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Sale, London

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Shown from the thighs up against a dark background, a man with light skin, wearing a black satin jerkin with puffed breeches, stands with his hand on the neck of a dog by his side in this vertical portrait painting. The man stands with his body angled to our right but looks at us from the corners of his dark eyes. His brows are subtly raised, and his cheeks are slightly sunken under high cheekbones. His red hair is cut short, and his red mustache and beard are trimmed. The high collar of his black jacket is lined with a white ruffle along his chin line. Light from our left glints off the long sleeves of his tight-fitting jacket, creating the impression that it is made of heavy silk. Two thick gold chains hang down his chest, and a sword hangs from a belt around his waist, the hilt on the hip farther from us. His pants puff out and gather on the mid-thigh over stockings. He hooks the thumb of his right hand, on our left, around his hip and he rests his other hand on the neck of the dog standing by his left side, to our right. The dark brown dog has a white stripe down its nose. It faces our left in profile but its brown eyes look toward us. On the collar, ornate metal bosses alternate with low spikes, set in a wide black band. A ring hangs from the front of the collar. Barely legible, the painting is signed and dated in the upper left corner with dark paint: “Antonius mor pingebat a. 1569.”
Antonis Mor, Portrait of a Gentleman, 1569, oil on canvas, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.52

Portrait of a Gentleman

Antonis Mor · 1569 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1937.1.52

Nine women and girls create a procession leading to a blond, smiling infant lying in a basket being held by a man next to a riverbank that runs across this horizontal landscape painting. The tallest woman, near the center of the retinue, wears a gold, crown-like diadem, and a toga-like gown of golden yellow over a pale, slate-blue, short-sleeved dress. She stands facing our left in profile, and looks toward the baby with dark eyes under dark, arched eyebrows. Her nose is long and straight, her pink lips are closed in a faint smile, and she has a rounded chin and jawline. Her wavy, dark blond hair is braided and pulled back, and she wears a gold earring on the ear we can see. She reaches her right arm, farther from us, straight in front of her with her palm facing the ground. Three women and three girls trail behind her in a row to our right. They wear brightly colored wraps and robes in rose pink, topaz or cobalt blue, plum purple, butter yellow, or ivory white. Most look toward the baby but the girl at the back offers the woman in front of her a tiny bouquet of flowers. Two women to our left of the standing woman stoop to reach out to the basket, held by a muscular, bare-chested, bearded man. Gray, stone blocks of a wall create steps to our left and behind it, a younger, cleanshaven man, also bare-chested, and with shoulder-length, strawberry-blond hair, reaches for his marigold-orange clothing. Trees lining the far riverbank and the brilliant blue sky with steel-gray clouds are reflected in the water’s surface. Across the river to our left, beyond a ruined stone abutment, a man in a red toga, and one in yellow, look on. More people work along the opposite bank. A city built of light gray stone stretches into the deep distance beyond.
Sébastien Bourdon, The Finding of Moses, c. 1655/1660, oil on canvas, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1961.9.65

The Finding of Moses

Sébastien Bourdon · c. 1655/1660 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1961.9.65

A long, rectangular dining table is surrounded by thirteen people in this horizontal painting. The skin of all the people, some of their clothing, and the tabletop are painted golden yellow. Touches of aquamarine blue, salmon pink, and rust red appear in some clothing, and the scene is set against a nearly black background. Across from us at the center of the table, a radiating, gold starburst surrounds the head and shoulders of a man, Jesus, with shoulder-length blond hair and beard. He looks at or toward us with dark eyes as he holds his hands up, palms facing out, at his chest. He wears a champagne-white robe and reclines with his legs extended to our left as he rests his opposite elbow on what could be a cushion or rolled-up blanket. To our right, a second person mirrors Jesus’s reclining position but with wrists crossed over the chest and turning to look toward Jesus. That person wears a long teal-blue garment and has smooth cheeks and long blond hair. Another bearded man to our left, near the back corner of the table, leans away from Jesus with hands held up as if in prayer. Three people lounge or sit on each of the short sides of the table to our left and right, and four recline on the side closest to us. Some have beards and others are cleanshaven, and some have short hair while others have long locks. Most of them look toward Jesus while two bend low to the table in prayer. One man, in the lower right, wears brick red and turns his back on the table as he counts or touches coins in a sack. The long table is set with goblets and plates of food. The artist signed the work with his initials in the lower left corner: “WB inv.”
William Blake, The Last Supper, 1799, tempera on canvas, Rosenwald Collection, 1954.13.1

