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Arthur J. Sulley & Co.

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Sir Thomas Lawrence, Mrs. Robert Blencowe, c. 1792, oil on canvas, Widener Collection, 1942.9.37

Mrs. Robert Blencowe

Sir Thomas Lawrence · c. 1792 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1942.9.37

A woman and child stand in an enclosed courtyard in this vertical painting. A two-story house rises along the left edge of the painting, and three more people gather at a table set within an enclosure at the far side of the courtyard to our right. All the people have pale skin. At the center of the composition, the woman holds a wide basket propped against a hip with one hand and a white pitcher down by her side with the other. Her hair is covered by a flat black cap that comes to a point high on the forehead. Her brown jacket is worn over a white shirt, which is visible at the neckline. A white apron is gathered and tied up over her long red skirt. She looks down, smiling, at the child at her side, to our right. The child wears a white cap over blond hair, a long brown garment with a wide, white collar, and a white apron. Holding a bird cage with both hands, the child looks off to our left. The courtyard is paved with tan bricks, but a slender tree, the same height as the woman, grows among the pavers in the bottom right of the composition. The corner of the house has a pink rose growing up a trellis, also the same height as the woman, on the side facing the pair. A wooden bucket and clay pot sit at the front corner of the house next to a wider basin on our side. A broom inside the basin leans against the brick wall below a black metal pump with a spout and long handle. Shadows cast by rooflines behind us fall on the second story of the house, which is clad in horizontal wood boards. A flight of stairs past the back corner of the house leads through an open door, which is set into a wall that encloses the far side of the courtyard. A structure with a narrow triangular pediment supported by pairs of pink columns covers a small dining area. Two men and a woman sit with a white pitcher and some food on the table, which is indistinct in the shadows. Across the table from us, the woman wears a black dress with a wide white collar, and she holds a flaring glass with red wine. The two men sitting with their backs angled to us wear tall, wide-brimmed black hats and black suits. The one closer to us holds a long-stemmed white clay pipe to his lips. Deep green canopies of trees peek over the far side of the wall, and the sky above has thin white clouds against a blue sky.
Pieter de Hooch, Woman and Child in a Courtyard, 1658/1660, oil on canvas, Widener Collection, 1942.9.34

Woman and Child in a Courtyard

Pieter de Hooch · 1658/1660 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1942.9.34

A young girl wearing a rust-red dress with a tight bodice and full, voluminous skirt sits in a hazy, garden-like setting in this vertical portrait painting. Her skin is pale with a greenish cast, but her cheeks are slightly flushed. Her body faces us but her head turns as she looks off to our left with dark eyes. She has faint brows, high cheekbones, a pointed chin, and her thin lips are parted. Her blond hair falls down the sides of her face, and she wears a brick-red bow across the top of her head. A second bow, the same color, is tied under her chin. Her dress is off the shoulders and cut low across her chest. The bodice, neckline, and half-length sleeves are lined with lace, and a sprig with forest-green leaves is tucked into the neckline. She holds a bouquet of red, pink, blue, and white flowers in her lap with both hands. The pointed tip of one gold shoe peeks out from under the hem of her skirt. The background around her is painted with blended tones of teal, aquamarine, and steel blue. A tree grows up along the right edge, and the dark canopy curves over her head, in the upper right corner. One rose lies in deep shadow near her feet.
Sir Joshua Reynolds, Lady Elizabeth Hamilton, 1758, oil on canvas, Widener Collection, 1942.9.75

Lady Elizabeth Hamilton

Sir Joshua Reynolds · 1758 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1942.9.75

Shown from the chest up, a pale-skinned man with a narrow face looks at us from in front of a distant landscape in this vertical portrait painting. His body and face are angled to our left, so he looks at us from the corners of his brown eyes. He has dark, low brows, a straight nose, high cheekbones, and his rose-pink lips turn slightly down at the corners. Chestnut-brown waves fall over his ears and down the back of his neck from under a tall, brimless, rounded, black cap. His black robe has a high neck lined with a white undergarment. Far behind him, a grassy hill leads up to steep, rocky outcroppings, with those to our right dotted with trees. The land rolls into the distance to meet mountains, hazy blue along the horizon, which comes halfway up this composition. The clear sky above deepens from pale blue along the mountains to slate blue across the top.
Pietro Perugino, Portrait of Lorenzo di Credi, 1488, oil on panel transferred to canvas, Widener Collection, 1942.9.38

Portrait of Lorenzo di Credi

Pietro Perugino · 1488 · oil on panel transferred to canvas ·  Accession ID  1942.9.38

This painting depicts a seated woman facing the left. She has a pale complexion, rosy cheeks, arched eyebrows, and thin red lips set in a neutral expression. Her hands are resting on her lap. Her hair is gray and styled in stiff curls that extend outward from her head, and she wears a wide-brimmed black hat with a black flower and white feathers. She is dressed in a white dress with a wide skirt under a black jacket or shawl, with a lacy white cravat at her neck. Behind her on the right is a draping red curtain, and on the left is a view of a dark, greenish-blue sky, tall trees, and a brown statue or fountain.
Sir Joshua Reynolds, Lady Cornewall, c. 1785-1786, oil on canvas, Widener Collection, 1942.9.74

