Provenance

The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust

est. 1930

Explore Selected Works

See all 333 works of art
American 19th Century, Portrait of a Man, c. 1835, oil on canvas, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1942.8.8

Portrait of a Man

American 19th Century · c. 1835 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1942.8.8

Jacob Eichholtz, Julianna Hazlehurst, c. 1820, oil on canvas, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1947.17.110

Julianna Hazlehurst

Jacob Eichholtz · c. 1820 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1947.17.110

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, Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints and Angels, and Saints Anthony Abbot and Venantius [entire triptych], 1354, tempera on panel, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.6.a-c

Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints and Angels, and Saints Anthony Abbot and Venantius [entire triptych]

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

Anonymous Artist, Madonna and Child with God the Father and Cherubim, 1480/1490, glazed terracotta, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.123

Madonna and Child with God the Father and Cherubim

Anonymous Artist · 1480/1490 · glazed terracotta ·  Accession ID  1937.1.123

A woman with pale, smooth skin stands wearing a loosely draped, champagne-peach dress in this vertical portrait painting. Her body faces us but she turns her head to look down and off to our right with brown eyes. She has dark brows, an upturned nose, and her carnation-red lips are closed in a slight smile. Her ash-brown hair is loosely pulled up so it sweeps back from her face, while thick curls cascade down her neck and over her shoulders. Her long sleeved, floor-length dress is tied at her waist with a sage-green sash. Gossamer-white fabric drapes around her upper arms, and she holds the long ends in both hands. Her right elbow, to our left, rests on the high base of columns that rise behind her and off the top edge of the canvas. A rust-red curtain drapes down from the top of the painting, over the columns. To our right, beyond the columns, the landscape opens to a view of trees beneath a blue sky with white puffy clouds.
Thomas Gainsborough, Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, 1783, oil on canvas, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.93

Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire

Thomas Gainsborough · 1783 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1937.1.93

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Portrait of a Man

Unknown 18th Century · c. 1785 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1947.17.32

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James Massy-Dawson (?)

Henry Singleton · c. 1790/1800 · oil on wood ·  Accession ID  1954.1.11

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Portrait of a Man

American 19th Century · c. 1820 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1947.17.109

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Portrait of a Man

American 19th Century · c. 1825 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1947.17.61

Shown from the chest up, a pale-skinned, clean-shaven man wearing a sapphire-blue coat over a white cravat looks out from this vertical portrait painting. The man’s body is angled to our left, but he turns his face to look at us from the corners of his gray eyes. His smooth cheeks are flushed, and he smiles slightly. His white hair, probably a wig, sweeps back from his forehead and curls over his ears. His snow-white cravat is tied in a bow, and the pointed ends of the fabric fall over the wide lapels of his coat. The man is lit from our right, and a sheen on the high collar suggests velvet. Brass buttons gleam on the front of the coat. The background lightens from dark brown across the top to pale fawn brown along the bottom.
Anonymous Artist, William Constable, after 1796, oil on canvas, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1954.1.9

William Constable

Anonymous Artist · after 1796 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1954.1.9