Comtesse Hubert de Pourtalès

French, 1870 - 1956

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This vertical portrait shows the head, shoulders, and chest of a young man with smooth, pale skin and shoulder-length, dark blond hair positioned behind a narrow gray, stone ledge. Shown against a black background, the man tilts his head to our left and his eyes cut to our right. His left eyebrow, on our right, is slightly arched over brown eyes. He has a long, straight nose, pale pink lips, and his hair falls down the sides of his face from beneath a crimson-red, flat-topped cap. He wears a brown garment with white linen peeking through at the shoulder seams. The neck and seam down the front are lined with white, perhaps fur. He holds his right hand to his chest with his middle finger overlapping his ring finger.
Sandro Botticelli, Portrait of a Youth, c. 1482/1485, tempera on poplar panel, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.19

Portrait of a Youth

Sandro Botticelli · c. 1482/1485 · tempera on poplar panel ·  Accession ID  1937.1.19

Italian 15th Century, A Lady, 1475/1485, marble, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1939.1.326

A Lady

Italian 15th Century · 1475/1485 · marble ·  Accession ID  1939.1.326

The head and shoulders of a cleanshaven man are carved from white marble lightly streaked in gray in this freestanding sculpture. In this view, the shoulders are square to us, but he turns his head to our right. His left eyebrow, to our right, appears to cocked as he looks into the distance, and he has a sweeping nose with a rounded tip. His long upper lip overhangs the lower lip in a slight overbite. His hair is parted down the middle and ends in curls that angle from eye-level framing his forehead to ear-level at the back of his neck. He wears a high-collared breastplate over linked mail. The breastplate is ornamented with bands of flowers, dots, and other geometric designs. A strap and buckle hang from the neck area. The sculpture ends in a blunt, straight edge across the bottom, and it rests on a brown stone pedestal in front of a gray background.
Mino da Fiesole, Astorgio Manfredi, 1455, marble, Widener Collection, 1942.9.135

Astorgio Manfredi

Mino da Fiesole · 1455 · marble ·  Accession ID  1942.9.135

Shown from the knees up, a woman holds a baby in her lap in front of a clear blue sky in this vertical painting. The woman and baby both have smooth, pale skin with rosy cheeks and flat, disk-like halos at the backs of their heads. The woman’s body is angled to our left, and she looks down and smiles faintly at the baby she holds on her lap. Her blond hair is mostly covered by a gathered and ruffled white headdress. Her forest-green robe is lined with topaz blue, and it falls over her shoulders and across her lap over a ruby-red, long-sleeved dress. The white garment beneath the dress is visible along an open seam down the arm we can see, and the front of the dress is pleated vertically from the high waist. The woman supports the baby’s back with one hand and one of his feet with her other. He has curly blond hair, round cheeks, and delicate features. He reaches for the woman with both chubby hands. A slate-blue cloth drapes over his shoulders and is tied with twisted red fabric. A gray band across the bottom of the panel suggests they sit on the far side of a stone ledge. A ridge of trees along a hill in the deep distance is visible along the left edge of the composition, and the sky above deepens from watery blue along the horizon to azure blue across the top. The surface of the painting is cracked in some areas, especially in the sky.
Italian 15th Century, Madonna and Child, c. 1470/1480, tempera on poplar panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1943.4.1

Madonna and Child

Italian 15th Century · c. 1470/1480 · tempera on poplar panel ·  Accession ID  1943.4.1