa 1701: Printed Portraits from the Time of Elihu Yale" is drawn almost entirely from Yale University's own holdings in the collections at the Yale Art Gallery, the Yale Center for British Art and the Lewis Walpole Library in Farmington. Some loans came from the Davison Art Center, Wesleyan University.

The Yale University Art Gallery, located at Chapel and York streets, exhibits a permanent collection from every period in the history of art, with special changing exhibitions throughout the year. Admission is free for individuals; groups should call (203) 432-8459 for information about fees and to make a reservation.

Gallery hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday and 1-6 p.m. Sunday. The museum is closed Mondays and major holidays, including Christmas Eve, Dec. 24, and New Year's Eve, Dec. 31. An entrance for persons using wheelchairs is at 201 York St., with an unmetered parking space nearby on York Street. For information, call (203) 432-0606. For more information, call (203) 432-0600 or visit the museum's website at www.yale.edu/artgallery.

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