Lady Cornewall

Sir Joshua Reynolds · c. 1785-1786 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1942.9.74

About two dozen people ride horses or stand near a woman, Mary, holding a nude baby, Jesus in a landscape in this vertical painting. The people wear robes or tunics in shades of emerald green, ruby red, butter yellow, celestial blue, and ivory white. Jesus sits on Mary’s lap in the lower center of the composition, just in front of a tall structure with open walls and a pitched roof. A rectangular trough on legs is just behind Mary. Both Mary and Jesus have pale skin, blond hair, and long faces with flat features. A translucent veil covers Mary’s hair, which falls past her shoulders. Her red dress has a white collar and cuffs, and a midnight-blue cloak falls from her shoulders, across her lap, and puddles in thick folds on the ground. The cloak is edged in gold and jewels. One hand props up Jesus’s shoulder and the other wraps around his other forearm. Jesus faces and looks at a kneeling, pale-skinned man to our right who holds out a bronze-colored vessel with both hands. The kneeling man has a white beard and hair, and wears a gold-trimmed, hooded red cloak over a navy-blue robe. To our right, in the lower corner, three men stand and look toward Mary and Jesus. One wears a gold crown nestled into a tall green hat, a fur-lined red cloak, and a jeweled pendant. He holds the hinged lid of a gold cup open. The man next to him holds a green hat against his chest, and the third, smaller in scale, stands with his back to us. That man also holds a crowned hat, presumably of the kneeling man. Three more men up along the right edge of the composition ride horses and a fourth holds a chest across one shoulder. All of the people on this side have pale skin. Four more people ride horses, a camel, or stand at the back of the structure. Two of these men have dark brown skin, and one of those has exageratedly large red lips. The other two men are pale-skinned, and all four wear unusually shaped conical hats or turbans. Two pale-skinned men wearing brown or black and white monks’ robes face each other next to the half wall to our left. Three people stand in the lower left corner, closer to us. A person at the front of the group has light brown skin and wears a gold and jeweled crown around a column of black hair. The shimmering green tunic is edged with gold and jewels, and that person holds a gold and crystal orb in one hand. A person with dark brown skin wears a white turban, red robe, and gold rings and earrings stands behind, and the third person has light brown skin and stands with his back to us, looking at Mary and Jesus. These three people also have oversized red lips and bulbous noses. Behind this trio, up along the left edge of the composition, five pale- and brown-skinned people ride or move between five horses and one camel. Two more pale-skinned people stand inside the structure to our right, at that back corner. One has a white beard and hair partially covered by a fur-lined, hooded red robe. The other wears a waist-length, green velvet cape over red stockings and high boots. A square gold and jeweled panel hangs on a chain around his neck and a sword hangs at his side. Several monkeys and three thin dogs are scattered around the scene. Two dogs wear wide, jeweled collars and one wears a red and gold jacket. The monkeys have chains around their necks or waists. One monkey, close to us, has a gold up at the other end of the chain. People walk along a path across the landscape, beyond the structure. Olive-green and ochre-yellow hills roll back to a body of water with a town on the far shore in the background. The horizon comes three-quarters of the way up the composition, and a few wispy white clouds skirt across the ultramarine-blue sky above.
North Netherlandish 15th Century, The Adoration of the Magi, fourth quarter 15th century, oil on canvas transferred from panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952.5.41

The Adoration of the Magi

North Netherlandish 15th Century · fourth quarter 15th century · oil on canvas transferred from panel ·  Accession ID  1952.5.41

Shown from the chest up, a light-skinned, blond young woman wearing a gold and red gown and pearls looks off to our left in this vertical portrait painting. Her face and body both angle to our left, and she gazes in that direction with brown eyes under faint brows. She has smooth skin, a long, straight nose, and her closed, light pink lips curl up slightly at the corners. Long, cottony, light blond hair falls over her ears and flows down beyond her shoulders. At the back of her head, she wears a caramel-brown cap decorated with black, web-like lines and a row of pearls along the front edge. Her bodice is the same golden brown color, with the black linework in a leaf and floral pattern. The low neckline runs straight across her chest, and swaths of scarlet-red fabric wrap over her shoulders to meet in a wide V. Clusters of three tiny pearls line the squared edge of her neckline. A double-stranded pearl necklace has a red gemstone pendant that hangs at the base of her neck. A third, single strand of pearls hangs low over her chest, holding a pendant with a magenta-pink stone flanked by more pearls. A landscape stretches into the distance behind her. Dark green, grassy fields dotted with trees leads back to a winding body of water, over her shoulder to our right. Stone walls enclose at least two clusters of buildings, including several towers, far back along the banks. The light blue sky is tinged with petal pink near the horizon, over mountains painted blue in the hazy distance. An ivory-white band spans the bottom edge of the portrait, and is inscribed, “QVANTVM HOMINI FAS EST MIRA LICET ASSEQVAR ARTE. NIL AGO: MORTALIS EMVLOR ARTE DEOS.” The band is flanked by a triangle to each side; the one to our left has the letters “CP” or “OP,” and the one to our right reads “NER” with the N and E conjoined. The painting has an ornately carved, brown wooden frame. A rope design divides the border into alternating squares and rectangles. Each rectangular box has a pair of carved eagle heads flanking an orb, while a flame-like shape is in each of the smaller square boxes. The boxes and trim have slate-blue backgrounds, and gold edging.
Neroccio de' Landi, Portrait of a Lady, c. 1485, tempera on pine panel, Widener Collection, 1942.9.47

