Provenance

Francis A. Drey

Drey, Margaret
Drey, M.H. Limited
Drey, Franz

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Cosmè Tura, The Archangel Gabriel [middle left panel], c. 1470/1480, tempera and distemper on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952.2.6.b

The Archangel Gabriel [middle left panel]

Cosmè Tura · c. 1470/1480 · tempera and distemper on panel ·  Accession ID  1952.2.6.b

A haloed man with his back to us approaches a crowd gathered in a crate-like box unexpectedly set into a rocky landscape in this square painting. The central man, Jesus, is covered with a white cloth across one shoulder and both hips, and he carries a white banner marked with a red cross. He is barefoot as he steps on the opening to the box, which is hinged along the bottom edge. The door has crushed a wild-haired demon with red-colored skin against the pebble-strewn ground below. More than two dozen men and women of all ages are crowded into the box, their round faces tipped back and looking toward Jesus. All the people have pale skin. Jesus reaches out his left hand to hold the wrist of a man with a long white beard and hair, who kneels to the left. This kneeling man wears a dark, fur-like garment, and a hoe is hooked across his bent knee. Jesus holds the hand of a second man, who also kneels, to our right. This man wears a canary-yellow robe edged in blue, and he grips Jesus’s wrist with his second hand. A man wearing a purple toga over another fur-like garment stands behind. The box-like structure is set within a massive, striated boulder. More rocky cliffs rise to each side of the central form, and the sky above is sapphire blue.
Benvenuto di Giovanni, Christ in Limbo, probably 1491, tempera on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952.5.54

Christ in Limbo

Benvenuto di Giovanni · probably 1491 · tempera on panel ·  Accession ID  1952.5.54

About two dozen men and women are gathered mainly in three groups in a grassy landscape in this nearly square panel. The action revolves around a man, Jesus, carrying a cross at the center of the composition. The people all have pale skin and wear robes, dresses, or tunics tomato red, cobalt blue, spruce green, deep yellow, gray, or white. Jesus wears a rose-pink robe, and blood trickles across his head from a ring of thorns thrust down over his shoulder-length brown hair. His flat, disk-like halo is gold with a red cross like a plus sign, and a tall wooden cross is braced across one shoulder. Two gaunt men in gray tunics jab and jeer at Jesus, mouths pulled back to show their teeth. A group of about seven men look on from over Jesus’s shoulder, including one man with gold-colored hair and gold armor. Another armored man wearing a helmet lies back on a rocky outcropping low to the ground in the lower right corner. The second group gathers behind three people also with halos to our right. The woman at the front center holds her hands out, palms up. Her lapis-blue cloak covers her head over a white veil and falls to her feet over a ruby-red dress. A woman with loose, blond hair looks up and raises her hands overhead to our left, and a fresh-faced young person stands to our right. One more person in the crowd of about six people behind this trio has a halo as well. Two boys perch in trees over this group, looking down between forks in the branches. The third group is to our left, and they gather behind a pair of men on white or brown horses. Pebbles are strewn on the dirt ground under the bare feet of Jesus and his tormentors. Grassy fields dotted with trees stretch into the distance to a town of spires, towers, and turrets on the horizon, which comes about three-quarters of the way up this composition. A few thin clouds skit across the blue sky above.
Benvenuto di Giovanni, Christ Carrying the Cross, probably 1491, tempera on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952.5.52

Christ Carrying the Cross

Benvenuto di Giovanni · probably 1491 · tempera on panel ·  Accession ID  1952.5.52

