Provenance

Robert Langton Douglas

1864 - 1951

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This painting shows four people, three adults and one child. On the left, an elderly man stands, holding a staff in one hand and a red book in the other. He has a long white beard and a balding head, and he wears a black robe. Next to him, in the center, a woman sits, slightly turned to the left and leaning forward, with her hands supporting a child in her lap. The woman wears a red dress with a dark blue hooded cloak, while the child is nude. To the right, another adult stands wearing a pink robe with a crown over their shoulder-length hair, holding a rod and a sphere. All of the people have pale skin, and the three on the right have blond hair. They all have golden halos around their heads. The background is golden, and the floor has a marbled tile pattern. A small brown pig is on the ground at the feet of the old man.
Neroccio de' Landi, Madonna and Child with Saint Anthony Abbot and Saint Sigismund, c. 1490/1495, tempera on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952.5.17

Madonna and Child with Saint Anthony Abbot and Saint Sigismund

Neroccio de' Landi · c. 1490/1495 · tempera on panel ·  Accession ID  1952.5.17

This painting shows a person standing, their head slightly tilted to the left. They have a pale complexion, and short, wavy blonde hair adorned with a thin red crown. They have rosy, pink cheeks, arched eyebrows, a straight nose, and small lips set in a neutral expression. The individual is wearing a long red robe over a black tunic or dress and is holding a long black quill-like object in one hand, and what looks like a thin staff with a red loop at the end in the other. A detailed golden halo surrounds their head, and the background features an ornate gold pattern which is slightly worn and peeling in some places. The painting is bordered by a golden frame.
Sassetta, Saint Apollonia, c. 1435, tempera on poplar panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1943.4.5

Saint Apollonia

Sassetta · c. 1435 · tempera on poplar panel ·  Accession ID  1943.4.5

A winged angel with arms crossed kneels across from a young woman sitting and holding a book, both under an archway in a paneled room in this vertical painting. They both have pale, yellow-toned skin, blond hair, and flat, gold halos. They also have golden brown eyes, long, straight noses, smooth cheeks, and their pale, pink lips are closed. To our right, the woman sits in a throne-like chair with her body facing our left. Her head tilts down, and she looks toward the angel under lowered lids. Her hair is pulled back under the neck of the lapis-blue cloak she wears over a crimson-red dress. The dress and cloak are trimmed with gold, and a there is a gold starburst on the cloak over her left shoulder, closer to us. She holds her other hand up near that shoulder with her fingertips brushing her chest. With her other hand, she holds open the pages of a small book in her lap, so her fingers overlap some of the words. The entire Latin inscription would read, “virgo concipiet et pariet filium et vocabitur nomen eius emmanuel butirum et mel come dit ut fiat reprobare.” A slender, bone-white column separates her from the angel across from her, along the left edge of the painting. The angel has curly, shoulder-length hair and wears a robe with a gold, floral pattern against a burgundy-red background. Long, golden wings emerge from the shoulder blades and extend off the side of the composition. An open archway just beyond the angel is filled with streaks of flax yellow and burnt orange, possibly representing flames. Some of the walls in the room around the pair are pale olive green and other areas are darker spruce green. There are bands of coral-pink molding and inset panels of patterned mosaics. The flat ceiling of the space immediately over the pair is decorated with checkerboard panels in navy blue, hunter green, brown, and brick red. Gold lines create a ray coming from the ceiling toward the woman. At the back of the space, beyond the column separating the woman and angel, the room extends into an alcove with an arched hallway painted with gold stars against a midnight-blue background. Double doors open at the back of the alcove onto a room with a pale-yellow curtain with a mesh-like trim. We see the pair as if through a stone archway that lines the top and sides of the composition. The upper corners are filled with leafy decorations, as if carved into the stone.
Masolino da Panicale, The Annunciation, c. 1423/1424, tempera (and possibly oil glazes) on panel, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.16

The Annunciation

Masolino da Panicale · c. 1423/1424 · tempera (and possibly oil glazes) on panel ·  Accession ID  1937.1.16

