Provenance

Ralph Harman and Mary Batterman Booth

American, he: 1873 - 1931; she: died 1951

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See all 15 works of art
Hellenistic 2nd Century B.C./1st Century A.D., Head of a Youth (Dionysos or a Follower?), c. 220/100 B.C., marble, Gift of Mrs. Ralph Harman Booth, 1942.11.1

Head of a Youth (Dionysos or a Follower?)

Hellenistic 2nd Century B.C./1st Century A.D. · c. 220/100 B.C. · marble ·  Accession ID  1942.11.1

A light-skinned woman wearing a lapis-blue dress sits on a throne, holding a nearly naked pale-skinned baby in this vertical painting. The woman’s long-sleeved dress falls in lively folds as it pools around her legs and feet. Curling tendrils frame her face while the rest of her brown hair is pulled back beneath a cloth headdress. Her body is angled to our left and she looks off just over our left shoulder. She supports the baby who straddles the right arm of the chair and balances on the toes of his right foot. With her right hand, the woman holds a piece of fruit, perhaps a small apple, up by the baby’s mouth. The throne sits low to the ground and is ornately carved and gilded with scrolling arms and intricate tracery up the back around the crimson-red, upholstered center. They sit in a room with a patterned tile floor, thick, brown stone walls, and a window with a view onto other buildings and people in the upper left corner. Three more apples rest on ledges near the window. A thick book lies open in the bottom right corner.
Jan Gossaert, Madonna and Child, c. 1532, oil on panel, Gift of Grace Vogel Aldworth in memory of her grandparents Ralph and Mary Booth, 1981.87.1

Madonna and Child

Jan Gossaert · c. 1532 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1981.87.1

Shown from the knees up, a seated woman is surrounded by an arch of disembodied, winged baby heads as she gazes down at an infant lying across her lap in this vertical painting. They all have pale, peachy skin, and are placed against a honey-gold background. The floating heads are all angled inward to face the woman. The woman sits on straw-yellow clouds that billow up from the lower right corner, and more clouds fill the upper corners around the floating heads. The woman and baby take up most of the canvas. The woman’s knees are angled to our left but her upper body turns to us. Her hands are together, fingertips touching and coming toward us. Her chestnut-brown hair is pulled back and gathered at the back of her head, and is covered by a translucent white veil that falls to her shoulders. Her shoulders and upper arms are wrapped in an ivory-white shawl over a fawn-brown dress with rose-pink sleeves. Pale yellow stars create a ring around her head, which tilts down as she gazes toward the child with large brown eyes. The plump baby lies on his back, with his head resting on the woman’s right leg, farther from us. He has short, brown hair with dark eyes looking straight up. The white cloth on which he lies wraps around his midsection and upper thighs. One hand rests on his belly and the other by his side, and his chubby knees are bent over the woman’s leg.
Jacopo Tintoretto, Italian 16th Century, The Madonna of the Stars, c. 1575/1585, oil on canvas, Ralph and Mary Booth Collection, 1947.6.6

The Madonna of the Stars

Jacopo Tintoretto, Italian 16th Century · c. 1575/1585 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1947.6.6

Five women, all with brown skin, sit and stand in a landscape painted with tones of emerald green, mauve pink, lilac and plum purple, and cobalt blue in this horizontal composition. To the right of center, a nude woman stands on a patch of violet-colored ground with both arms overhead, as she looks up. To our left, two women wearing only pale blue cloths around their waists sit side-by-side on a patch of amethyst-purple ground. Both sit with their bodies angled to our right, and they look toward the ground with their arms across their chests. To our right of the standing woman, the final pair of women stand or walk toward the right edge of the painting. The woman to our left in that pair wears a dusky rose-pink dress and a bright, coral-pink head covering. She holds one arm across her chest, elbow bent. Next to her, the fifth woman is bare-chested with a white cloth tied around her waist, covering her legs. She looks to our right and holds up her arm, which extends off the right edge of the composition. The purple patches on the ground are surrounded by other areas of raspberry pink and mauve. A band of trees and vegetation stretches across the background, leading back to cobalt-blue mountains along the horizon. Mountains to each side of the composition brush the top edge, and the shallow U of sky between them is ivory white. The artist signed and dated the painting in the lower right corner, “Paul Gauguin 1903.”
Paul Gauguin, The Invocation, 1903, oil on canvas, Gift from the Collection of John and Louise Booth in memory of their daughter Winkie, 1976.63.1

The Invocation

Paul Gauguin · 1903 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1976.63.1

German 15th Century, Netherlandish 15th Century, Pietà, c. 1450/1500, alabaster, Gift of Mrs. Ralph Harman Booth, 1942.11.2

Pietà

German 15th Century, Netherlandish 15th Century · c. 1450/1500 · alabaster ·  Accession ID  1942.11.2

