Paul Mellon was one of the greatest art collectors and philanthropists of the 20th century. Born in Pittsburgh, he was the only son of the financier, industrialist, and Secretary of the Treasury, Andrew W. Mellon and his English wife, Nora McMullen. His childhood summers were spent in the English countryside visiting his mother's family, where his lifelong love of British culture began. From the late 1950s he began to amass a major collection of British art with the help and encouragement of English art historian Basil Taylor. In 1966, he gave the building, works of art and endowment, which established the Yale Center for British Art, to Yale University and was also responsible for the creation of its sister institution in London, the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art. His collection included a number of Francis Towne works.