Shown from the waist up, a cleanshaven man with pale, peachy skin, wearing a black cap and a voluminous fur-lined, black cloak, is positioned behind a crimson-red ledge or tabletop in this vertical portrait painting. His head and torso nearly fills the composition. His body is angled to our left, and he looks off in that direction with dark brown eyes under faint eyebrows. His high cheeks are lightly flushed, and he has a pointed nose and a hint of a five o-clock shadow. His soft black cap has flaps that cover his ears. The wide, fur lapels of his black cloak nearly reach his shoulders. The sleeves of the garment beneath has a tan and black checked pattern, and a white undershirt peeks out at his neck and cuffs. A cross hanging from a heavy gold chain has black pearls in the cross of each arm and a teardrop-shaped black pearl hangs from the bottom. The cross has a hand on each short arm, two feet on the long leg, and a red circle at the center. The sitter’s left hand, on our right, rests on the red ledge holding a pair of gloves that are ivory white around the wrist and charcoal gray at the fingers. His right hand, father from us, rests in a loose fist near his other wrist. A folded piece of white paper with black writing lies to our left of the hands. It reads, “NVNQVID NON PAVCITAS DIERVM MEORVM FINIETVR BREVIS.” The background behind the man is mottled with rust brown and steel gray. Gold writing spans the background to either side of the man’s head, reading, “BRIANVS TVKS, MILES, ANO ETATIS EVAE LVII” along the top and “DROIT ET AVANT” below.
Hans Holbein the Younger, Sir Brian Tuke, c. 1527/1528 or c. 1532/1534, oil on panel, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.65

Sir Brian Tuke

Hans Holbein the Younger · c. 1527/1528 or c. 1532/1534 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1937.1.65

This painting shows a person standing, their body turned to us, with their head looking downward to the left. The person has pale skin, round, rosy cheeks, and wavy yellow hair surrounded by a golden halo with intricate patterns. They are wearing a dark robe over a dark red dress or tunic and holding a long, thin red cross in one hand, while the other hand holds a closed red book. At their feet lies a black dog-like animal with wide yellow eyes. The scene is set against a golden textured background within a gilded border.
Sassetta, Saint Margaret, c. 1435, tempera on poplar panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1943.4.4

Saint Margaret

Sassetta · c. 1435 · tempera on poplar panel ·  Accession ID  1943.4.4

A young woman with smooth, pale skin wearing a fog-gray gown stands in shadowy outdoor setting in this vertical portrait painting. Her body faces our right almost in profile. Her head turns toward us though she looks off to our left with brown eyes under arched brows. Auburn-brown hair frames her heart-shaped face, which has a slender nose over closed, coral-red lips and a dimpled chin. Her long, curly hair is gathered at the back of her head and tied with a sand-brown ribbon. Long tendrils hang down her shoulders and back. Her iridescent gown has a deep neckline and a wide, harvest-gold sash around her waist with matching bands on the upper arms. A shimmering, laurel-green cape bordered in gold falls from her shoulders in deep folds down her back. The woman has pulled some of the cape forward with both hands to hang down her left side, farther from us. She wears delicate, translucent pearl bracelets on one wrist, and steps forward on silvery-gray shoes under the dress’s long hem. Bright light falls across the scene from the upper left so much of the background is in shadow. A stone wall behind the woman spans the right half of the painting. A tree grows up along its leftmost edge, just beyond the woman’s shoulders. A landscape along the left third of the composition opens onto trees under a sky filled with thick, off-white and steel-gray clouds.
George Romney, Mrs. Thomas Scott Jackson, c. 1770/1773, oil on canvas, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.94

Mrs. Thomas Scott Jackson

George Romney · c. 1770/1773 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1937.1.94

This painting depicts an old man sitting on rocky ground, holding a red book in his thin arms and facing the right. He has pale skin, a long white beard, and a balding head, and he is wearing a light blue hooded cloak that envelops his body. A thin golden halo surrounds his head, and his bare feet are visible on the rocky ground. On the left are tall, rocky gray mountains with a large dark cave. A lion-like animal is partially visible at the mouth of the cave, looking out towards us. On the left is an open landscape with a light blue river winding into the distance with sand-colored banks and tall white and blue mountains in the distance under a white and blue, partially cloudy sky.
Alvise Vivarini, Saint Jerome Reading, c. 1476, tempera on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1939.1.311

