This William Hogarth self-portrait is among the paintings that now form a huge collection of American and English paintings, maps, prints and books donated to Savannah College of Art and Design.

Vermont collector also bequeathed homes both here and abroad.

At 82, Earl W. Newton had built a museum with his collection of 17th- and 18th-century English and American art. But his health was failing and he needed to entrust someone with his life's work.

Then a friend told him about an ambitious little art college in Savannah. "He called out of the blue," said Savannah College of Art and Design Vice President for Institutional Advancement Barry Buxton.

Newton, who had retired from his 50-year career as an editor and professor at Norwich University in Vermont, left behind his museum and moved to Florida. He offered SCAD his collection of paintings, prints, maps, and books - even two homes and a museum in Vermont and a townhouse in Horncastle, England.

He wanted them to create a center where his early Anglo-American artifacts could be studied.

"I focused on Anglo-American paintings and prints and literature to put together a collection for Anglo-American studies," Newton said. "There is no such center for students in the country."

It was an offer SCAD couldn't refuse.

"The collections will serve not only as teaching resources, but also will create new potential for exhibitions, scholarly symposia, guest lecture series, period concerts and dramatic performances, which may explore the history, art and ideas of the 17th through 18th centuries in England and America." In addition to the real estate, the collection consists of more than 200 paintings, 500 prints, 11,500 books and hundreds of maps.

"It is the largest gift SCAD has ever received," Buxton said.

The Vermont properties, including Newton's Museum of the Americas, may be sold to support the new Dr. Earl W. Newton center for Anglo-American studies, which will be located in Kiah Hall on Martin Luther King Boulevard, and will be used to exhibit the collection of paintings and prints. But Buxton said the English townhouse will be used as a study center for SCAD students who are studying abroad.

The maps and books, including 100 early editions of "Gulliver's Travels" by Jonathan Swift, will be housed in the college library.

The art collection is being appraised by Sotheby's and a team of conservators is coming this month to assess the condition of the paintings and do preliminary cleaning and stabilization work. Maureene Burke, dean of academic initiatives, is acting as interim curator for the art collection.

"This is a big deal for the South," she said. "Some of these paintings are four centuries old. Savannah does not have art of this period. These are High Museum-quality works."

Most of the works were done during the "Golden Age of English art," according to Burke. They provide insight into what life was like in England and America around the time Savannah was still a British colony.

Some of the paintings and prints are by 18th-century English painter William Hogarth, who was well known for his criticisms and moral commentary, and Joshua Reynolds, the 18th-century president of the Royal Academy and a very prominent painter. Most of the paintings and prints are portraits of nobility, artists, and politicians. A portion of the collection should be ready for exhibit by fall 2001.