Take a tour through Maine’s rich artistic history on March 27, as the Portland Museum of Art brings a presentation on the Elizabeth B. Noyce Collection to Schooner Cove in Damariscotta as part of its “Art to Go” Program.

“Art to Go” is a Portland Museum of Art program that features slide presentations of the museum’s collection along with virtual tours by a Portland Museum of Art docent. The program will begin at 2 p.m. and include works from American masters such as Rockwell Kent, N.C. Wyeth, Jamie Wyeth and 19th landscape painter Fitz Hugh Lane.

Elizabeth Noyce, known locally as “Betty,” was an art collector and philanthropist who lived in Bremen. More than 60 works, most featuring Maine's rugged coast and New England, were donated to the museum upon her death in 1996.

Noyce also left collections to several other Maine museums, including the Farnsworth Museum in Rockland and the Maine Maritime Museum in Bath. The paintings chosen for each museum reflect the breadth and depth of Noyce’s knowledge of art, and her understanding of how to distribute her paintings to strengthen the collections of the museums.

For example, her gift to the Portland Museum of Art of “The Wreck of the D. T. Sheridan,” created during one of Rockwell Kent’s last stays on Monhegan, provided a wonderful complement to his earlier works, many of which were already in the museum’s collection.

Meghan Quigley, Learning and Interpretation Assistant at the Portland Museum of Art, said it was "the most extensive gift of American art the museum has ever received."

Noyce, who lived on a 50-acre oceanfront estate, had a passion for Maine and in particular the Maine coast that comes through in her art collection. Her collection reflected her love of Maine and a deepening understanding of, and appreciation for, Maine’s rich art history. And at the time of her death, her collection was a veritable who’s who of Maine artists.

Her decision to share her works upon her death was emblematic of a life spent using her money wherever she thought it could do the most good, whether that meant buying a bakery so it wouldn’t be moved out of state with the loss of a 1,000 jobs, or helping to fund the construction of a children’s hospital.

“Art to Go,” at Schooner Cove is free and open to the public, but space is limited. Call Schooner Cove Executive Director Karen Westhaver at 207-563-4001 to RSVP.