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A young girl stands facing us next to a tall, stylized plant, perhaps a rose bush, in this vertical portrait painting. Looking at us with blue eyes, she has light, peachy skin, and her brown hair is parted down the middle and pulled back. Her shoulders are bare, and she wears a coral-red bead necklace. The dress flares out where it encircles her upper arms above short ruffled sleeves. A black apron is tied around her waist and falls to about her knees. The skirt of the dress is longer, falling to midcalf, and wide, white petticoats extend like pant legs below to white stockinged feet in black shoes. A white, lace-trimmed handkerchief is tucked into her apron, and she wears a black brooch at her chest. She holds a gray glass basket in her left hand, our right, filled with two red roses, a blue flower, and green leaves. With one hand, she touches a stem on the rose bush, which is planted in a red pot. One flower has fallen to the floor next to a brown and white cat, perhaps a kitten, in the lower left corner of the painting. The girl and cat stand on an emerald-green carpet, the edge of which runs from the lower right corner of the canvas toward the back of the darkened room.
John Bradley, Little Girl in Lavender, c. 1840, oil on canvas, Gift of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, 1958.9.3

Little Girl in Lavender

John Bradley · c. 1840 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1958.9.3

A young, pale-skinned girl sits on a wooden chair in this vertical portrait painting. Her body is angled to our right so her feet are cut off by the bottom right corner of the canvas. She has round cheeks, green eyes, a dainty mouth, and a cleft chin. A ruffled white bonnet tied around the crown with a carnation-pink bow covers her hair. Her white dress has short, flutter sleeves, a straight neckline across the chest, and a high waist. The gossamer-white skirt falls to her feet and has decorative bands near the hem. A cherry-red sash is tied around her waist and falls over the back of the chair. The girl holds a bunch of red strawberries in one hand and holds one up by her chest with the other. The background is dark bronze brown.
Ammi Phillips, The Strawberry Girl, c. 1830, oil on canvas, Gift of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, 1953.5.59

The Strawberry Girl

Ammi Phillips · c. 1830 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1953.5.59

This is an oval dish with ornate designs painted on it. The center of the dish features a scene with a woman riding a fantastical creature with multiple long necks ending in heads with horns and sharp teeth. The creature is in shades of purple and green, with tufts of white hair. The woman on its back is dressed in a draping blue and red garment that exposes her breasts. She has pale skin and wears an ornate headdress and several necklaces. She is looking to the left, one hand holding an oval object aloft. On the left, groups of men kneel in front of her, raising their arms out to her. Some wear crowns or religious garb. The background presents a green landscape with trees and what seems to be a purple cityscape in the distance under a blue sky. Along the edge of the dish is an intricate frame with colorful designs that show people in different positions, surrounded by flowers and swirls. The colors are vibrant against a black background.
Martial Courteys, Oval Dish with the Whore of Babylon, c. 1570, enamel painted on copper, Widener Collection, 1942.9.291

Oval Dish with the Whore of Babylon

Martial Courteys · c. 1570 · enamel painted on copper ·  Accession ID  1942.9.291

Giovanni Paolo Negroli, Helmet (burgonet) in the Form of a Dolphin Mask, 1540/1545, iron or steel, repoussé, embossed, and chiseled, Widener Collection, 1942.9.355

Helmet (burgonet) in the Form of a Dolphin Mask

Giovanni Paolo Negroli · 1540/1545 · iron or steel, repoussé, embossed, and chiseled ·  Accession ID  1942.9.355

This painting depicts a man seated in a chair and facing forward, with his head slightly turned to the left. He has light brown skin, short black hair, prominent sideburns, and brown eyes, with his face is in a neutral expression. His left arm rests over the back of the gilded wooden chair he sits in, and his right hand is tucked into his suit jacket. He is dressed in a black coat with large gold buttons running down the front and on the cuffs. Under the coat is a stiff white collar and a black kerchief or tie, as well as a square orange gem set in gold. The background is mostly a gray-green wall, but on the left side there is a thin vertical window showing a view of a green river with a steamboat on it and rocky red cliffs covered in green trees under a cloudy blue sky.
American 19th Century, Portrait of a Man (Possibly Peter Vogelsang Sr.), probably 1829, oil on wood, Gift of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, 1953.5.22

Portrait of a Man (Possibly Peter Vogelsang Sr.)

