Richard L. Feigen

1930 - 2021

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See all 18 works of art
A nearly nude, pale-skinned woman rides an oversized seashell being pulled by stylized dolphins in this horizontal painting. Four muscular, tanned men with dark, unruly curly hair surround the shell and play music. The woman sits on a seat made by twisting red coral with her body angled to our right. She turns her face up and to our left, to the sky. She has dark eyes and brows, a heart-shaped face, a cleft in her chin, and her pink lips are parted. Her auburn-brown hair appears gathered at the base of her neck and long tresses lift in the breeze over her right shoulder, to our left. A teardrop-shaped pearl hangs from the ear we can see. A celestial-blue cloth and a translucent white veil wraps over one shoulder and flutters behind her. The cloth then drapes across her back and over her thighs, exposing her soft tummy and rounded hips. The fish-like dolphins pulling the shell have rounded heads and black, glassy eyes. Short fins run the length of their curved backs over dark, olive-green skin. The woman guides them using red, twisted cords looped through their mouths. A pair of musicians are to each side of the shell. To our left and in the lower corner, one man holds a flute to his lips. The outer corners of his eyebrows arch up under a lined forehead. A ring of broad leaves wraps around his waist. Another man behind him blows with cheeks puffed into a shell as he looks at us. In the pair to our right, on the far side of the shell, one man holds a stick, perhaps guiding the vessel, while another, at the front of the grouping, blows into a shell. The man at front wears rings of leaves around his head and waist. The scene is lit starkly from our left, illuminating the woman and casting the rest into shadow. The water around the group is dark, pine green. Rocky mountains dotted with trees and buildings rise in the distance. Ash-gray clouds create diagonal bands moving up and to our right against a muted blue sky.
Bernardo Cavallino, The Triumph of Galatea, c. 1650, oil on canvas, Patrons' Permanent Fund, 2000.61.1

The Triumph of Galatea

Bernardo Cavallino · c. 1650 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  2000.61.1

Joseph Cornell, Untitled (Red Sand Box), c. 1940, box construction, Collection of Robert and Aimee Lehrman, Washington, D.C., in honor of Rebecca Windschitl, 2023.124.25

Untitled (Red Sand Box)

Joseph Cornell · c. 1940 · box construction ·  Accession ID  2023.124.25

Giuseppe Benucci, Presentation Drawing for the Ceiling Fresco of the Ognissanti, c. 1769, pen and black ink with gray and brown wash and watercolor over traces of chalk on four joined pieces of laid paper, Director's Discretionary Fund, 2000.118.1

Presentation Drawing for the Ceiling Fresco of the Ognissanti

Giuseppe Benucci · c. 1769 · pen and black ink with gray and brown wash and watercolor over traces of chalk on four joined pieces of laid paper ·  Accession ID  2000.118.1

A nearly nude man and woman look up at a bearded man floating in front of a billowing red drapery in midair, accompanied by five chubby children in this horizontal painting. All the people have pale or peachy skin. The man and woman on the ground, Adam and Eve, take up the left half of the composition and are shown near a grove of trees. Adam, to our right in the pair, stands with knees bent, his body facing us. He holds both open hands, palm up, toward Eve, to our left. His head tips to our right and he looks up at the bearded man, God, with dark eyes under raised brows. Adam has a brown beard and curly hair. He wears a ring of leaves across his hips but is otherwise nude. His cheek and nose, hands, knees, and toes are pink, and muscles stand out on his torso, arms, and legs. To our left, Eve kneels on one knee and braces her other leg on her splayed toes. Her body is angled to our left, and she turns back to look up at Adam. She has long blond hair, and her skin is more pale than the others. She also wears leaves around her hips, and her torso and legs are bare. Her left hand, closer to Adam, rests on her thigh. With her other hand, she points to a striped snake on the ground. The trees behind them have dark green leaves and yellow fruit. The dirt ground beneath them has some scrubby green growth. Close to Adam, God and his attendants float above a lion and a lamb on the ground, all taking up the right half of the composition. God’s gray beard and hair blow back as if in a wind. He wears a topaz-blue, knee-length toga. His body faces us, and he leans to our left, almost horizontally, toes pointed off to our right. He reaches his right arm, to our left, toward Adam. His other arm stretches out and rests on a black orb, about the size of a basketball. He is supported to our left by two child-like angels, wearing brick red or golden yellow robes. Three smaller children, like toddlers, gather around the black orb. The red cloth billowing around God and the angels creates a shell-like form that surrounds them. The white lamb lies below and looks at Adam and Eve, and the lion crouches and looks off to our left. Trees and grassy knolls lead back to distant, blue hills. A horse and bear stand, tiny in scale, in the distant landscape. The horizon comes about halfway up the painting, and the vivid blue sky above is clear. In the lower right corner, the inventory number “F.7” is painted in yellow.
Domenichino, The Rebuke of Adam and Eve, 1626, oil on canvas, Patrons' Permanent Fund, 2000.3.1