Four vertical panels each have a painted frame and is occupied by a single person in a shared landscape that stretches across all four panels in this horizontal painting. The people have pale skin and delicate gold lines indicating halos encircling their heads. The person on the far left has his brown hair cut into a ring around his head, and his cleanshaven face is deeply lined. His body is angled slightly to our right, but he turns his head back to the left look at us from the corners of his drooping, heavy-lidded brown eyes. His hooded brown robe is tied at the waist with a rope, and he is barefoot. He holds a black book in his left hand and braces a thin gold cross with his other. There are red wounds on the back of both hands, both feet, and over his right ribs. In the next panel, a person with curly blond hair wears a deep pink cloak over a forest-green robe. The person faces our right in profile, the curly hair lifted off the back of the neck. Dark green, almost black, wings extend from between the shoulder blades. One hand is held up with the first two fingers extended, and the other holds a stem with a white lily. Next, a blond woman stands facing us, wearing a long, topaz-blue robe over a raspberry-pink dress. Her head turns to our left and she looks down, one hand raised with first two fingers and thumb lifted and the other bracing the edge of a book against her body. On the far right, a person wears a white mitre, a tall, white hat split into two petal-like shapes, and a dark pink robe lined with hunter green over a golden-yellow garment. He holds a long staff topped with a curling top end in one hand, and the other hand is raised, also with the thumb and two fingers extended. They all stand on rocky ground with low, rocky hills in the distance under a blue sky. The frames around each person appear to have been painted as arches at some point over or in addition to the frames around each. Those frames continue the landscape but in darker tones, and they darken to almost black along the tops. It is hard to tell whether four wood panels were joined to make this one painting or if one panel was painted to look like several, though the latter seems more likely.
Cosmè Tura, The Annunciation with Saint Francis and Saint Louis of Toulouse [four panels], c. 1470/1480, tempera and distemper on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952.2.6.a-d

The Annunciation with Saint Francis and Saint Louis of Toulouse [four panels]

Cosmè Tura · c. 1470/1480 · tempera and distemper on panel ·  Accession ID  1952.2.6.a-d

A young woman sits with a small child standing on her lap on an ornate throne as a third person, tiny in scale, kneels and looks up from the lower left corner in this tall, narrow, vertical painting, which has an arched top. The woman and child have pale skin and flat gold halos behind their heads, and the tiny person near the corner has light brown skin. The woman’s body faces us and her head tilts to her right, our left, toward the child, but she cuts her pale eyes down and slightly to our right. She has a delicate, long nose and her small lips are closed in a straight line. A white veil covering blond hair is, in turn, covered with a midnight-blue mantle that falls over her head, shoulders, and body. The underside of her cloak is emerald green where it turns back down over her chest and across her lap. The bottom hem is lined with a wide decorative band with scrolling vines and leaves in gold, and it pools around her feet on the floor. She wears a raspberry-red dress with gold vines over the chest and pearls lining the neckline. With her left hand, on our right, she supports the child on one hip. Her other hand braces the stem of the green apple the baby holds in both hands. Short, blond curls frame the baby’s face. He looks up and to our right with light eyes. He has a short, rounded nose and his lips are parted. His head is large like a baby's, but the proportions of his torso, arms, and legs more closely resemble those of an adult. He wears a pale, rose-pink tunic edged with gold, and his legs and feet are bare. The elaborate throne has an arched top that mirrors the top edge of the arched panel. An inscription in the stone up along the curve of the throne reads, “MEMENTO MEI MATER DEI REGINA CELI LETARE.” A garland of pale green and red fruit, probably apples, hangs behind the woman’s head. There are fantastical creatures where the arms of the throne would be. Carved from the same nickel-gray stone, each arm is made up of dog's face, with mouth wide open and braced against the seat of the chair. A husk-like covering curves up and back to a section of fish's scales, and each arm ends with an ornament like a bunch of grapes where it meets the back. A scarlet-red cloth hangs behind the thorne, against a gold wall, with a salmon-pink floor below. The miniature kneeling man near the lower right corner is only ankle high. His dark hair is cut into a ring around his head. He has a darker complexion and wrinkles around his mouth. He wears long, topaz-blue garment over a black robe. He holds his hands in prayer and looks up at the woman and baby, lips parted. Scaled to the woman, a jeweled crown sits on the floor nearby, projecting behond the front face of a panel of stone with a shell painted at its center.
Carlo Crivelli, Madonna and Child Enthroned with Donor, 1470, tempera on poplar panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952.5.6