American 19th Century · probably 1829 · oil on wood ·  Accession ID  1953.5.22

Two children with pale, peachy skin stand and sit on a rocking horse in a wallpapered interior in this square painting. Both children have short, honey-brown hair, high foreheads, dark blue eyes, and small, rounded noses. Their cheeks are smooth and the corners of their thin, pale pink lips curl slightly up. Both wear dresses with puffy, elbow-length sleeves, white collars, calf-length skirts, and wide, white pantaloons over white stockings. At the center of the composition, one child sits astride the rocking horse, which faces our right in profile. The skirt of the forest-green dress splits at the waist to fall open on either side of a white garment underneath. That child’s head turns back over one shoulder to look down and to our left. One black shoe rests in a stirrup, and the child holds a riding crop in one hand. The horse is dappled with fawn brown and white, and has a parchment-brown mane and tail. The horse’s eye we can see is black and its red mouth is open around the bridle and reins. The second child stands at the back of the rocking horse, hands resting on the crossbar that connects the toy's long, curving rockers. That child wears a crimson-red dress and holds the red ribbon of a straw bonnet in one hand. The hair is parted down the middle and that child looks at us. A black cap with a curved, shiny visor and tassels hanging from the crown rests on the base of the rocking horse. The rug has a stylized, terracotta-orange floral pattern against a pine-green background. The wall behind the children is striped with wide bands of golden yellow and moss green. A door with a gold-colored doorknob is swung inward to our left, behind the child in red, to reveal the profile of a staircase beyond. To our right, just behind the horse’s head, a wooden table is draped with a cloth patterned with vines and leaves in dark green against a pea-green background. A lamp with a tall, spindly brass base is topped with a squat, round white globe. A folded newspaper behind the child in green could rest on the table, or could be held by that child. An inscription on the masthead of the paper begins, “Dai.”
Robert Peckham, The Hobby Horse, c. 1840, oil on canvas, Gift of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, 1955.11.23

The Hobby Horse

Robert Peckham · c. 1840 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1955.11.23

Shown from the waist up, a pale-skinned woman wearing a ruby-red dress and voluminous, pleated white headdress sits against a dark background in this vertical portrait painting. The woman’s body is angled to our right, but she looks at us from the corners of her dark gray eyes. She has thin eyebrows, lightly flushed cheeks, faintly smiling lips, and a wide, cleft chin over a slight double chin. A flesh-colored mole is just above the left corner of her mouth. Gray hair is swept up under the upside-down U-shaped headdress, which is pleated with translucent white fabric along the front and up and over the back. Another ribbon is solid white with a blue, red, and yellow floral pattern, and another is dotted with solid white against transparent fabric. The earring we see is a silver, ornate cross shape, and four strands of tiny pearls are tight to her neck like a choker. More translucent white cloth, now edged in ruffles, wraps around her neck and shoulders and is gathered under a bow tied with more of the floral-patterned ribbon. The vivid red dress has elbow-length sleeves with a looping gold design near the cuffs. White ruffles peek beyond the edges of the cuffs, and she wears a ring on the pinky finger of her left hand. The bodice is tightly fitting, and the skirt bunches up behind the woman in the wood chair, the back of which curves just beyond her right shoulder, to our left. She unfurls a scroll of music with one hand and holds the sheet with the other. Her left elbow, to our right, rests on the top of a narrow, black keyboard. The background is nearly black.
American 18th Century, Lady Wearing a Large White Cap, c. 1780, oil on canvas, Gift of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, 1980.62.45

Lady Wearing a Large White Cap

American 18th Century · c. 1780 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1980.62.45

In this painting, a large half watermelon with vibrant red flesh and black seeds sits at the center of a white plate with a silver knife on top of it. Surrounding it on the long wooden table are various fruits, such as a yellow pineapple, red and green grapes, dark red plums, pink peaches, and a partially peeled orange. Below the table are some pumpkins or squash, as well as what could be figs or radishes. A yellow-and-black bird is perched on the handle of a yellow basket of mixed fruit placed behind the watermelon. Around the basket are white and pink flowers. In the background, on the left of the painting, a window reveals a scenic landscape featuring a winding river cutting through a green valley and dark, tree-filled hills below a light blue sky with faint pink clouds. The wall behind the table is a plain gray color.
Wagguno, Fruit and Baltimore Oriole, 1858, oil on canvas, Gift of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, 1980.62.47

Fruit and Baltimore Oriole

Wagguno · 1858 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1980.62.47

The image shows a seated infant facing forward. The child has a round face with blue eyes and light hair. They wear a white dress with lace and embroidery, painted floral designs in pink and green, and hold a round object tied with a blue ribbon on their lap. Blue shoes are placed next to their bare feet. The background is a plain brown color.
American 19th Century, Innocence, c. 1830, oil on canvas, Gift of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, 1980.62.30

Innocence

American 19th Century · c. 1830 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1980.62.30

William Matthew Prior, Baby in Blue, c. 1845, oil on paper on wood, Gift of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, 1953.5.58

Baby in Blue

William Matthew Prior · c. 1845 · oil on paper on wood ·  Accession ID  1953.5.58