Saint Jerome Reading

Alvise Vivarini · c. 1476 · tempera on panel ·  Accession ID  1939.1.311

Shown from the thighs up, a woman holding a baby is surrounded by a man, woman, and two winged angels in this vertical painting. Mary, the central woman, the baby, Jesus, and the other woman, Saint Catherine of Alexandria, have pale, peach-toned skin. The man, Saint Jerome, and two angels have slightly darker peach-colored skin with faint gray shading. They all have gold halos, wide-set, hooded, light brown eyes, long, straight noses, delicate mouths, and pointed chins where we can see. Mary sits with her knees angled to our right, and she looks down at the baby held sitting upright near that shoulder. The crown of her head is covered by a white veil down to her forehead. A lapis-blue cloak drapes over the back of her head, her shoulders, and across her lap. There is a gold starburst on the right shoulder, to our left, and the cloak is edged in gold. The dress she wears is patterned ruby red on garnet red and decorated with shimmering, bright gold designs. She supports Jesus’s bottom with her left hand, to our right, and braces his chest with her other hand. He has small features with chubby cheeks, a high hairline with blond hair, and a chubby body. He grips the neckline of her dress with his right hand, to our left, and touches the hand that holds his chest with the other. He is nude except for a translucent white cloth around his chest and hips. To our left, Saint Jerome looks down at and writes in a book with a dark green cover using a feather quill. He is balding and has a long white beard. His forehead is lined, his cheeks hollow, and his lips parted. He wears a red robe over a white garment with a white collar. To our right, Saint Catherine looks at Jesus and holds a blue-covered book and black quill pen in one hand and a fragment of a wooden wheel lined with spikes with the other. Her blond hair is wrapped with and around a white cloth, and she wears a white-on-white patterned dress under a silver-gray cloak. One angel looks on from between Mary and the other looks up and to our right from behind Jesus. Both have their lips parted. The one to our right wears a pale pink garment and holds up one hand. The background is shiny, bright gold punched along the top and upper corners with a geometric design.
Matteo di Giovanni, Madonna and Child with Saint Jerome, Saint Catherine of Alexandria, and Angels, c. 1465/1470, tempera on poplar panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1939.1.297

Madonna and Child with Saint Jerome, Saint Catherine of Alexandria, and Angels

Matteo di Giovanni · c. 1465/1470 · tempera on poplar panel ·  Accession ID  1939.1.297

A man wearing a dark ring of thorns around his head hangs from a wooden cross as two kneeling people look on in this vertical painting. All the people have pale skin with a greenish cast, and all three have gold, disk-like halos. On the cross, Jesus’s head tips forward, his gaze downcast. Bright red blood runs down the man’s arms from where his palms are nailed to the cross. Blood also pours from a gash over his right ribs, to our left, and from his feet, which overlap and are nailed to the cross. He is nude except for a transparent white cloth tied across his hips. Behind his shoulder-length blond hair and goatee, a scarlet-red cross is embedded in his halo. A red scroll above the across has the letters, “INRI,” and above the scroll, a long-necked, white bird set within a dark green nest pecks at its own chest, wings outstretched. Both of the men kneeling at the foot of the cross look up at Jesus. Both are barefoot and have bald heads with a fringe of hair. The man to our left wears a deep V-necked, ivory-white tunic that pools on the ground. His arms cross over his torso and he holds a string of beads in his left hand and a rock in the other. There is a red mark on his chest. The man to our right wears a long, brown hooded cloak. Blood trickles from the base of the cross onto the rose-pink, chisel-cut ground, to where a skull and two bones sit between the men. The land steeply rises to a jagged, barren pink mountain to our right, and dips down to a field with rows of dark green plants and a few trees to our left. Buildings cluster behind a mauve-pink city wall in the distance, and one of the buildings has a gold dome. The sky deepens from ice blue along the horizon to teal along a band of clouds that stretch behind Jesus’s torso. Charcoal-gray clouds fill in the space above the cross. Lines flicker off of a flaming, ruby-red orb in the sky to our left and a black orb hangs to our right.
Pesellino, The Crucifixion with Saint Jerome and Saint Francis, c. 1445/1450, tempera on poplar panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1939.1.109

The Crucifixion with Saint Jerome and Saint Francis

Pesellino · c. 1445/1450 · tempera on poplar panel ·  Accession ID  1939.1.109

This painting shows a woman sitting and cradling an infant on her lap. The woman faces slightly left and looks down at the child with a slight smile. She has pale skin and golden hair covered by a semi-translucent white veil. She wears a red garment with gold embroidery and a dark blue cloak with gold trim and a star-shaped brooch on her shoulder. The infant has curly golden hair and is dressed in a sheer garment, looking up towards the woman. Surrounding these two people are more people with wings and cherubic children with the bodies of red-and-gold birds. All of these people have pale skin and golden hair, and they wear colorful robes in shades of red, white, and light blue. Everyone in the painting has a golden halo around their head, and the background is a decorative golden surface with intricate patterns around the edge of the painting.
Matteo di Giovanni, Madonna and Child with Angels and Cherubim, c. 1460/1465, tempera on poplar panel, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.9

Madonna and Child with Angels and Cherubim

Matteo di Giovanni · c. 1460/1465 · tempera on poplar panel ·  Accession ID  1937.1.9

Bibliography

1979

  • Sutton, Denys. "Robert Langton Douglas, Parts I-IV" (featured study appearing in four successive issues). Apollo 109 (April 1979): 248-315; (May 1979): 334-393; (June 1979): 412-475; 110 (July 1979): 205-248.