Another service, Google Art Project, allows museums to upload high-resolution images of artwork for public viewing.
James N. Wood, director of the Art Institute, said the donation would allow his museum to present "one of the most comprehensive and outstanding surveys of American painting and works on paper in the nation".
Though Ms. Hotchner would not break down the costs, she said the city would allow the museum to defer much of the acquisition payment until 2008 and thereafter.
The director of the Bradford museum has said the transfer of the collection will allow the museum to concentrate on science, technology, engineering and maths.
Its state-of-the-art classroom will allow the museum to expand its educational offerings, and a handsome 135-seat lecture hall is scheduled to present concerts, poetry readings and lectures, making the museum a center of community life.
Still, it is noteworthy that the arrangement the college has made with the Parrish will allow the museum to remain wholly independent of the university.
The development will allow the museum to move huge swaths of its collection from stores in east and west London back to the museum in state-of-the-art facilities.
The new space will allow the museum to put about 30 percent of its American holdings, or more than 5,000 artworks, on view — about three times more than in the past, Mr. Rogers said.
The redevelopment has allowed the museum, part of Reading University and one of the oldest and largest of its kind in the UK, to put many objects on display for the first time.
The new acquisition will allow the museum to illustrate two very different sides of that artist's work.
