Provenance

Jeremiah Harman

British, 1763 - 1844

Explore Selected Works

Shown from the chest up, a light-skinned man with a wrinkled face and a silvery gray beard and hair gazes into the distance in this oval portrait painting. His chest is angled to our right but he turns his head to look off over his other shoulder, to our left. His slate-blue eyes are a little sunken and lined with wrinkles. Shading marks the hollows of the temple and cheek we can see. His thin lips are closed and framed by his curly mustache and beard. A dark, mahogany-brown cap is pushed back on his head, and his brown jacket has gold-colored buttons down the front. The collar of a cream-colored shirt shows through at the neckline. The background is dark olive green. The artist signed the work near the man’s shoulder, to our right: “GDOV.”
Gerrit Dou, Bust of a Bearded Man, c. 1642/1645, oil on panel, Corcoran Collection (William A. Clark Collection), 2014.136.32

Bust of a Bearded Man

Gerrit Dou · c. 1642/1645 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  2014.136.32

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

Amid the white crests of gray, churning waves, two masted ships tip wildly near a rocky outcropping beneath slate-gray and lavender-purple clouds in this horizontal landscape painting. The horizon comes a quarter of the way up the painting, and the ships are outlined against the clouds, which sweep across the sky from the lower right to the upper left corner. A patch of topaz-blue sky shines through at the top center of the painting. The long side of the three-masted ship to our left faces us and flags, possibly white with red stripes, fly from two of its masts. The ship at the center of the painting is angled toward us and a single white flag with a red cross flies from one of its two masts. Tiny in scale, people are gathered on the decks and climb the rigging alongside the masts. On the boat at the center, one person hovers overboard, perhaps holding onto a rope or shown falling to the sea. Foamy waves lap at the tall, jagged rock formations to our right, which jut out of the ocean like teeth. The largest boulder, near the right edge of the painting, is painted with tones of golden tan and silvery gray, suggesting it catches sunlight. The lower rocks, closer to us, are in shadow and painted coffee brown and iron gray. Upon closer inspection, two people climb onto the jagged rock closest to us. More scrutiny reveals several people in a rowboat and two men in the water around the rocks. A few birds, minuscule against the waves, fly over the rocks.
Willem van de Velde the Younger, Ships in a Gale, 1660, oil on panel, Patrons' Permanent Fund, 2000.72.1

Ships in a Gale

Willem van de Velde the Younger · 1660 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  2000.72.1

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