Mrs. Thomas M. Evans

Evans, Betty B.

American, 1923 - 2013

Explore Selected Works

This round portrait painting shows the head, face, and the top of the shoulders of a young, blond boy with pale, peachy skin and flushed cheeks, facing our right in profile against a tan background. Light comes from behind us and to our left, so the boy’s cheek, jawline, and ear are brightly lit as he looks straight ahead, to our left. He has long, dark eyelashes, a turned-up nose, and his full, coral-pink lips are closed. The cheek we see is deeply flushed along the curve, near the nose and mouth. His short, light brown hair is highlighted with gold strands where it catches the light. A long tendril falls down past his chin on the far side of his face. He wears a fitted jacket, perhaps of brown velvet, stitched along the seams in a lighter golden color. The narrow, white ruff encircling his neck above the jacket is pleated to create a pattern of figure-eights. The background is lighter to our right and deepens to a brownish olive green to our left. The portrait is somewhat loosely painted with visible brushstrokes.
Judith Leyster, Young Boy in Profile, c. 1630, oil on panel, Gift of Mrs. Thomas M. Evans, 2009.113.1

Young Boy in Profile

Judith Leyster · c. 1630 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  2009.113.1

A speckled yellow apple and bunches of purple and green grapes are arranged next to an intricately pierced white bowl piled with more apples and grapes in this almost square still life painting. The objects sit on a sand-colored stone ledge, and the fruit gleams in bright light coming from the upper left. Sitting to the left of the basket, the yellow apple has brown spots and a worm hole near the top. In front of it, the green grapes partially cascade over the front edge of the ledge. The purple grapes lie in the shadow behind the apple. The white bowl has a wide, flaring mouth rimmed with dark blue, and sits to our right of center. It is pierced with four rows of narrowly spaced, undulating waves that spread out from a central eight-sided medallion. One red and two more yellow apples, one of which also has a small wormhole, sit along the lip of the bowl. They are topped by a cluster of green grapes framed by green leaves and a stem that angles into the upper right corner of the painting. The background is silvery gray to our right, where the light falls, and is in black shadow in the upper left.
James Peale, Fruit Still Life with Chinese Export Basket, 1824, oil on wood, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas M. Evans, in Honor of the 50th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art, 1990.7.1

Fruit Still Life with Chinese Export Basket

James Peale · 1824 · oil on wood ·  Accession ID  1990.7.1