Madonna and Child Enthroned with Donor

Carlo Crivelli · 1470 · tempera on poplar panel ·  Accession ID  1952.5.6

A pale-skinned man stands in front of a door-like opening set into a rocky cave against a deep landscape in this nearly square painting. The man, Jesus, has long reddish-blond hair, a red beard, and a disk-like gold halo. A muted lavender-purple cloth drapes over one shoulder, across his partially bare, muscular chest, and around his hips and legs. His right hand, to our left, is raised with the first two fingers lifted. A tall staff tucked into his other elbow has a long, white banner with a red cross, a forked end, and a red, plus-shaped cross finial. Behind Jesus, a rectangular doorway with molding is surrounded by craggy stone. The man stands on a chest-shaped stone tomb, and a white stone slab lies across the ground in front of it. Six men with pale skin lightly tinged with gray lie under and around the slab. They wear armor in shades of canary yellow, rose pink, aquamarine blue, violet, and orange. Five of them lie with legs and arms akimbo and one, to our right, props himself on one elbow and looks up at Jesus. Pebbles are strewn in a loose line across the ground along the bottom edge of the composition. Rivers zigzag back through more rocky formations and mountains to a town in the deep distance to the right and pale blue mountains along the horizon, which comes three-quarters of the way up this composition. A few thin clouds drift across the sky that deepens from pale yellow over the mountains to deep blue across the top edge of the painting,
Benvenuto di Giovanni, The Resurrection, probably 1491, tempera on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952.5.55

The Resurrection

Benvenuto di Giovanni · probably 1491 · tempera on panel ·  Accession ID  1952.5.55

Cosmè Tura, Saint Francis [far left panel], c. 1470/1480, tempera and distemper on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952.2.6.a

Saint Francis [far left panel]

Cosmè Tura · c. 1470/1480 · tempera and distemper on panel ·  Accession ID  1952.2.6.a

Red satin drapes are drawn back to either side of this vertical painting to reveal a nude woman with pale, white skin sitting upright in a narrow bathtub. The woman occupies the right half of the painting. To our left, another woman nursing a swaddled baby and a child, all also with pale skin, gather near the tub. The bathing woman’s body is angled slightly to our left but she looks into the distance to our right. She has a straight nose, small pink lips, dark eyes, and smooth skin. Her brown hair is pulled up under a jeweled cap, and she wears pearl earrings, a gold bracelet on each wrist, and a gold ring with a pink stone on her left pinky finger. She holds a carnation with her right hand, on our left. The inside of the tub is draped with white fabric, which folds over the sides. A bowl of fruit and flowers are scattered on what must be a board spanning the tub, which is also covered with a white cloth. From the far side of the tub, the child reaches for the fruit. The woman nursing the baby has one breast exposed but is otherwise fully dressed in a garment with red sleeves and a white cap. The woman has a prominent nose, and she smiles as she looks at us from the corners of her eyes. The room behind these women has fireplace with an ornate mantel and windows open to a landscape to our left. A picture showing a unicorn resting in front of a tree and a dark mirror hangs on the wall between the fireplace and windows. At a table placed in front of the fireplace, a third light-skinned woman leans over and lifts a jug.
François Clouet, A Lady in Her Bath, c. 1571, oil on oak, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1961.9.13

A Lady in Her Bath

François Clouet · c. 1571 · oil on oak ·  Accession ID  1961.9.13

Marco Zoppo, Anonymous Artist, Madonna and Child, c. 1467/1468, tempera on poplar panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1961.9.51

Madonna and Child

Marco Zoppo, Anonymous Artist · c. 1467/1468 · tempera on poplar panel ·  Accession ID  1961.9.51

Cosmè Tura, Saint Louis of Toulouse, c. 1470/1480, tempera and distemper on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952.2.6.d

Saint Louis of Toulouse

Cosmè Tura · c. 1470/1480 · tempera and distemper on panel ·  Accession ID  1952.2.6.d