The Musée des beaux-arts Thomas Henry is a museum at Cherbourg-en-Cotentin (Manche) with around 300 artworks, mainly paintings from the 15th to 19th centuries.

[1] It was formed after a series of anonymous donations to the city between 1831 and 1835, totalling 163 paintings and later revealed to have been made by Thomas Henry, town councillor and art critic[2] — having lost his two sons, he wanted to allow the city's young people to gain an education in art.

[2] In 1835, a museum was formed from these 163 paintings,[3] including works by Italian 'primitives' such as Fra Angelico (The Conversion of Saint Augustine) and Filippo Lippi (The Burial).

[2] The foundational collection was completed by gifts from other inhabitants of Cherbourg, including capitaine Troude (1844), Armand Le Véel (a sculptor and curator of the museum) and the Ono family (who gave Millet's work in 1915).

[3] Initially housed in the Hôtel de ville, the museum re-opened in a dedicated cultural centre in 1983,[3] alongside the bibliothèque municipale Jacques-Prévert, on the site of the city's former grain Halles.