Philippe II, duc d' Orléans

Chartres, Philippe II, duc de

French, 1674 - 1723

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member of the royal family of France, Regent of the Kingdom from 1715 to 1723

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A young woman sleeps with her cheek resting on the back of one hand next to a woman holding a nude baby and two winged angels in this vertical painting. All the people have pale skin and they nearly fill the composition. The sleeping woman, Saint Catherine, rests her elbow on a stone table covered by a golden yellow cloth, which also wraps around her shoulders. Her knees are angled to our right and her face tips onto her hand to our left. Her curly, light brown hair is pulled back. She has delicately arching eyebrows, a straight nose, and her pink lips are closed. Her pale, olive-green, floor-length dress is tied at the waist with a mauve-purple sash. She wears a gold ring with a gray stone on the third finger of her left hand, which rests in her lap. To our right, the second woman, Mary, leans over Saint Catherine. Mary’s head is angled to our left, toward the sleeping saint, and she looks to our right, down past the baby. Mary’s complexion is has a faint gray cast, and her brown hair is covered by a white cloth, which is surrounded by a halo of light. A dark garment covers her shoulders over a scarlet-red dress. The baby sits on Mary’s lap with his body facing our left, toward Saint Catherine. He leans our way and looks at us with dark eyes. Light catches his brown curls and he has chubby cheeks, arms, and legs. Along the bottom edge of the canvas, a puff of gray cloud near the lower right corner seems to support Mary’s feet. A curving, charoal-gray spike in the lower left corner of the painting is partially covered by the yellow drapery. Behind Saint Catherine and over her head, next to Mary, are two winged angels with dark blond, curly hair. The angel closer to us rests one hand on the pine-green pillow behind Saint Catherine’s head and turns to look past Mary in profile, lips parted. The angel behind looks down with hands together in prayer. Light falls across the scene from our right. The upper right corner behind Mary is filled with brick-red clouds that, upon closer examination, are filled with faces looking onto the scene.
Lodovico Carracci, The Dream of Saint Catherine of Alexandria, c. 1593, oil on canvas, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952.5.59

The Dream of Saint Catherine of Alexandria

Lodovico Carracci · c. 1593 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1952.5.59

A windmill stands on a promontory cutting into a waterway under a partially stormy sky in this square landcape painting. The promontory and mill are painted in muted tones of brown and rust orange, while steel-gray and white clouds encircle a topaz-blue sky above. The promontory juts into the scene from our left, and the front of the windmill is angled to our right so its golden-tan sails catch the light. Silvery water winds around the base of the promontory and extends to a dark green, shadowy bank on the far side. A boat in the lower right corner of the composition is rowed by a man wearing a red jacket and cap. A path runs to the water’s edge from the left edge of the painting, in front of the promontory’s retaining wall, which is shored up with stones or panels. A person in dark clothing close to the windmill seems to rest their arms on the retaining wall, their back to us. Closer to us, a woman holds a child’s hand as they walk down the path to the bank. A bearded man with tattered brown clothes and bare feet stands leaning against the wall near a woman wearing burnt-orange garment. She sits or kneels at the water’s edge in front of a basket of clothes and holds up a brown cloth. The olive-green forms of the trees on the far bank are reflected in the water, and closer inspection reveals two cows near the water there. Charcoal-gray clouds pile up along the left of the painting and span the top edge. There is a brilliant blue sky beyond and a screen of white clouds near the horizon, which comes about a third of the way up the canvas.
Rembrandt van Rijn, The Mill, 1645/1648, oil on canvas, Widener Collection, 1942.9.62

The Mill

Rembrandt van Rijn · 1645/1648 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1942.9.62

Shown from the hips up, a woman with pale skin, wearing a sapphire-blue gown, looks over her left shoulder at us in this vertical portrait painting. Her body faces our left in profile, and she looks at us from the corners of her large, hooded, gray eyes. She has an oval face with a straight nose, rosy cheeks, and her full, pink lips are closed. Wisps of brown hair fall across her forehead, and her face and neck are framed by a cloud of soft curls tied with a royal-blue bow over the ear on the side we can see. Around her neck is a cream-white pearl choker necklace. Her low-cut bodice is lined with transparent parchment-white fabric, which she holds at her chest with her right hand, farther from us. We see one blousy sleeve of her blue, satin dress, and the sleeve is tied at the elbow. Equally blousy white sleeves cover her forearms. With her left hand, closer to us, she holds a wreath of orange, pale blue, deep pink, and white flowers down by her waist. She is lit from the upper left, and the background behind her is dark in shadow. A patterned curtain hangs along the left edge of the painting.
Sébastien Bourdon, Countess Ebba Sparre, 1652/1653, oil on canvas, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952.5.34

Countess Ebba Sparre

Sébastien Bourdon · 1652/1653 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1952.5.34