Provenance

Jacques Seligmann & Cie.

Jacques Seligmann & Co., Inc.
Jacques Seligmann & Fils

French, est. 1880

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Close to us, a woman and a winged, child-like putto float on clouds above a clean-shaven young man in a forest setting in this horizontal painting. All three people have smooth, pale skin, rosy cheeks, and ash-blond hair. The man reclines with his torso propped so his feet extend along the rocky ground to our left. He rests his head in his right hand, farther from us, with that elbow resting on a rock. We look up onto the underside of his chin and delicate features. A scarlet-red robe falls from his shoulders and across his hips. One knee is propped up, and that foot is tucked behind his other ankle. His muscular torso, arms, and legs are bare. His left hand, closer to us, rests by his side and loosely holds a staff. Three tan-colored sheep with long faces lie or stand behind the man, in the lower right corner of the painting. A light gray hound dog with floppy ears sleeps with its drooping muzzle resting on its paws in the shadows at the man’s feet. The woman floats just above the man, reclining on a fog-gray cloud with her feet angled toward the man’s torso. Her curls are held back by a topaz-blue ribbon, and she looks down at the man, a faint smile on her lips. A loose white garment partially covered by a blue robe falls from her shoulders, leaving one breast and one leg bare. She reaches outward with her left hand, palm out, and the other hand rests down on the cloud alongside her. A sharply pointed, luminous crescent moon curves up to each side behind the cloud. The chubby, nude, baby-like putto nestles on his belly in a cloud between the man and woman. He has short, tousled hair, stubby wings, and his skin is flushed pink. An arrow held in one hand points toward the man, and the putto rests his other hand in a bunch of pink roses. Plants and flowers grow in patches on the ground around the man. The sky above is framed with steel-gray clouds against pale blue.
Jean Honoré Fragonard, Diana and Endymion, c. 1753/1756, oil on canvas, Timken Collection, 1960.6.2

Diana and Endymion

Jean Honoré Fragonard · c. 1753/1756 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1960.6.2

A crowned woman and the baby she holds on one hip are carved from white marble in this freestanding sculpture. The woman has a round face with a long nose and slightly smiling lips. Her long curly hair is parted down the middle and held back under a high crown made of spade-shaped acanthus leaves. A cloth covers her head and drapes over her shoulders and across her hips. Divots are carved along the lower hem of the cloth. The dress she wears underneath has three circular openings along the squared neckline, and pointy-toed shoes peek out from under the hem of the long skirt. She holds the stem of a now-broken frond in her right hand, to our left, by that hip. Her other hand supports the baby. He has a round face, short, wavy hair, wide-set eyes, chubby cheeks, a delicate nose, and his lips are parted. His torso is nude, and a cloth wraps around his hips and falls in folds around his bare feet. His left arm, to our right, is missing beyond the shoulder. He leans the other elbow against the woman’s chest, and the lower arm is missing beyond that. The sculpture is photographed against a pale gray background.
French 14th Century, Virgin and Child, c. 1325/1350, marble, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1961.9.99

Virgin and Child

French 14th Century · c. 1325/1350 · marble ·  Accession ID  1961.9.99

This free-standing, painted, terracotta portrait sculpture shows the head, shoulders, and chest of a man with dark hair and a prominent nose. His face and body are angled slightly to our right in this photograph, and he looks down his crooked nose. He has peach-colored skin, which is lightly shadowed around his chin. His thin lips are set in a line, and his brow is furrowed low above his eyes. Chin-length brown hair hangs straight down the sides of his face. His garment has scarlet-red sleeves under a navy-blue tunic, and he wears a red headdress that hangs down to his shoulder over his left ear, on our right. A red scarf drapes across his chest, and the end hangs on his chest on our left. Paint losses on the surface of the sculpture allow the brown terracotta to show through in some areas.
Florentine 16th Century, Lorenzo de' Medici, possibly 1513/1520, painted terracotta, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1943.4.92

Lorenzo de' Medici

Florentine 16th Century · possibly 1513/1520 · painted terracotta ·  Accession ID  1943.4.92

The sculpture depicts a central figure at the top, a nude male wearing a winged helmet, holding an object in one hand and with the other raised. Surrounding the base are seated figures with draped clothing, animal heads, and ornamental elements, crafted with intricate details. The sculpture appears to have a bronze appearance and a dark patina, giving it a classic look. It stands on a solid base, emphasizing its grandeur and complexity.
Venetian 17th Century, Andiron with Figure of Mars, c. 1600/1675, bronze, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1961.9.100

