The Butler Institute, founded in 1919 for exclusively American art, includes works from four centuries. A connoisseur’s tour of the Butler’s permanent collection begins with Snap the Whip by Winslow Homer, the centrepiece of the museum’s nineteenth century holdings. Hudson River School painters are well represented in the Butler’s collection with works by Seth Eastman, Thomas Cole, Asher Brown Durand and Thomas Doughty; all pay poetic tribute to a beloved American region. The Butler’s Marine Collection spans four American decades, and American Impressionism is also well represented.