Provenance

Sale, Amsterdam

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See all 16 works of art
Anonymous Artist, Old Woman Plucking a Fowl, 1650/1655, oil on canvas, Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Walter Timme, 1956.1.1

Old Woman Plucking a Fowl

Anonymous Artist · 1650/1655 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1956.1.1

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

More than two dozen rowboats and sailboats bustle around a waterway in this horizontal landscape painting. Beige-colored water gently ripples across the bottom of the composition and extends into the deep distance, where buildings, windmills, and a church line the low horizon. Clouds with warm white tops and cool gray bottoms tower across a pale blue sky, which takes up the top three-quarters of the composition. A few reeds poke out of the water close to us, near the lower right corner of the painting. The row- and sailboats just beyond are packed with people. Two flags fly from the masts of the largest ship, which is to our left of center. One flag has red stripes flanking a white stripe, and the other is striped with red, white, and blue. Two rowboats have pulled up to the grassy shore of a spit of land to our left. A ladder leans against the steep hill rising from the water’s edge, and a cluster of spindly trees lean toward the water from the hillock. The people all wear clothing and hats in tones of brick red, ochre yellow, sable brown, and black. More boats move through the water back to the town and waterways to either side.
Jan van Goyen, View of Dordrecht from the North, early 1650s, oil on canvas, Corcoran Collection (William A. Clark Collection), 2014.136.34

View of Dordrecht from the North

Jan van Goyen · early 1650s · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  2014.136.34

A smiling young child holds the latch of an open wooden door as she looks toward a woman to our right in this almost square painting. The woman and child both have pale skin and stand in a bedroom. To our left, the child is the same height as the door handle, and she faces us. Her blond, upswept hair is backlit, and light falls on her from windows to our left. She turns to look at the woman with dark eyes, a slight smile on her pink lips. She wears a garment with a mauve-gray bodice and sleeves, a sage-green apron over a honey-yellow, ankle-length skirt, and dark shoes. She holds the ring of the door latch with her right hand, to our left, and holds a ball by her side in her other hand. The room has white walls with thick wood beams above, wood molding around the door and window, and a clay-red tiled floor. On the wall to either side of the girl and about the same height as she is, white tiles painted with scenes in azure blue line the walls. Wooden chairs to either side of the door have lion-shaped finials and a diamond pattern on the cloth-covered backs. A landscape painting in a black frame hangs over the door, and a wood table covered with a red cloth, holding a ceramic jug, sits to our left, along the wall coming toward us. The rightmost third of the composition is spanned by a bed set within a ceiling-high, cabinet-like enclosure. The woman stands in front of the bed, her body facing our left in profile. A white kerchief covers her hair and is tied under her chin. She wears a red shirt with white at the chest and cuffs, which are rolled back. A marine-blue skirt falls to her ankles. She holds a brown cloth in front of her, and another cloth is draped over a chair. A gleaming, squat, brown jug sits on floor nearby. A forest-green curtain lines the squared opening to the bed, and another green curtain is pulled to one side of a window next to the open door. Through the door and window, we see a second door across a shallow entryway, which leads outside. Both halves of the outer, Dutch door are open, though the top half swings in a little more than the bottom half. The space beyond has a fence or trellis, green plants, and the edge of a red roof.
Pieter de Hooch, The Bedroom, 1658/1660, oil on canvas, Widener Collection, 1942.9.33

The Bedroom

Pieter de Hooch · 1658/1660 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1942.9.33

Several people sit, stand, or stroll along a dirt road that winds from the lower left corner of this horizontal landscape painting into the distance, past trees and cottages under a vivid blue sky. The horizon line comes about a third of the way up the canvas, and the cloud studded, azure-blue sky fills the space above. Sunlight filtered through puffy white and steel-gray clouds illuminates the scene from the upper right, creating patches of light and shadow throughout. The road meanders through the center of the composition and is lined with dark and sage-green shrubs, scrubby growth, and gnarled, crooked trees. Closest to us and to our left, two tan cottages are tucked into deep shade created by a grove of several tall trees. The cottages have steeply pitched roofs and windows flanked by gray or brick-red shutters. Three people sit and stand near the path outside the closest building. A short distance to our right, a man sitting on a fallen log carries walking stick and a bundle on his back. His body faces us but his head is turned to our right to gaze toward the man and woman about to stroll past him, headed in our direction. The woman wears a black dress over a white skirt, and a white head covering and shawl. The man wears a brimmed hat with a red decoration, a brown coat with gold buttons down the front and a wide white collar, and heeled shoes. Beyond them, the road curves to our left around a small pond in front of the second cottage. Two people crouch to set a toy sailboat afloat by the edge of the pond, and a brown dog sniffs the ground nearby. Two more people stand talking at the doorway to the second cottage and another dog leaps up at the half-door. Further along the road, the light becomes stronger, illuminating a horse, rider, and another person walking alongside the horse. The road continues to curve around a butter-yellow cottage nestled in a grove of trees on the right. A sunny field is visible in the far distance.
Meindert Hobbema, A View on a High Road, 1665, oil on canvas, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.62

A View on a High Road

Meindert Hobbema · 1665 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1937.1.62

Shown from the knees up, a pale-skinned woman wearing a black dress with white cuffs and a wide, starched collar sits in a wooden chair against a dark brown background in this vertical portrait painting. Her body faces us and she looks off to our left with brown eyes. She has slight jowls at her chin and her eyes, mouth, and forehead are lined. Her hair is pulled back under a close-fitting black cap. Extending straight from around her neck, her white collar is pleated into narrow figure-eights and nearly reaches her shoulders. She wears a brown stole over her velvety black dress, and both nearly blend with the dark background. She holds a pair of pince-nez spectacles in her right hand, which rests on a thick book in her lap. The spine faces her right, and the opposite edge is fastened with metal clasps. A braided cord affixed to the narrow end of the book near us creates a loop.
Rembrandt van Rijn, Dutch 17th Century, An Old Lady with a Book, 1637, oil on canvas, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.73

