Provenance

Henry Wallis & Son

active early 20th c.

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This painting is a portrait of a woman. She is seated and facing slightly to the left, with her hands in her lap. She has fair skin, blue eyes, a soft chin, dark curly hair, and pink lips in a neutral expression. She is wearing a golden-brown gown with voluminous sleeves, a low neckline, and pearl accents. She is also adorned with a pearl necklace, earrings, and a bracelet, with more pearls in her long hair. In one hand she is holding white flowers. The background is a warm, dark-toned interior with some red drapery visible on the left.
Anonymous Artist, Barbara Villiers, Duchess of Cleveland, c. 1661-1665, oil on canvas, Timken Collection, 1960.6.26

Barbara Villiers, Duchess of Cleveland

Anonymous Artist · c. 1661-1665 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1960.6.26

This painting shows a serene pastoral scene with trees, a wooden gate, and foliage extending towards the horizon. Closest to us, there is a low riverbank with some tree branches in the water. Up a grassy dirt hill, two donkeys are visible off to the right, partially hidden by vegetation. On the left, a dirt path leads to the wooden gate. To the left of the gate, two people sit on the grass with a wicker basket between them. The tall trees that rise in the background have leaves in shades of green, yellow, and dark orange. The sky above the scene is yellow with some hints of light blue, and golden light shines down on the landscape.
Joseph Paul, Landscape with Picnickers and Donkeys by a Gate, c. 1830-1880, oil on canvas, Widener Collection, 1942.9.14

Landscape with Picnickers and Donkeys by a Gate

Joseph Paul · c. 1830-1880 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1942.9.14

This painting is a portrait of a man standing upright, his chest facing us and his head turned to the left. A horse is positioned directly behind him, and his left arm is lifted, resting on the horse's back. The man has fair skin and wavy gray hair that curls around his ears and seems to be tied behind his neck. He has a slightly flushed complexion, a long nose, pale eyebrows, and lips that seem to be partially open. He wears a formal military uniform, including a brown coat adorned with silver braiding, a brown vest, a pink sash tied at his waist, tan trousers, and tall black boots. He holds a black hat in his right hand. The horse is brown, with its rear visible on the right and its head on the left. The background shows a wooded landscape with dark brown trees and a cloudy red sky.
Sir Henry Raeburn, Captain Patrick Miller, 1788/1789, altered later (date unknown), oil on canvas, Gift of Pauline Sabin Davis, 1948.19.1

Captain Patrick Miller

Sir Henry Raeburn · 1788/1789, altered later (date unknown) · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1948.19.1

Dozens of people form a line starting from an opening in a city wall or building in the background to a rustic shed-like structure close to us, to kneel before a seated woman holding a baby on her lap in this vertical painting. All of the people have pale skin tinged faintly with green. The top edge of the panel is shaped so it has two rounded sections like shoulders leading to a stepped, crown-like form with an inward curving triangle at the top. A nickel-gray, crenelated stone wall of a distant city is nestled into the top, stepped section, with a glimmering gold sky above filling the uppermost triangle. Tile-roofed and domed buildings and a few towers appear densely packed beyond the wall. People on foot and horseback create a line from an arched opening in the wall toward us and to our right. Three of the people on horseback in the distance wear long robes and have gold halos. The line of people winds behind a tall, narrow hill to our right and it continues close to us. Two horses, two camels, and several people wait to the right but our attention is drawn to the trio in the foreground, Mary, Jesus, and Joseph, and the three men near the infant, the Magi. Mary wears a lapis-blue mantle covering her head and shoulders over a petal-pink dress, and she sits on a wooden or stone chest in the center of the painting. Her body faces us but she turns her face to look with pale blue eyes off to our right. In one hand she holds a hexagonal gold vessel that tapers to a flame-like finial. With the other hand, on our left, she supports the blond infant sitting in her lap. He is covered only with a white cloth around his waist, and he looks toward the vessel as he holds up the index and middle fingers of his right hand. To our left and slightly behind Mary, a balding man with white hair and beard and wearing a blue garment under a red robe sits with his head propped in his hand, looking down. His other hand rests on what might be the handle of a crutch or staff. The man, woman, and child have gold halos with what appears to be writing. The three Magi also have gold halos and they all wear scarlet-red shoes. The oldest kneels before Mary and kisses Jesus's feet. He has a long, light gray beard and is balding. He wears a brocade-like gold robe over pale brick-red sleeves. A cleanshaven man with dark brown hair and wrinkles around his mouth kneels to our left as he raises a jewel-encrusted gold crown from his head. He wears a gold and red floral-patterned garment and holds a rounded vessel, also with a flame-like finial. A younger, cleanshaven man with smooth features and shoulder-length, curling blond hair to our right also wears a gold crown. A dagger hangs from the waist of his sky-blue tunic, and his leggings are pale plum purple. Both arms are bent to his hands are held up, and in his right hand, he holds another tabernacle-like gold vessel. The structure to our left houses a donkey and bull munching hay. A gold sunburst floats above the roof, which seems to be built up against the stone wall of a building. The hills and trees beyond the people is painted with pine and moss greens and brown.
Benvenuto di Giovanni, The Adoration of the Magi, c. 1470/1475, tempera on poplar panel, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.10

The Adoration of the Magi

Benvenuto di Giovanni · c. 1470/1475 · tempera on poplar panel ·  Accession ID  1937.1.10

Sir Henry Raeburn, Mrs. George Hill, c. 1790/1800, oil on canvas, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection, 1970.17.130

Mrs. George Hill

Sir Henry Raeburn · c. 1790/1800 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1970.17.130