The Last Supper

William Blake · 1799 · tempera on canvas ·  Accession ID  1954.13.1

A seated woman with an infant on her lap and three children are clustered on a terrace overlooking green hills and a body of water in this square painting. They all have pale skin with flushed cheeks. The group is centered in the composition, and the woman sits to our left, facing our right, almost in profile. The wooden chair is upholstered in scarlet-red fabric and a large slate-blue bird perches on the backrest. Gold-edged, red drapery hangs behind the woman, suspended from stone columns on either side of her. The woman’s brown hair is covered by a frilly, silvery-gray cap with a matching shawl layered over a short, three-quarter sleeve jacket. Her fern-green skirt, covered with a pattern of coral-red flowers and gold vines, gleams in the soft light coming from behind us. A thin black band encircles her neck, and a round, black earring dangles from the ear we can see. She bows her head slightly and gazes down at the children. The infant lies across her lap with its head coming toward us, its chubby arms reaching up to the woman while turning to look at the three standing children. They appear to be a young boy and two girls, and they all have blond hair, large brown eyes, and delicate rose-red mouths. They crowd together at the woman’s knees. The boy is taller than the girls and stands behind them, visible from the shoulders up. He is dressed in red garments and stands almost in profile to gaze up at the woman. The girls turn their heads to look directly at us. At the center of the trio, the taller girl wears a long, voluminous brown gown. Her hair is pulled back and long ringlets frame her face. She also wears round black earrings and two delicate black cords around her neck, one of which holds a gold ring. At the front, the shortest girl wears a black and white gown with a sheer neckerchief along neckline, and she rests one arm across the woman’s lap. The girl’s long, puffy, black sleeves are slashed to create openings for white fabric to show through. Her hair is also upswept with ringlets framing her face. To the right of the group is a column made of two creatures with pink female heads, faces, and nude torsos with scaly, olive-green, twisting, snake-like legs. One creature faces us and the other faces our right. The sky beyond the terrace is filled with clouds that transition from slate gray at the top to tan and rust orange where it meets the distant hills.
Sir Peter Paul Rubens, Jacob Jordaens, Deborah Kip, Wife of Sir Balthasar Gerbier, and Her Children, 1629/1630, reworked probably mid 1640s, oil on canvas, Andrew W. Mellon Fund, 1971.18.1

Deborah Kip, Wife of Sir Balthasar Gerbier, and Her Children

Sir Peter Paul Rubens, Jacob Jordaens · 1629/1630, reworked probably mid 1640s · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1971.18.1

A street stretches away from us between two walls to a town in this vertical, loosely painted landscape. Thick, textured brushstrokes are visible throughout. The pavement directly in front of us is camel brown with a pale blue squiggle suggesting a puddle. The wall to the right is celery green, and a bright blue sign is at the top, far corner. The wall to the left is buttressed and is painted in shades of sky and lapis blue. The road beyond the path is parchment brown, and three and four-story buildings lining the left side of the road are painted in tones of burnt orange, butter yellow, denim blue, and off white. Branches of a tree growing over the wall to the left are painted with curling strokes in olive green and royal blue, and the sky is very pale, yellow-tinted green. The artist signed and dated the painting in the lower left corner, “Maurice Utrillo.V. 1909.”
Maurice Utrillo, Rue Cortot, Montmartre, 1909, oil on cardboard, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection, 1970.17.88

Rue Cortot, Montmartre

Maurice Utrillo · 1909 · oil on cardboard ·  Accession ID  1970.17.88

Two nude young boys and a young woman holding a standing infant are tightly grouped around a table, almost filling this vertical painting. They all have pale skin tinged with pink. The woman is shown from the knees up, and she stands at the front, right corner of the table, which spans most of the composition. Facing our left in profile, her auburn-brown hair is pulled back and wrapped with a slate-blue ribbon, and is wound around the crown of her head. She looks down with dark eyes under thin brows. She has a long nose, and her full, dusty rose-pink lips are closed. Two thin cords hang like necklaces just above the neckline of her carnation-pink gown, which is unbuttoned to reveal one bare breast. The plump infant stands at the center of the group. The woman holds him close to her body, but he turns his face away to look at the young boy on our left. That child faces our right in profile and has wavy, copper-red hair. He is nude except for a blue sash, which is tied once tightly around his waist and then wrapped so a loose hoop hangs down over his belly. His right knee, closer to us, rests on an olive-green cloth crumpled on the table beneath him. He leans back slightly, with his belly pushed forward, and looks down at the infant while pointing to us with his closest hand. A third child, with unruly honey-blond hair, stands facing us from the back of the group, so is seen between the woman and the pointing child. The child at the back of the group touches the woman’s shoulder with one hand, looking straight at us with mouth slightly open. A burgundy-red sash is visible around the waist. Near the bottom edge of the painting, the tabletop is covered with a pumpkin-orange cloth striped with plum-purple and black. A book rests near the baby’s feet and is partially covered by the green cloth to our left. A peacock-blue cloth is bunched on the right half of the table and hangs off that side, obscuring the woman’s knees. The background is painted with broad strokes and swirls of brown and flint blue, with flickers of red and gold in the upper right.
Andrea del Sarto, Charity, before 1530, oil on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1957.14.5