Portrait of a Lady

Neroccio de' Landi · c. 1485 · tempera on pine panel ·  Accession ID  1942.9.47

Shown from the hips up, a pale-skinned woman wearing white sits facing us against a golden-toned landscape background in this vertical portrait painting. The woman’s body is angled to our left, but she looks at us steadily from the corners of her large eyes. The slate-blue irises have some touches of hazel. Her cheeks are tinged with pink, she has a long nose, and her full pink lips are closed. Her ash-brown hair is pulled loosely back and falls in curls around her heart-shaped face. A translucent white ruffle flares around the neckline of her opal-white, long-sleeved dress. The bodice wraps across the front to a bow at her lower back. The landscape immediately behind her is loosely painted with gold and mustard yellow. Mountains in the deep distance along the horizon are painted broadly with smoky blue and purple. A band of plum-purple clouds stretches across the top of the painting in front of higher, pale yellow and blue clouds.
Sir Henry Raeburn, Miss Eleanor Urquhart, c. 1793, oil on canvas, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.101

Miss Eleanor Urquhart

Sir Henry Raeburn · c. 1793 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1937.1.101

In front of a crumbling stone building, an older man kneels in front of a second man, smaller in scale, hanging from a tall, wooden cross, with a city in the background in this vertical painting. Both men have pale skin. At the lower center of the composition, the kneeling man, Saint Jerome, pulls his navy-blue robe to one side to expose his muscular but slender bare chest with a bloody mark at its center. With his other hand, he holds a rounded, gray stone touched with pink, also suggesting blood, by his side. He has long, silvery-gray hair and a long, pointed beard. His pink lips are parted, and we see his teeth. He raises gray eyes to look up at the man on the slender cross, which rises along the left edge of the composition. The man on the cross brown hair, a plate-like gold halo, and a white loincloth is draped across his hips. The shell-pink ground is littered with rocks. A red hat with a shallow brim and a tasseled chin cord sits near Saint Jerome’s sandaled feet. A miniature lion lies between Saint Jerome and the arched opening of the crumbling, terracotta-red structure along the right edge of the painting. Ivy grows up one side of the arch, and an hourglass and book with a red cover and gold-edged pages sit on a white cloth under the opening. An owl perches on a branch of an oak tree growing from the front face of the structure, and a hawk sits on a branch of the fruit tree growing from the stone courtyard, between Saint Jerome and the crucifix. A shrub with dark green leaves and clusters of three olive-green fruits fills in most of the space beneath the canopy of the fruit tree. To our right and in the distance, a man with a pointed black hat, a black jacket, and white pants rides away from us on a gray horse. To our left, the courtyard gives way to an amphitheater-like space. There, next to a donkey, a man with a long white beard hands a bundle of wood or planks to another man whose brown hair is cut into a ring encircling his head. Both men wear rose-pink garments over navy-blue togas. A town with white and pale pink stone buildings rises up a hill into the distance. The sky above deepens from honeydew green along the horizon to pale then peacock blue along the top edge of the composition. A few ice-blue, white, and light gray clouds float across the sky.
Anonymous Artist, Saint Jerome in the Wilderness, c. 1475, tempera on poplar panel, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.32

Saint Jerome in the Wilderness

Anonymous Artist · c. 1475 · tempera on poplar panel ·  Accession ID  1937.1.32

A woman with a pale, peachy skin stands wearing a voluminous rose-pink, silk dress and holding a wreath of pink and white roses and greenery in this vertical portrait painting. Shown from the hips up, her body faces our right in profile, and she turns to look at us from the corners of her dark gray eyes. Her light brown hair is pulled up but curls frame her oval face and pointed chin, and falls in ringlets to the base of her neck. She has gently curved eyebrows, a straight nose, and her small pink lips are closed. There may be some red flowers in her hair, but these are lost in the nearly black background. She wears a short necklace made of large, round pearls and large, teardrop pearl earrings hang from her lobes. Her long pink dress is cut low across her bust and wraps around her shoulders and across her back. A pearl adornment is affixed to her dress at the shoulder we can see. The sleeve of her right arm, closer to us, billows to her forearm, which ends with a wide, white, ruffled cuff. She holds the rose wreath with her right hand up at chest height. A sash of stiff, crinkled, tan, sheer fabric loosely wraps around her chest and back. The inscription “LADY AVBIGNY” is painted in tan lettering against the dark brown background at the woman’s waist level on our right.
Sir Anthony van Dyck, Catherine Howard, Lady d'Aubigny, c. 1638, oil on canvas, Widener Collection, 1942.9.95

Catherine Howard, Lady d'Aubigny

Sir Anthony van Dyck · c. 1638 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1942.9.95