Provenance

Sir Francis Cook, 1st bt.

British, 1817 - 1901

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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

Five men and two women gather around an infant in a landscape in this vertical painting. The people all have pale or peachy skin with delicate facial features. Halos, like gold rings, float behind each head. All the men but one have beards, and most of the people’s lips are parted. The pudgy baby, Jesus, lies nude on a white cloth on the grassy ground near the bottom center of the composition. Three people kneel around and look down at him. To our left, a man wearing a fur-lined, powder-blue tunic under a rose-pink robe crosses his arms to touch opposite shoulders. A tall staff with a gold cross at the top rests in one elbow. Just behind Jesus, a woman wearing a gold crown and sage-green and pink robes holds a palm frond in one hand and extends the other over the baby. To our right, Mary wears a gold diadem and an apple-red dress. The cloak billowing behind her shoulders and fluttering to our right is emerald green on one side and silvery blue on the other. She also crosses her hands over her shoulders. Four men stand behind the group. Starting behind Mary, to our right, a man faces our left in profile. He holds a tall staff in one hand and points at Mary with the index finger of the other. The next man looks at the first with his hand held by his own face, the first two fingers splayed over his beard near his mouth. Next, another man looks down at Jesus with his hands together in prayer by the shoulder farther from us. These three men wear robes in canary yellow, burnt orange, dark blue, vivid green, or raspberry pink. The fourth man, along the left edge of the painting, is nude except for a coral-orange and yellow cloth tied around his hips. He has short brown hair and is cleanshaven. The feathered ends of three arrows project from his torso and three more wounds on his neck, shoulder, and thigh trickle blood. He holds an arrow by his side with one hand and reaches out with this other to hold the first two fingers and thumb up over Jesus. A gray stone building rises along the right edge of the composition behind the group. A person wearing a white tunic, red robe, and a straw-colored hat climbs a set of stairs there. That person holds a long staff over one shoulder and carries a lamb by the animal’s four legs in the other. In the sky above the main group, a bearded man a triangular halo over gray hair floats among about a dozen winged, child-like angels on a cloud bank. The man holds up one hand in blessing and holds an orb topped with a cross in the other hand. A bank of winged baby heads clusters in the distance, farther along the cloud bank. A few people, tiny in scale, sit or walk through the landscape, which leads back to ice-blue, craggy mountains. Cream-white and muted blue clouds fill the sky above. The artist signed the work as if he had left an inscribed tablet near Jesus. It reads, “M.D.XXXIIII. PERINO BONAC CORSSI FLORENTIN OPVS FACEBA.” The letters of the artist’s name, PERINO, are then combined into two monograms.
Perino del Vaga, The Nativity, 1534, oil on panel transferred to canvas, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1961.9.31

The Nativity

Perino del Vaga · 1534 · oil on panel transferred to canvas ·  Accession ID  1961.9.31

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

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

A woman holds the hands of two nude children in front of a crimson-red cloth in this vertical painting. All three have pale skin and brown hair. The woman wears a forest-green dress with voluminous sleeves and a gauzy white headdress that wraps around her hair and is fastened with a band across her forehead. She stands crouching with one foot extended slightly forward in a sandal, surrounded by broken chunks of masonry and bits of burning logs. Her body faces us but she turns her head to the right. Her mouth is wide open, and her eyes cut back to our left. The woman clutches the children’s hands in both of her own. The child to our left turns away from us and reaches one hand up to touch the back of the woman’s hand. The child on the right twists away from the woman, eyes squinted up and to the right and mouth open. Behind them, fold lines create a grid across the red cloth. Slivers of grass and blue sky line each side of the composition.
Ercole de' Roberti, The Wife of Hasdrubal and Her Children, c. 1490/1493, tempera on poplar panel, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, 1965.7.1

The Wife of Hasdrubal and Her Children

Ercole de' Roberti · c. 1490/1493 · tempera on poplar panel ·  Accession ID  1965.7.1

