Provenance

Charles Sedelmeyer

French, 1837 - 1925

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See all 20 works of art
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

Bernardino Luini, The Misfortunes of Cephalus, c. 1520/1522, fresco, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1943.4.59

The Misfortunes of Cephalus

Bernardino Luini · c. 1520/1522 · fresco ·  Accession ID  1943.4.59

Bernardino Luini, Cephalus and Pan at the Temple of Diana, c. 1520/1522, fresco, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1943.4.54

Cephalus and Pan at the Temple of Diana

Bernardino Luini · c. 1520/1522 · fresco ·  Accession ID  1943.4.54

Bernardino Luini, Cephalus Punished at the Hunt, c. 1520/1522, fresco, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1943.4.55

Cephalus Punished at the Hunt

Bernardino Luini · c. 1520/1522 · fresco ·  Accession ID  1943.4.55

Bernardino Luini, Procris and the Unicorn, c. 1520/1522, fresco, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1943.4.60

Procris and the Unicorn

Bernardino Luini · c. 1520/1522 · fresco ·  Accession ID  1943.4.60

Bernardino Luini, Cephalus and the Nymphs, c. 1520/1522, fresco, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1943.4.57

Cephalus and the Nymphs

Bernardino Luini · c. 1520/1522 · fresco ·  Accession ID  1943.4.57

A group of pale-skinned men, women, and children along with a few horses and dogs form a loose line across a dirt road, which is flanked with rows of buildings on both sides that converge in the tree-filled distance in this horizontal painting. The scene is painted mostly with sage and moss green, peanut and caramel brown, cream white, and black. Most of the people wear hats or caps. The women wear long dresses and the men wear jackets and pants. One man wearing a black jacket with buttons down the front, and with white at the neck and cuffs, leans down from atop a black horse at the center of the group. Another man with a tall, cream-white, brimmed hat and white collar stands behind a dappled horse to our right of center. Men, women, and children, most wearing tattered and worn clothing, look on. One woman to our left holds a baby strapped to her back and others gather around the horses. A pair of men in front of a stone building to our right smoke long, white, tobacco pipes. Others peer out of the open door and windows. An illegible wooden sign hangs above the door. Leafy vines grow over parts of the building façade. To our left, a woman sits on the ground and holds a spindle as she winds wool with a spinning frame. A man leans down over her shoulder, and a child looks away from us, into a fenced enclosure in front of a building. People, horses, dogs, and chickens are scattered along the road into the distance, and a church steeple rises against the ivory-white clouds in the sky beyond. A partial inscription with the artist’s name and date appears in black paint in the lower right corner: “Isack van Os 164.”
Isack van Ostade, The Halt at the Inn, 1645, oil on panel transferred to canvas, Widener Collection, 1942.9.49

The Halt at the Inn

Isack van Ostade · 1645 · oil on panel transferred to canvas ·  Accession ID  1942.9.49

Bernardino Luini, Procris' Prayer to Diana, c. 1520/1522, fresco, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1943.4.52

Procris' Prayer to Diana

Bernardino Luini · c. 1520/1522 · fresco ·  Accession ID  1943.4.52

Two men hold the mouth of a horse open to work on its teeth as a third, short boy or man looks on in front of a building to our left, where a blacksmith works in this vertical painting. All the people have peach-colored skin. A dark horse with a white stripe down its nose stands in a small, shed-like enclosure covered with a peaked roof, which is attached to the brick blacksmith’s shop. A balding man with a white beard and fringe of white hair, and wearing glasses, a tattered crimson-red shirt, and dark pants, holds a long, rod-like instrument in the horse’s gaping mouth. A hat lies on the ground near his feet. The man next to him is cleanshaven and wears a tall hat, a dark jacket with red sleeves, and dark pants and boots. He stands facing the horse with his mouth and eyes wide open. The horse’s nose is caught in long-handled, vice-like tongs, presumably to make the horse show its teeth. A noticeably shorter man or boy stands behind the pair, to our right, and looks on. He wears a tall, floppy hat, and his dark clothes are worn. His face is deep in shadow under the hat but he might have a mustache and beard. A white horse stands with its rump angled toward us behind the trio. Almost lost in shadow, a wide-shouldered man works on a hot piece of metal, glowing orange, next to a fire just inside the doorway to the building. Charcoal-gray smoke pours from a chimney on the roof. One dog lies down in front of the door and another frolics nearby. A chicken and a rooster peck at the dirt ground to our right. The horizon of the tree-lined landscape comes about a quarter of the way up the composition, and cream-colored, puffy clouds float across a blue sky above. Two people stands near a cow in the deep distance, near the trees.
Paulus Potter, A Farrier's Shop, 1648, oil on panel, Widener Collection, 1942.9.52

A Farrier's Shop

Paulus Potter · 1648 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1942.9.52

Bernardino Luini, The Despair of Cephalus, c. 1520/1522, fresco, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1943.4.58

The Despair of Cephalus

Bernardino Luini · c. 1520/1522 · fresco ·  Accession ID  1943.4.58

Bibliography

1989

  • Les donateurs du Louvre. Paris, 1989:321

1999

  • Huemer, Christian. "Charles Sedelmeyer (1837-1925): Kunst und Spekulation am Kunstmarkt in Paris" Belvedere 2/99 (1999): 4-19.