Shown from the waist up behind a stone ledge, a young woman nestles a nude baby against her chest in this vertical painting. Both have pale skin with a slight, rosy blush on their cheeks, and both have halos painted as delicate gold rings around their heads. The woman’s shoulders are angled to our left, and she looks down at the baby in that direction with hooded eyes. She has a slender face, a long, straight nose, smooth cheeks, and her pale pink lips are closed. The neckline and the cuffs of her garnet-red, gold-edged gown peek out from beneath a dark, spruce-blue mantle that covers her head and wraps around her body. She rests the baby along the stone ledge and holds him in the crook of her right elbow, to our left. In her other hand, she holds a small object, perhaps an apple. The baby also touches the fruit as he lies back along her arm. He has curly, ash-blond hair, a petite nose, and chubby cheeks. He looks up at the woman or beyond her with parted, downturned lips. The pair are warmly lit from the upper left and set against a fern and olive-green landscape. Near the left edge of the painting, a church and steeple are silhouetted along the horizon, which comes just under halfway up the composition. In the sky above, a clear, pale blue horizon gives way first to puffy, cream-white clouds and then swirling clouds in tones of pine green and slate gray along the top of the picture. An inscription appears on the lower center of the ledge, “IDEM Z.B.”
Giovanni Bellini, Madonna and Child in a Landscape, c. 1480/1485, oil on panel, Ralph and Mary Booth Collection, 1946.19.1

Madonna and Child in a Landscape

Giovanni Bellini · c. 1480/1485 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1946.19.1

Shown from the waist up, a young boy with blond hair faces us, wearing an embroidered garment and heavy cloak in this vertical portrait painting. His body angles slightly to our right, but he looks just off to our left with pale blue, faintly bulbous eyes. He has pale skin, flushed cheeks, a delicate nose, a pointed chin, and his pink lips are closed. His wavy hair curls around his shoulders, and a fringe of bangs spans his forehead. A crown of black pearls, gold, and green stones is set at an angle on his head. His high-necked light brown shirt is edged with gold and embroidered with white and gold. The long sleeves are brocaded with a ruby-red floral pattern against darker garnet red. He holds the edge of a caramel-brown, sleeveless overcoat with one pale hand, and the other is cupped with fingers pointing upward just below. He is shown against a black background.
Lucas Cranach the Elder, A Prince of Saxony, c. 1517, oil on panel, Ralph and Mary Booth Collection, 1947.6.1

A Prince of Saxony

Lucas Cranach the Elder · c. 1517 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1947.6.1

Shown from the lap up, a young girl with pale, peachy skin and long, light brown hair wears a crimson-red dress with slashed, puffed sleeves and three large, gold-colored necklaces covering much of her chest in this vertical portrait painting. She sits with her body angled slightly to our left and, with her head tipped slightly forward, she looks off in that direction with slate-blue eyes under faint brows. Her long, wavy, golden-brown hair falls from her high forehead and lies loose around her shoulders. Her dress has bands of a floral pattern outlined in a lighter red against a ruby-red background, and the bodice ties with red laces down the front over a white undershirt. The tight-fitting, long sleeves are slashed around the elbows so the white linen shirt can be pulled through to create puffs. Her high-necked chemise has a jeweled band at the neck. The three strings of the distinctive necklace seem to be made of gold-colored strips of fabric or leather made into twisting loops, which are then linked together like a paper chain. Each strip is painted or decorated with a fine, dense lattice pattern and edged in gold. The girl sits with her wrists crossed in her lap against a black background.
Lucas Cranach the Elder, A Princess of Saxony, c. 1517, oil on panel, Ralph and Mary Booth Collection, 1947.6.2

A Princess of Saxony

Lucas Cranach the Elder · c. 1517 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1947.6.2

Rhenish 15th Century, South Netherlandish 15th Century, The Dead Christ Supported by an Angel (The Trinity), c. 1440, painted and gilded alabaster, Gift of Mrs. Ralph Harman Booth, 1942.11.3

The Dead Christ Supported by an Angel (The Trinity)

Rhenish 15th Century, South Netherlandish 15th Century · c. 1440 · painted and gilded alabaster ·  Accession ID  1942.11.3

The head, shoulders, and chest of a light-skinned boy or young man wearing a black cap and red garment nearly fill this vertical portrait painting. His body is angled slightly to our right, and he looks at us from the corners of his hazel eyes. He has smooth skin, rounded cheeks, faint, thin eyebrows, and a small nose. His full, dark pink lips are closed. He wears a brimless, soft black cap, slightly askew, over long chestnut-brown hair that covers his ears and flows down past his shoulders. Two small, gold, vertical lines accent the front center of his cap near the lower edge. He wears a collarless, crimson-red jacket, with dark brown trim along the edges and at the shoulder. Pleated folds of his ivory-white shirt material puff out from openings at the shoulders and a V at the top of the chest. There is a also brown band around the neck of the white shirt with a pattern of black, knot-like designs. The white shirt also has two rows of delicate black lines where it is pulled through at the shoulders. The boy is lit from our right and above, casting a shadow on his neck and cheek to our left. The background behind him is teal blue.
Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio, Portrait of a Youth, c. 1495/1498, oil on walnut panel, Ralph and Mary Booth Collection, 1946.19.2

Portrait of a Youth

Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio · c. 1495/1498 · oil on walnut panel ·  Accession ID  1946.19.2