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

Two muscular men lean away, whips raised, from a third man tied to a freestanding column, in a courtyard-like space in front of a deep landscape in this vertical painting. At the center of the composition, the pale-skinned man bound to the column, Jesus, stands with his body facing us. He turns his head to our right, perhaps looking at the man to that side. Jesus is cleanshaven, and his long brown hair falls back behind his shoulders. A delicate gold ring creates a halo, with red spokes to the top and sides. Ropes wrap around his upper arms, and he is nude except for a blue cloth around his hips. The column is mottled with tan and pale pink, and is topped with a gold, leafy capital. To each side, the men with the whips have more tan skin than Jesus. They stand in the same pose as each other, with their weight mostly in their right legs, and right hands raised with the whips. But the man to our left stands with his body facing us, and the one to our right stands with his back to us, so they each lean away from Jesus. The man to our left wears a pink cloth tied around his waist but is otherwise nude. His mouth is wide open, and his free hand reaches across his chest. His royal-blue cap is decorated with lavender-purple and gold ribbons and plumes. The man to our right is nude except for a parrot-green cap wrapped with a band of orange, like a turban. The area in which they stand has a floor patterned with butter yellow and white. On the far side of the courtyard, a central arch is flanked by one to each side, which are cut off by the left and right edges of the composition. The entablature running across the top of the arches is parallel to the top edge of the painting. The landscape beyond has grassy, rolling hills dotted with trees, reaching back to hazy blue mountains along the horizon. The sky above deepens from pale blue over the mountains to azure blue across the top, seen through the arches. Several vertical cracks are visible on the surface of the panel.
Bachiacca, The Flagellation of Christ, c. 1512/1515, oil on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952.5.81

The Flagellation of Christ

Bachiacca · c. 1512/1515 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1952.5.81

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

Golden light from the upper left illuminates an assortment of vegetables, fish, and live and dead animals arranged among kitchen pots, pans, and bowls in this vertical still life painting. The animals and objects are displayed on three levels, each of which takes up about a third of the composition. Starting at the top: the body of a light brown hare lies over the front edge of a stone ledge, which is draped with a rumpled forest-green, gold-edged cloth. A large golden-brown fowl hangs upside down, its feet tied and the string looped over a nail on the dark brown wall behind the still life. The fowl’s cream-white wings are outstretched, and its head rests along the hare’s body. Five birds with feathers of golden yellow, white, black, and apple red lie in a pile to the left of the hare. A live peacock stands on the green cloth to the right, looking down at the other animals. Its long, caramel-brown tail is closed and is dotted with eyes that look like shiny black buttons. The next level down is made up of a short barrel next to a small wooden stool or table. A butterscotch-brown rooster is perched on the barrel among red onions. A copper bowl overflowing with dark green artichokes and leafy greens sits on the stool to our right. The bottom zone has objects and animals across the ginger-brown floor. To our left, a chicken or rooster stands facing away from us as it looks to our right toward a tall, sealed jug and two dark brown pots. Just behind the pots a gleaming copper bowl is propped up at an angle so we see coral-pink fish inside. The bowl leans against a lustrous brass basin and jug with a duck standing in front of it. A radish, lemon, a couple more fish, and two lobsters lie on the floor or are tucked between the pans and bowls. The space opens onto another dimly lit room beyond the still life, in the upper right corner of the painting. In that room, a woman wearing a long skirt and a white cap is backlit against a rectangular window opening filled with pale blue sky. A spark of orange to our left could be a fire on a raised hearth or stove.
Anton Maria Vassallo, The Larder, probably c. 1650/1660, oil on canvas, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1961.9.91

The Larder

Anton Maria Vassallo · probably c. 1650/1660 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1961.9.91

Bibliography

1885

  • Robinson, John Charles. "The Gallery of Pictures by the Old Masters, Formed by Francis Cook, Esq., of Richmond." Art Journal 1885:133-137

1932

  • Brockwell, Maurice W. Abridged Catalogue of the Pictures at Doughty House, Richmond, Surrey. London, 1932

2004

  • Danziger, Elon. "The Cook collection, its founder and its inheritors." The Burlington Magazine 146, no. 1216 (July 2004): 444-458.