This is a painting of a woman who is depicted from the waist up. She is positioned sitting or leaning with her head turned to the right. She has pale-yellow skin, and her facial features include red lips and dark eyebrows. Her hair is light brown or perhaps gray, styled in loose waves that frame her face. The woman is wearing a yellow dress with a deep neckline adorned with lace, and a brown belt is cinching her waist. She holds a small bunch of flowers with red petals close to her neck, and there is a red ribbon around her wrist. The background is dark and abstract, with hints of greenery or foliage.
Daniel Gardner, The Hon. Mrs. Gray, c. 1785/1790, oil on canvas, Widener Collection, 1942.9.73

The Hon. Mrs. Gray

Daniel Gardner · c. 1785/1790 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1942.9.73

Shown from the waist up, a young, pale-skinned woman with her gray hair piled high atop her head is lit starkly against a dark background in this vertical portrait painting. The woman’s shoulders are angled to our left. Her face is square to us, but she looks off to our right from the corners of her eyes, which are gray rimmed with golden brown around the pupils. She has a thin face, smooth cheeks, a bow-shaped pink mouth, and a narrow chin. Her hair is mostly swept up high under a bank of pearl-white feathers and some sparkling ornaments. A few ringlets hang down the back of her neck. The bodice of her white dress scoops low across her chest and sits just above her sloping shoulders. The dress is adorned with pearls on the sleeves and around the neckline, and the fabric shimmers from silvery white to pale gold. The background is earth-brown around her face and deepens to almost black in the corners.
Thomas Gainsborough, Mrs. Paul Cobb Methuen, c. 1776/1777, oil on canvas, Widener Collection, 1942.9.20

Mrs. Paul Cobb Methuen

Thomas Gainsborough · c. 1776/1777 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1942.9.20

From a grassy riverbank, we look across the placid surface of a river lined along the far bank with trees and farm animals in this horizontal landscape painting. The scene is painted loosely with brushstrokes visible throughout, so some details are difficult to make out. For the surface of the river, russet-brown and steel-gray paint skims lightly across the canvas and leaves some unpainted areas visible, creating the effect of light shimmering on the still water. On our left, a shallow wooden barge is propelled along the stream by two men in red caps with long poles. The boat carries a white horse wearing blinders and a harness. The riverbank beyond is lined with pale, sage-green grass tinged with gold, growing in front of a tangle of darker green trees and bushes. Across the water from us near the middle of the picture, a small rowboat sits in the shallows at the foot of a steep riverbank. Above, a white cottage with a reddish roof and chimney is tucked behind the trees, with a wooden rack full of hay next to it. Nearby, a plow and wheeled cart, highlighted with strokes of white, sit near more mounds of hay. Rocky fields reach into the distance. The vista is blocked to our right by another clump of trees and a rocky outcropping, rising from the stream, to our right of center. The steep, dark roof of a farmhouse is barely visible among the trees. Along the riverside to our right, a small group of cinnamon-brown and cream-white cows stand at water's edge. A rolling pasture stretches behind them to meet blue hills in the distance. Above, in the upper third of the painting, mottled white, pale rose, and gray clouds rolling across a steel-gray sky are reflected in the water below.
John Constable, The White Horse, 1818-1819, oil on canvas, Widener Collection, 1942.9.9

The White Horse

John Constable · 1818-1819 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1942.9.9

A hunting party with eight men mostly on horseback and nine dogs gather around a fox being attacked by two dogs in this horizontal landscape painting. The men wear or hold black caps and have jackets in cardinal red or parchment white, and one is in teal blue. The horses are silvery white, chestnut brown, or black. At the center, near the fox, one man dismounts, and another stands to our right of the group. The hounds are white with black and tan spots, and they rush toward the rust-brown fox. The hunters and dogs form a loose line across a grassy area, which is backed with a steeply rising but low hill, topped by trees with feathery canopies. The grass and leaves are painted in tones of sage green and harvest gold. A smudge of brick red in a crevice of the hill could be a person watching from the shadows. One rider on a white horse gives chase in the distance to our left, and the land dips down and back to row of houses along the crest of a rolling hill. Thin screens of white and pale gray clouds float across a pale blue sky above.
George Morland, The Death of the Fox, c. 1791/1794, oil on canvas, Widener Collection, 1942.9.43

The Death of the Fox

George Morland · c. 1791/1794 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1942.9.43

We look across churning waves at four sailing ships and a wooden rowboat with four men aboard in this horizontal painting. Dark, iron-gray and tawny-brown clouds approaching from the right fill the top two-thirds of the composition. The water closest to us roils with steel gray and tan, which deepens to charcoal gray as it recedes toward low hills in the distant background. In the lower left corner of the painting, a wooden container bobs in the waves, and a white bird flies low over the water nearby. Two ships to the left of center head directly toward us, leaning steeply to our left with their beige sails taut with wind. Two men, tiny in scale, stand on the deck of the ship to our left. To our right, two ships with butter-yellow and peach sails cut through the water. Three men stand on the deck of the ship in the front, pulling on the rigging. Closest to us and to the right of center, the rowboat crests a wave, tilting forward so we look into the long side of the boat and see the four men there. Near the stern, one man hangs over the side while another holds onto him. Two men sit to the right, one facing us while the other faces away. Sunlight streaks down through a break in the storm clouds to fall on a ship with furled sails in the distance at the center of the composition. This and two additional ships near the distant shoreline are silhouetted against bands of white clouds around blue sky, beyond the bank of dark gray clouds closer to us.
Joseph Mallord William Turner, The Junction of the Thames and the Medway, 1807, oil on canvas, Widener Collection, 1942.9.87

The Junction of the Thames and the Medway

Joseph Mallord William Turner · 1807 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1942.9.87