winthrop collected "early wedgwood, pre-raphaelite paintings, mesoamerican masks, gold-ground italian paintings, french drawings, clocks, korean buddhas." initially, winthrop focused on collecting the bulk of a given artist's work. he owned the largest individual collection of paintings by jean-auguste-dominique ingres and william blake. additionally, he owned paintings by edward burne-jones, honoré daumier, jacques-louis david, vincent van gogh, winslow homer, pierre-auguste renoir, auguste rodin, john singer sargent, henri de toulouse-lautrec, james abbott mcneill whistler, gustave moreau, théodore géricault, eugène delacroix, théodore chassériau, john singleton copley, gilbert stuart, and aubrey beardsley. his collection amounted to 4,000 objects by the time of his death.