John Mitchell Fine Paintings

Explore Selected Works

We look slightly down onto a scene showing light-skinned men, women, and children ice skating on a frozen river in this horizontal landscape painting. We get the impression of hundreds of people gathered on the ice creating a crowd that extends into the hazy distance. The couple dozen closest to us are the most defined. A few clusters of people and individuals in particular draw our attention. For example, a group of three men wearing dark cloaks and hats stand in conversation on our right. Two boys nearby hold sticks and play a game similar to hockey. A small child holds two smaller sticks, perhaps to help balance. A man in the front center wears puffy scarlet-red pants with white stockings, a red jacket, and a tall brown hat with a cloud of scarlet feathers. He stands next to a woman wearing a black hooded cloak over a black skirt and raspberry-pink bodice. She tucks her hands into a cylindrical muffler held at her waist. Another elegantly dressed man in golden yellows and black and a woman in mauve pink and butter yellow stand nearby. Some of people throughout the scene wear white frilly collars and others are more simply dressed in shades of brown, gray, and black. To our right, a faded rose-red windmill stands at the river’s edge, and to our left a large house with steeply pitched and stepped roofs is enclosed within a solid fence painted with pink diamonds against black and white. Smoke rises from one chimney, and other houses and a church line the riverbank into the distance. A wooden bridge near a grove of bare trees connects spit of land near us in the lower left corner with the village beyond. Brilliant azure-blue sky is visible through breaks in the steel-gray clouds above.
Adam van Breen, Skating on the Frozen Amstel River, 1611, oil on panel, The Lee and Juliet Folger Fund, in honor of Arthur K. Wheelock, Jr., 2010.20.1

Skating on the Frozen Amstel River

Adam van Breen · 1611 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  2010.20.1

Jan Philips van Thielen, Roses and a Tulip in a Glass Vase, c. 1650/1660, oil on panel, Collection of Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1992.51.4

Roses and a Tulip in a Glass Vase

Jan Philips van Thielen · c. 1650/1660 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1992.51.4

Maxime Lalanne, Alpine Castle above a Wooded Lake, c. 1870, charcoal with stumping,scraping, erasing and wetting, and white chalk on beige laid paper, laid down, Helen Porter and James T. Dyke Fund, 2006.153.1

Alpine Castle above a Wooded Lake

Maxime Lalanne · c. 1870 · charcoal with stumping,scraping, erasing and wetting, and white chalk on beige laid paper, laid down ·  Accession ID  2006.153.1

Gathered in a round glass vase, a tall bouquet of flowers in shades of light and deep pink, sunshine yellow, and white with pine-green leaves nearly fills this vertical still life painting. Shown against an gray background, the vase sits on a narrow ledge, perhaps made of wood. A label with looping, cursive French text painted in gold against a baby blue background is affixed to the front of the ledge, along the bottom edge of the composition. The text reads, “C'est l'Angelicq main du grad Peinctre de Flore AMBROISE, renommé jusqu' au Rivage Moré.” A few of the flowers draw the eye, including a tulip and iris at the top of the bouquet. To our left, the tulip is mauve pink with cream-colored streaks, and one petal folds down to reveal the stamen inside. Next to it, a damselfly, an insect like a delicate dragonfly, rests on the vibrant yellow iris. The petals curling down from the iris are veined in muted burgundy red. Flowers filling in the bouquet below include a shell-pink cyclamen, a white gardenia, a closed blue and white striped columbine, a slate-blue grape hyacinth, lily of the valley, pale blue forget-me-nots, and a pink peony interspersed with leaves and greenery. The round glass vase has a narrow opening. A sprig of viola rests to our left of the vase on the ledge, and an orange, black, white, and brown butterfly perches on the stem of a pink cyclamen laying to our right of the vase. The artist signed the painting with a monogram and dated it in dark paint to our right on the face of the ledge: “AB 1621.”
Ambrosius Bosschaert, Bouquet of Flowers in a Glass Vase, 1621, oil on copper, Patrons' Permanent Fund and New Century Fund, 1996.35.1

Bouquet of Flowers in a Glass Vase

Ambrosius Bosschaert · 1621 · oil on copper ·  Accession ID  1996.35.1

A bouquet of flowers against a dark brown background hangs from a sapphire-blue bow to fill this vertical still life painting. The three largest blooms make a pyramid at the center. A pale pink, flat-leaved carnation is to the lower right of this trio. A red and white striped tulip with flame-shaped petals is next to it, to our right, and a white viburnum bloom, which is made of dozens of smaller clusters, is above. A tan-colored spider builds a web at the center of these three blossoms. Using the face of a clock to work around this trio, we find a spotted bug on a smaller viburnum and some frosty green leaves at noon. A muted orange moth rests on a stalk nearby. Down the right side, the layered vivid blue petals of a love-in-the-mist explode like a starburst. Two coral-red peonies, a mostly closed peony, a topaz-blue morning glory, and the fuzzy fingers of amaranth bring us to six o’clock. Up the left side are delicate pink crab apple blossoms, a spray of Chinese lanterns, a yellow rose with ants crawling across its splayed petals, a striped morning glory, and a few blue, orange, and red buds. A caterpillar rears up on a Chinese lantern bud and a ladybug sits on a leaf nearby. A few stalks of wheat are scattered throughout. Stems weave through the blue ribbon at the top, which is tied around a protruding nail. The artist signed the lower left corner, “AB Mignon f,” with the AB conjoined in a monogram.
Abraham Mignon, A Hanging Bouquet of Flowers, probably 1665/1670, oil on panel, Collection of Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1992.51.5

