John and Mable Ringling Estate Sarasota #1

This is the first of four blogs covering the John and Mable Ringling Estate in Sarasota Florida. This is John Ringling of the Ringling Bros Circus Fame. John Ringling left the entire estate to the Florida State University, who now maintains for the arts and public to view. The Estate is too large to cover in a single blog, therefore Blog 1 will consists of the John and Mable Museum of Art, the second will consist of Ca d'Zan,"The House of John", the John and Mable Mansion, the third will consist of the minature Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus from 1912-1938, and the final Blog 4 will consist of the Circus Museum and the Historic Asolo Theater.


John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Florida. In 1952 John Ringling commissioned New York architect John Phillips to design a building befitting his impresive art collection. Inspirations from the Renaissance and Baroque palaces and museums of Italy. European travel had kindled a passion for art and collecting in John and Mable Ringling. In the 1920s John became a regular at the New York and London auctions. He purchased masterpieces by Rubens, Titian, Velazquez, Hals, and Gainsborough. John also acquired a collection of Cypriot, Greek, and Roman antiquities from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.