An Old Lady with a Book

Rembrandt van Rijn, Dutch 17th Century · 1637 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1937.1.73

An old man and a young woman holding an infant are seated together in the center of this almost square painting. All three people have pale, peachy skin. To our left, the man sits on a low, tan brick wall with his head bowed to look at the baby on the woman’s lap. A periwinkle-blue cloak is wrapped around the kelly-green robe that covers his shoulders, back, and legs. One hand grips a short staff planted on the ground. His receding white hair and beard are thin and scraggly with tufts sticking out over his ears. The woman sits next to and slightly in front of him, to our right, on a low rock, her body angled toward the man. A long, cobalt-blue cloak is draped around her shoulders and covers her knees over her rose-pink gown. Her honey-brown hair is parted in the middle and gathered at the back of her head. Her brown eyes look down at the infant, who is blond with brown eyes. A long white shawl is tucked into the neckline of her dress, drapes over her shoulders, and wraps under the baby as she cradles his body with one hand under his backside and the other behind his head. The baby lies on his back with his head turned toward the woman, and he points to her with one outstretched arm. The dirt ground is scattered with pebbles that make a loose ring around the trio, with moss-green growth to either side. A brown brick wall fills the upper half of the composition behind the people and extends off the top edge. A rounded arch pierces the back wall to our right of the woman. On the other side of the opening, trees with copper-brown leaves grow up along the left and the landscape beyond opens onto rocky hills with a white, square tower. In the deep distance, the silhouette of a town is painted in robin’s egg-blue against a pale peach horizon line. Thin, white clouds skim across the blue sky above.
Giorgione, The Holy Family, probably c. 1500, oil on panel transferred to hardboard, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952.2.8

The Holy Family

Giorgione · probably c. 1500 · oil on panel transferred to hardboard ·  Accession ID  1952.2.8

Shown from the waist up, a woman looks at us steadily from behind an oval opening in this vertical portrait, which is painted entirely in tones of sepia and golden brown. The woman’s shoulders and face are angled to our left, but she looks at us with large, dark eyes. She has a narrow face with a slightly bumped nose, high cheekbones, a dimple under her lower lip, and her mouth is closed. Her dark hair is pulled back, and curls fall to her shoulders. The bodice of her dress and the voluminous sleeves glint with highlights, suggesting satin or silk. A sheer cloth covering her chest may be lined with pearls, and bows are tied at her shoulders and over her breastbone. She holds one long-fingered hand up to touch the ribbon at her chest, and she wears a ring on that pinky. She holds a closed book by the spine with her other hand down by her waist. A curtain fills most of the background within the oval opening but is pulled aside to show a church tower to the left. The oval opening appears to be ornamented on our side with carved, chubby babies in the lower corners holding a blank banner, paint palette, brushes, maulstick, and books. At the upper corners are a drawing, drafting tools, globe, lute, and caduceus. The artist signed and dated the painting near the woman’s right elbow, to our left: “Cornelius Ionson Van Ceulen fecit 1657.”
Cornelis Jonson van Ceulen, Anna Maria van Schurman, 1657, oil on panel, Gift of Joseph F. McCrindle, 2002.35.1

Anna Maria van Schurman

Cornelis Jonson van Ceulen · 1657 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  2002.35.1

This vertical portrait painting shows a pale-skinned older woman wearing a full, long-sleeved black dress with a wide white ruff at her neck and white lace cuffs at her wrists. She sits in a curving, low-backed wood chair against a pale brown background. Her body and the chair are angled slightly to our left, and she looks directly at us. She has small eyes, pink, rounded cheeks, and a wide chin. Her lips are parted in a slight smile, and her hair is covered by a starched, sheer white cap that flares at the sides. The ruff around her neck is gathered in accordion-like, narrow figure-eight folds, and it extends flat and stiff, nearly to her shoulders. Close inspection reveals that the dress is woven with a black-on-black brocade pattern and has a line of small black buttons down the front. She holds a small brown leather book tooled with gold ornament in her right hand, on our left, and her other hand rests on the arm of the chair. She wears a gold ring on each hand. An inscription is painted to our left of her head: “AETAT SVAE 60 ANo 1633.”
Frans Hals, Portrait of a Woman Aged Sixty, 1633, oil on canvas, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.67

Portrait of a Woman Aged Sixty

Frans Hals · 1633 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1937.1.67

Shown from about the waist up, a light-skinned man with sagging jowls and a double chin wears a fur garment and hat, a large teardrop pearl earring, and gold chains in this vertical painting. In front of a cracked gray stone wall, the man's body is angled to our right but he turns his face to look at us with brown eyes under a furrowed brow. He has a bulbous nose, and his lips are slightly parted under a wide, wispy mustache. His brown hair is mostly hidden under the tall dark brown fur hat, which is wrapped with a gold chain with a gold medallion at the front. The chestnut-brown fur coat looks especially fuzzy along the neckline, which is also encircled with a thick gold chain. A gold, crown-shaped pendant with a black brush hangs over his right shoulder, closer to us. He holds a gold-tipped cane with his right hand, his thumb extended along the cane. The artist signed and dated the work in the upper right corner, "Rembrandt f: 1637."
Rembrandt van Rijn, A Polish Nobleman, 1637, oil on panel, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.78

A Polish Nobleman

Rembrandt van Rijn · 1637 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1937.1.78