Andiron with Figure of Mars

Venetian 17th Century · c. 1600/1675 · bronze ·  Accession ID  1961.9.100

The sculpture is a bust of a man looking upward and to the right, depicted from his chest up. The man has a strong brow, a round nose, a soft jawline, and small lips in a neutral expression. His forehead is wide, with long hair emerging from the sides of his head and curling around his ears. He is depicted wearing a buttoned shirt or vest with a low vee neckline, a ruffled collar, and a coat over the shirt. His arms are cut off just below the shoulder. The sculpture is made from a smooth white material with subtle gray variations in tone. The bust sits on a tiered pedestal with a square base, inscribed at the front with the name "CAGLIOSTRO."
Jean-Antoine Houdon, Giuseppe Balsamo, Comte di Cagliostro, 1786, marble, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952.5.103

Giuseppe Balsamo, Comte di Cagliostro

Jean-Antoine Houdon · 1786 · marble ·  Accession ID  1952.5.103

Benedetto da Maiano, Madonna and Child, c. 1475, marble, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1960.5.16

Madonna and Child

Benedetto da Maiano · c. 1475 · marble ·  Accession ID  1960.5.16

Pisan 14th Century, Angel with Symphonia, c. 1360, marble, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1960.5.14

Angel with Symphonia

Pisan 14th Century · c. 1360 · marble ·  Accession ID  1960.5.14

Set within a gold frame, the head and chest of a young man wearing an ornate helmet and armor, facing our right in profile, is carved in relief from white marble in this vertical panel. The man has a long nose, smooth cheeks, closed bow lips, and a snub chin. Curls burst from beneath his helmet, which sweeps from up over his forehead down to the back of his neck. The lifted visor curves up and out past his nose, and is decorated with vines and flowers. The crown of the helmet spirals like a snail shell over the man’s head, and a dragon perches along the top. The dragon has a dog’s head, a scaled body, wings like a bat, a serpent-like tail, and a section of its long neck has been broken off. Two crimped ribbons flutter up and behind the man’s head from the back of the helmet, where it covers his neck. His chest is covered to his neck with a highly ornamented breast plate. At the front of the chest, an adult face with brows furrowed and mouth wide open is flanked by wings. The shoulder we can see is covered with a medallion showing a nude woman holding a cornucopia and a merman. Beneath the medallion, a row of six faces, each on its own narrow panel, fan out over the man’s upper arm. Scrolling vines, leaves, and flowers fill the remaining space around the medallion and winged head. A few pale, parchment-white veins run through the surface of the marble. The panel sits on a shallow, trapezoidal ledge and is framed in a stepped gold frame on the remaining three sides.
Florentine 15th Century, Alexander the Great, c. 1483/1485, marble, Gift of Therese K. Straus, 1956.2.1

Alexander the Great

Florentine 15th Century · c. 1483/1485 · marble ·  Accession ID  1956.2.1

The sculpture features a bearded male figure in a dynamic pose. He is facing to our right, leaning his shoulders back, with his left foot raised to rest on a tree stump so that his knee bends, and his arms are stretched out to grasp the bow, the left one reaching up to grip the top. He is nude except for a cloth pulled across his hips and over his left arm. A helmet is beside him.
Jacques Bousseau, Soldier Drawing His Bow, model 1715, cast mid 19th century, bronze, Corcoran Collection (William A. Clark Collection, 1926), 2014.136.248

Soldier Drawing His Bow

Jacques Bousseau · model 1715, cast mid 19th century · bronze ·  Accession ID  2014.136.248

Shown from the chest up, a young woman faces us holding a nude baby in her arms in this vertical painting. They both have pale, peachy skin with pink cheeks. The woman has an oval face with a thin nose, and her coral-pink, bow mouth is closed. She looks down and to our left with dark eyes under arched brows. Her hair is covered by a white veil, and an azure-blue mantle is draped over her rose-pink robe. She cradles the plump child in her crossed arms. The baby has short, wavy, copper-red hair framing a round, flushed face with a button nose, peach lips, and hazel eyes that look at us. He holds a bird in his left hand, on our right. The bird has an off-white body with charcoal-gray wings and neck, and a strawberry-red face. A delicate chain wraps around the bird’s foot, and the baby holds the end in his other hand, up by his chest. A golden brown curtain covers most of the space behind the pair, except for a sliver of stone-gray wall to our left.
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Madonna of the Goldfinch, c. 1767/1770, oil on canvas, Gift of The Brown Foundation, Inc., Houston, 1997.60.1

Madonna of the Goldfinch

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo · c. 1767/1770 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1997.60.1

Bibliography

1961

  • Seligman, Germain. Merchants of Art: 1880-1960, Eighty Years of Professional Collecting. New York, 1961.