Home for the Holidays: Cards and Hearths from the Collection

November 08, 2025 - January 22, 2026
John W. McCoy (1910–1989), Greens for the Church, n.d. Watercolor, 13 1/2 × 11 in. Brandywine Museum of Art, 86.17. © John W. McCoy Estate
John W. McCoy (1910–1989), Greens for the Church, n.d. Watercolor, 13 1/2 × 11 in. Brandywine Museum of Art, 86.17. © John W. McCoy Estate
Ann Wyeth McCoy (1915–2005), Winter Scene - Christmas Card, n.d. Watercolor on paper, 3 7/8 × 5 3/4 in. Brandywine Museum of Art, 81.28.2
Ann Wyeth McCoy (1915–2005), Winter Scene - Christmas Card, n.d. Watercolor on paper, 3 7/8 × 5 3/4 in. Brandywine Museum of Art, 81.28.2
Howard Pyle (1853–1911), Cor Cordia: A Christmas Greeting from Thy Husband, 1881. Watercolor and ink on vellum, 10 1/2 × 6 5/8 in. Brandywine Museum of Art, 2007.11.55
Howard Pyle (1853–1911), Cor Cordia: A Christmas Greeting from Thy Husband, 1881. Watercolor and ink on vellum, 10 1/2 × 6 5/8 in. Brandywine Museum of Art, 2007.11.55

On view this winter in Brandywine’s Strawbridge Family Gallery, this exhibition is a celebration of what connects us during the holiday season—opportunities to gather under one roof and the sharing of warm messages from afar. 

Tiny Treasures

Home for the Holidays features a selection of Brandywine’s dollhouses, including two rooms from a nine-foot dollhouse designed by Ann Wyeth McCoy and built by her husband, artist John McCoy. Filled with handmade furnishings and miniature paintings contributed by Wyeth McCoy’s famously artistic siblings and in-laws, these dollhouse rooms were a communal, family endeavor that paid tribute to the Wyeth’s close-knit holiday gatherings. These two rooms will be accompanied by the debut of the Peters-Herdeg dollhouse, a detailed replica of an eighteenth-century Brandywine Valley house and a recent addition to the Museum's collection.

From Mailbox to Museum

This exhibition also features original artworks that were created as designs for holiday cards by members of the Wyeth family of artists, as well as those by other prominent American illustrators, all drawn from the collections of the Brandywine Museum of Art and the Wyeth Foundation for American Art.