Provenance

Sotheby's, London

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Georges François Blondel, View of a Prison, c. 1765, mezzotint on laid paper, Paul Mellon Fund, 2001.118.2

View of a Prison

Georges François Blondel · c. 1765 · mezzotint on laid paper ·  Accession ID  2001.118.2

Edgar Degas, Woman Reading a Book, c. 1879, charcoal and black chalk with stumping and erasing, heightened with white chalk, on blue wove paper, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1995.47.35

Woman Reading a Book

Edgar Degas · c. 1879 · charcoal and black chalk with stumping and erasing, heightened with white chalk, on blue wove paper ·  Accession ID  1995.47.35

Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo, Two Rampaging Elephants, 1790/1792, pen and brown ink with brown wash over black chalk and charcoal on white laid paper, Wolfgang Ratjen Collection, Purchased as the Gift of Ruth Cole Kainen, 2007.111.172

Two Rampaging Elephants

Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo · 1790/1792 · pen and brown ink with brown wash over black chalk and charcoal on white laid paper ·  Accession ID  2007.111.172

Giuseppe Maria Crespi, Young Peasant Seated on the Ground [recto], red chalk with touches of white heightening on laid paper, Andrew W. Mellon Fund, 1976.84.1.a

Young Peasant Seated on the Ground [recto]

Giuseppe Maria Crespi · · red chalk with touches of white heightening on laid paper ·  Accession ID  1976.84.1.a

Nicolas Lancret, A Young Woman Looking in a Mirror, 1742/1743, red chalk with black and white chalk on oatmeal paper, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, 2002.126.1

A Young Woman Looking in a Mirror

Nicolas Lancret · 1742/1743 · red chalk with black and white chalk on oatmeal paper ·  Accession ID  2002.126.1

A pale-skinned man sits, holding an open book next to his lap so the pages face us in this square painting. His body is angled to our right, and he turns his head farther in that direction, so his face is in profile. He has heavy brows, high cheekbones, and a prominent, hooked nose. His lower lip projects beyond his thin upper lip, and his chin juts out. He is lit from our right, so the hollows of his cheeks are in shadow. A vivid red cap encircled by a wreath of laurel leaves covers his dark hair. His long, cranberry-red robe splits over the shoulders to show navy-blue sleeves. His left hand, farther from us, braces the top of the open book, which comes up to chest height. A poem written in verses of three lines each in Italian can be read on both pages. The man’s other hand is lifted and hovers, palm down, over a miniature skyline by his side. The buildings there include a dome with a pointed lantern and two towers. A lighter tan area in the lower left corner, beneath the skyline, is difficult to interpret. The man sits on a grassy outcropping, which is mostly lost in the shadows. A body of blue water stretches into the distance beyond the outcropping to meet a conical mountain layered like a cake with ten sections. Trees grow on the narrowest, topmost level, and flames line the second level. A boat, tiny in scale, sails across the water near a grassy, zigzagging shore in the distance. Light from the upper right creates a creamy yellow beam across the otherwise darkened sky.
Florentine 16th Century, Allegorical Portrait of Dante, late 16th century, oil on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1961.9.57

Allegorical Portrait of Dante

Florentine 16th Century · late 16th century · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1961.9.57

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Antichita Romane de Tempi Della Republica

Giovanni Battista Piranesi · 1748 · etchings (30) ·  Accession ID  2002.66.1.1-30

Pier Francesco Mola, The Angel Appearing to Hagar in the Desert (recto), c. 1660, brush and pen and brown ink with brown wash over black chalk on light beige laid paper, Wolfgang Ratjen Collection, Patrons' Permanent Fund, 2007.111.130.a

The Angel Appearing to Hagar in the Desert (recto)

Pier Francesco Mola · c. 1660 · brush and pen and brown ink with brown wash over black chalk on light beige laid paper ·  Accession ID  2007.111.130.a

John Constable, Epsom Heath, 1806, brown, gray, and green watercolor over graphite on wove paper, Gift of Donald Stone, 2022.40.5

Epsom Heath

John Constable · 1806 · brown, gray, and green watercolor over graphite on wove paper ·  Accession ID  2022.40.5

This altarpiece is made up of three panels, with a single man standing in each of the narrow wings to the left and right and a wider panel at the center, which shows a woman holding a baby as twenty-two people look on. The background behind all the people is gold, and the top of each panel comes to a rounded, pointed arch under a second taller, sharper point. Spiraling columns frame the left and right sides, and rows of semicircular shapes, like inverted scallops, run inside the curving arches. In the central panel, the woman, child, and people around them all have pale skin and blond hair except for two elderly men with gray hair and beards. They all have plate-like gold halos that overlap, sometimes obscuring the face of another person. The woman and child, Mary and Jesus, sit on an unseen chair on two wide steps. They gaze at each other while Mary gently touches Jesus’s chin. Her lapis-blue mantle covers her hair and wraps around her body. The robe is edged with gold and has gold starbursts on one shoulder and on the crown of her head. Jesus’s garment is patterned with blue and gold against a dark orange background, and it wraps around his lower body. He holds a bird in one hand, touches Mary’s robe with the other, and a piece of coral hangs from a cord around his neck. Most of the people on each side wear azure-blue, pale peach, or brick-red garments decorated with gold. There are three inscriptions in this central panel. Mary’s halo is inscribed with “SCA MARIA MATER DEI” and Jesus’s halo reads, “IIS XRO M.” A third inscription across the bottom of the panel is partially damaged, but some of it reads, “LIIII QUESTA TA ATTA FRE FRATE GIOVANNI DA.” In the wing to our left, a balding, bearded man wearing a brown cloak over a black robe stands facing our right almost in profile. His pale skin has a dark, ash-gray cast. The hood of the black robe lies across his shoulders. He holds a wooden crutch with a curved top in the hand closer to us, and holds up his other hand with his palm facing us, fingers slightly curled in. A halo around his head is incised into the gold background and is filled with letters reading, “SaS ANTONIVS O VIENA.” Nearly lost against his dark robes, a black boar or pig stands near his feet. The floor here and in the right panel have a brocade-like pattern with three-lobed, gold designs against a field of brick red. The right wing is filled by a blond, cleanshaven young man standing facing our left as he looks toward Mary and Jesus in the center. He wears a long orange tunic decorated with blue flowers, and has a peacock-blue cloak and matching boots. Flags patterned with gold against black or red backgrounds flutter from a staff he holds with his right hand, farther from us. His other hand rests on the gold belt at his waist. His inscribed halo reads, “SCS. VENANCIVS MRTIRI.” The three panels are separated by spiraling gold columns and topped with triangular gables. The gables are filled with stylized leaves and animals in muted shades of brown against a black background. Near the pointed tops of the panels, the side wings have three-lobed shapes filled with a winged angel on the left and a person with a halo holding a hand to the chest on the right. The central gable has a four-lobed shape showing a man hanging on a cross.
Puccio di Simone, Allegretto Nuzi, Saint Venantius [right panel], 1354, tempera on panel, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.6.c

Saint Venantius [right panel]

Puccio di Simone, Allegretto Nuzi · 1354 · tempera on panel ·  Accession ID  1937.1.6.c