The Rebuke of Adam and Eve

Domenichino · 1626 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  2000.3.1

Claude Lorrain, Two Women in Classical Dress, mid-1640s, black chalk and pen and brown ink and brown wash, heightened with white gouache on apricot-prepared paper, with later framing line in black ink, Andrew W. Mellon Fund, 1978.108.1

Two Women in Classical Dress

Claude Lorrain · mid-1640s · black chalk and pen and brown ink and brown wash, heightened with white gouache on apricot-prepared paper, with later framing line in black ink ·  Accession ID  1978.108.1

James Rosenquist, Circles of Confusion, 1965, charcoal and graphite on wove paper, Gift of Richard L. Feigen, in Honor of the 50th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art, 1991.160.1

Circles of Confusion

James Rosenquist · 1965 · charcoal and graphite on wove paper ·  Accession ID  1991.160.1

Joseph Cornell, Untitled (Museum), c. 1940-1950, box construction, Collection of Robert and Aimee Lehrman, Washington, D.C., in honor of Isabelle Scott and Heidi Berry, 2023.124.22

Untitled (Museum)

Joseph Cornell · c. 1940-1950 · box construction ·  Accession ID  2023.124.22

A pale-skinned man sitting hunched over as he draws on a tablet and a bull lying at his feet fill this vertical painting. The man faces our right in profile, and he looks down at the book. He has a lined forehead, a bumped nose, and wrinkles around his nose. He has lanky, chin-length hair and a curly, unruly beard. He sits with one leg pulled up so he can partially brace the tablet on that knee. He holds the inkwell and clutches the top of the tablet with one hand and draws using a feather quill with the other. His other leg stretches down, and the ball of the bare foot is perched against the edge of the low platform on which the man sits. His garment has a white collar over a tunic that shimmers from plum purple to moss green. Extending from under the tunic’s short sleeves are long sky blue and pale laurel green sleeves. A golden yellow robe drapes over one shoulder and wraps around his lap. The gray bull, which is shown in about half the scale of the man, sits with one front leg tucked under his body as he looks over to our right. The floor is pale mauve purple, and the background is dark green, almost black. A glimpse of a work of art showing a woman holding a baby is visible near the top left corner of the painting.
Giorgio Vasari, Saint Luke, 1570-1571, oil on panel, Gift of Damon Mezzacappa in Loving Memory of Elizabeth Mezzacappa, 2012.79.2

Saint Luke

Giorgio Vasari · 1570-1571 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  2012.79.2

Narcisse Diaz de la Peña, The Edge of the Forest at Les Monts-Girard, Fontainebleau, 1868, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Fund, 2000.37.1

The Edge of the Forest at Les Monts-Girard, Fontainebleau

Narcisse Diaz de la Peña · 1868 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  2000.37.1

Giorgio Vasari, Saint Mark, 1570-1571, oil on panel, Gift of Damon Mezzacappa in Loving Memory of Elizabeth Mezzacappa, 2012.79.1

Saint Mark

Giorgio Vasari · 1570-1571 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  2012.79.1