Muscarelle Museum of Art

Very beautiful museum. Perfect matching with other buildings. One of the most important features for colonial street. We just had a very brief walk. Definitely needs more time to explore

One of Williamsburg's (and William & Mary's, for that matter) somewhat undiscovered gems, the Muscarelle Museum of Art is a shining home for fine art in the Tidewater. Although you don't hear about it much on campus or in town, this museum attracts huge talent both in its directors as well as its featured artists.Admission is inexpensive, and free for William & Mary students, so there's absolutely no excuse not to visit. They have a large gallery space on the first floor, some smaller space elsewhere on the floor, and up top they generally host the work of the feature artist. Staff is knowledgable, security friendly, and the atmosphere of the gallery is classy yet welcoming. They occasionally host other fine arts-related events here (e.g., brass quintet performances) that are also quite pleasant.Whenever I visit Williamsburg, I try to catch the new exhibits in the Muscarelle if I have the time, and I'm never disappointed. And if you don't have time for a full visit, just drive by after sundown and enjoy that beautiful fluorescent light display, surely one of the most iconic sights on the William & Mary campus.

An exceptional museum- thoughtful and well executed exhibitions and programs.

The Muscarelle Museum is a gem of an art museum, located off Jamestown Road. They gave a lovely permanent exhibit and have had some amazing traveling exhibits these past few years .... Andy Warhol polaroids, Michelangelo, Tiffany glass ... it is small, easily do-able in a short time frame and affordable. This is a place to come if you are visiting Williamsburg.

Staff was absolutely rude to us. I went to a nice little meetup of girls who wear Japanese Lolita fashion, an elegant, expensive, artistic style popular in Harajuku. We all went as a group to this museum to see the Renaissance paintings. When I walked in to find everyone, the man at the front desk stares me down like I wasn't supposed to be there, then instead of welcoming me, says, "Can I help you?" I tell him I'm trying to find my friends I'm part of a group of, and I turn around and see them. He mumbles something, then goes "Hello!? ...There's a fee." As if I didn't know that. I wasn't sure where to buy the tickets since he didn't seem to go, "One ticket, then? That'll be ten dollars." As a normal person would. No, instead I get talked down to. Then I ask if there is a student discount, since every museum has one. He narrows his eyes at me and says, "No." I pay him and he asks if I go to school at William & Mary, and I tell him I go to school in New York City and he reacts as if I said I went to school in Narnia. Then being the ignorant, bougie, sheltered Virginian he is, he asks if we're all from New York. I tell him no, we're all from Virginia, I just go to school there. Anyway, once we're all in, they're watching us like a hawk the entire time. We were not rowdy. We were whisper quiet. Then a tour guide comes over, apologizes that we missed the tour, acts blatantly fake-nice and tells us we have nice "costumes." Then once we're upstairs the staff continues to follow us around like we're gonna steal the paintings and hide them in our petticoats. I lean in, studying a painting's cracks and brush strokes, being sure not to put my hands anywhere near it. The lady snaps at me "You're too close to the painting." They really didn't want us there and made us feel very uncomfortable. We didn't look anything like degenerates. We had on frilly, princessy dresses. I don't understand why that would make an art museum so discriminatory towards us. If we look like we take such care with our looks with fabrics that cost hundreds, why would you assume we'd be careless around art??? My brother and his fiancée were there too and decided they were so upset with the customer service that they went downstairs and complained and got a refund. Wish the rest of us did that. 0/10 so unprofessional. I hate Williamsburg. Bunch of close-minded bourgeois old white people that think their shit don't stink.

Small museum affiliated with William and Mary.The over-ballyhooed Botticelli exhibit leaves April 5.

If you cant get to Florence, Italy any time soon, get yourself to the Muscarelle Museum of Art and enjoy their amazing Botticellis and Lippis. Allow time to read the insightful and easy to absorb text, and see how time and the politics of the era influenced art. Downstairs see Thomas Jefferson's law degree and other extraordinary displays. Don't delay, the collection heads to Boston soon.

Missed it; their web site says closed for the summer on May 27, 2013 for renovations. They should have an unstarred N/A rating for venues you couldn't get to, but for which you have a pertinent comment.