Charity

Andrea del Sarto · before 1530 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1957.14.5

A woman, Mary, sits surrounded by winged angels on a bank of clouds above a second woman who prays in front of a vast landscape in this vertical, arched painting. The women and angels all have pale skin and rosy cheeks. Mary and the angels take up the top two-thirds of the composition. Mary’s body is angled to our left, but she turns her face to us as she looks up. She wears a flax-yellow veil under an azure-blue mantle, which drapes over her shoulders and her ruby-red dress. Her hands are together in prayer, and her body, including one bare foot, is supported by the angels. Two older angels, like young adults, are at Mary’s feet and they look down. Both have long, wavy blond hair, and they wear robes in grass green or rust red. Two nude, child-like angels are to either side of Mary’s hips. Sixteen baby heads with blond hair and wings alongside their ears are nestled in the smoky-violet clouds around Mary. This group is lit brightly from our left but also backlit by the ring of angel heads. The older woman in the lower left corner of the composition wears a translucent veil and white head covering as she looks up, her hands also in prayer and holding a rosary. Her cheeks and jowls sag, and she wears a black dress. The grassy, shadowed landscape extends into the deep distance to a cluster of buildings in the lower right corner of the painting. Beyond the woman and smaller in scale, a man wearing a yellow cloak over a red robe reaches toward or releases a green snaking shape, perhaps a strip of fabric.
Girolamo da Carpi, The Apparition of the Virgin, 1530/1540, oil on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1939.1.382

The Apparition of the Virgin

Girolamo da Carpi · 1530/1540 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1939.1.382

Thomas Gainsborough, Miss Catherine Tatton, 1786, oil on canvas, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.99

Miss Catherine Tatton

Thomas Gainsborough · 1786 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1937.1.99

An older man with a tanned skin and a white beard is shown from the waist up against a dark brown background in this vertical portrait painting. His body is angled to our right but he turns his head to look to our left. His eyes are shadowed under heavy brows. He has a long, hooked nose, high cheekbones, and the corners of his mouth turn slightly down. His brick-red cap, which is edged with gold, is an unusual shape. It sits low over his forehead and then rises at the back almost like a gourd. The cap sits over a white cloth that comes to points over his ears, and a cord hangs from each point to his shoulders. He wears a voluminous, deep rose-pink garment beneath a billowing, heavy gold robe. The rose-colored garment is streaked with cream-white to suggest a sheen, and it is belted around his waist. The gold, brocade-patterned robe is buttoned near the high collar but then flares open over his chest. The turned-back edge along our left is painted white, perhaps to suggest fur lining. Large, round, gold buttons the size of ping pong balls line the left edge of the robe opening. He wears a gold ring on his right hand, on our left, and he clutches the fabric of the robe near his waist with that hand.
Titian, Doge Andrea Gritti, c. 1546/1550, oil on canvas, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1961.9.45

Doge Andrea Gritti

Titian · c. 1546/1550 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1961.9.45

Shown from the waist up, a woman with smooth, pale skin looks out at us from the corners of her wide-set hazel eyes in this vertical painting. Against a nearly black background, her body is angled to our left and wavy, auburn hair cascades down her back. Her hair is arranged into a bow shape over a thin, pale pink ribbon, and delicate tendrils frame her face and fall over her shoulders. She has thin brows, and her long, straight nose is wide at the bridge. Her pale, coral-pink lips are closed in a slight smile. She is lit from our left so shadows engulf the corners of her eyes and lips, and her far cheek, to our right, is shaded. Her moss-green gown has a golden-brown panel across the chest and voluminous, puffy sleeves. The green sleeves fall back over the deep folds of the white garment she wears underneath, and the dress is tied with a pink sash just below her bust. She holds the flaring foot of an oyster-white lidded vessel, like a miniature urn, with one hand and tips the conical lid up with the other.
Bernardino Luini, The Magdalen, c. 1525, oil on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1961.9.56

The Magdalen

Bernardino Luini · c. 1525 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1961.9.56