A Hanging Bouquet of Flowers

Abraham Mignon · probably 1665/1670 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1992.51.5

A basket overflowing with flowers sits on a table alongside fruit, berries, and seashells in this horizontal still life painting. The wide, low straw-colored basket has a woven base and more open, rib-like sides. The bouquet is made up of white and pink roses, a sky-blue iris and another with pale yellow and lavender-purple leaves. There are also a carnation striped with red and white, flame-orange poppies, and at least three tulips, including one that is scarlet red, a white tulip veined with red, and one with red petals streaked with yellow. Other flowers and dark green stems and leaves fill out the arrangement. The basket sits on a slate-gray tabletop that extends off both sides of the painting. Four shells sit to our left of the basket. These include a woodcock murex shell with a spiraling head with spikes and a long, spiny tail; an elongated, smooth conch shell with an ivory-white and brown calico surface; and light blue snail shell. Finally, closest to us, the largest, spiraling triton shell is occupied by a hermit crab. A sprig of glowing red berries sits at the front center of the composition. To our right, a cluster of fruit includes purple and green grapes on the vines, red cherries, a red plum, and two pieces of yellow and blush-pink fruit. The scene is lit from our left against a darkened background, so a dragonfly in the upper right corner is nearly lost in shadow. The artist signed the painting in the lower left corner, “B.vander.ast.”
Balthasar van der Ast, Basket of Flowers, c. 1622, oil on panel, Collection of Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1992.51.2

Basket of Flowers

Balthasar van der Ast · c. 1622 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1992.51.2

Facing away from us against a cherry-red background, the head and shoulders of a light-skinned woman wearing strawberry red, with her copper-brown hair piled atop her head, fills this vertical painting. Her body is angled to our right so her shoulders slope down in that direction, and we see the back edge of her right ear and the curve of her smooth cheek. Touches of coral pink outline the earlobe and sharpen the hollow below the top edge of the ear. Her hair is gathered into a bun on the top of her head, and curls flare out over her right temple. Her garment has puffy sleeves and a broad collar across her upper back. The neckline curves close to the base of her pale neck. The portrait is loosely painted, especially in the background, where black strokes are mixed into the red, and in the woman’s garment, where wide, visible brushstrokes create the impression of pleats and shadows. The artist signed the work in the upper left corner, “Carolus-Duran.”
Carolus-Duran, Study of Lilia, 1887, oil on canvas, New Century Fund, Gift of Edwin L. Cox - Ed Cox Foundation, 1999.45.1

Study of Lilia

Carolus-Duran · 1887 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1999.45.1

A basket holding a pile of several kinds of fruit and two blue and white porcelain plates nearly fills this horizontal still life painting. More fruit is scattered around the smoke-gray ledge on which the basket sits, and the background is purple-tinged gray. The basket sits near the back edge of the ledge, and it has ribbed sides so pieces of round fruit, perhaps apples, are visible inside. Green, red, and purple grapes, green and orange grape leaves, apples, plums, apricots, an orange, and a quince are piled between the two blue-painted plates, which are propped in the basket at an angle to hold the fruit like cupped hands. More fruit, including plums, quince, cherries, and medlars, cover most of the ledge around the basket. The scene is lit from our left so the fruit casts shadows to our right. The artist signed the painting near the lower right corner, “B. vander. ast.”
Balthasar van der Ast, Basket of Fruits, c. 1622, oil on panel, Collection of Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1992.51.1

Basket of Fruits

Balthasar van der Ast · c. 1622 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1992.51.1

Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Fantasy on a Magnificent Triumphal Artch, 1765, pen and brown ink, heightened with reed pen and brown ink, some brown wash (laid on eighteenth-century card), Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, 1986.32.1

Fantasy on a Magnificent Triumphal Artch

Giovanni Battista Piranesi · 1765 · pen and brown ink, heightened with reed pen and brown ink, some brown wash (laid on eighteenth-century card) ·  Accession ID  1986.32.1

Dozens of multicolored birds of various sizes are arranged around a stout tree in this horizontal landscape painting. At least two dozen species of birds perch along the branches and crowd around the base. For example, there are birds with gold bodies, cobalt-blue wings, and hooked beaks in the upper left-hand branches. In the branches to the right a tomato-red bird with long, blue tail feathers is surrounded by small light brown and gray birds. An owl, peacock, ostrich, and turkey painted in muted browns and blues gather with other green, blue, red, and dark gray birds on the left side of the tree to look at an open book resting against the trunk. The bank with the birds is separated from a second grove of trees by the waterway, which splits near the lower right corner of the painting and winds into the distance to both the left and right. The grove across from us has slender green trees with feathery leaves among a bank of tall reeds. In the river in the lower right corner, ducks, swans, and a tall heron stand and float among lily pads. A few birds take flight while one comes in for a landing in the near distance, to our right. The sky above this area is slate blue. Ghostly touches of white along the river to our left suggest tall birds standing in the water. Beyond them, a hazy, peanut-brown field with tall trees marches into the distance under an overcast sky.
Anonymous Artist, Concert of Birds, 1660/1670, oil on copper, Gift of John Dimick, 1983.19.4

Concert of Birds

Anonymous Artist · 1660/1670 · oil on copper ·  Accession ID  1983.19.4