Provenance

Dr. Vitale Bloch

Russian, 1900 - 1975

Explore Selected Works

Albrecht Dürer, Male Nude with a Lion [verso], c. 1500, pen and brown ink on laid paper, Woodner Collection, 1991.182.11.b

Male Nude with a Lion [verso]

Albrecht Dürer · c. 1500 · pen and brown ink on laid paper ·  Accession ID  1991.182.11.b

Albrecht Dürer, Male Nude Holding a Mirror [recto], c. 1500, pen and brown ink on laid paper; the paper has been pricked in several places with the points of a pair of compasses and indented lightly with a stylus, Woodner Collection, 1991.182.11.a

Male Nude Holding a Mirror [recto]

Albrecht Dürer · c. 1500 · pen and brown ink on laid paper; the paper has been pricked in several places with the points of a pair of compasses and indented lightly with a stylus ·  Accession ID  1991.182.11.a

A young woman plays a small pipe organ while a winged angel holds up a piece of sheet music in this horizontal painting. A strong light source illuminates the scene from our right, creating deep shadows in the dark background. Both the woman and angel have pale skin, flushed cheeks, and light brown hair. Shown from the knees up and taking up the left half of the painting, the woman’s body is angled to our right as she sits at the organ, which is near the right edge of the composition. Her hair is pulled back into a braid, and wisps fall on her forehead. Her skin is smooth, and her head tilts down toward the organ. Her cherry-red dress has a squared neckline and olive-green sleeves over a white shirt. The voluminous sleeves are pushed back over her forearms as she rests her fingertips on the keys of the organ. Gazing toward the woman, the angel has short, curly hair, silvery gray wings, and wears a topaz-blue garment. Two lines of music on the paper the angel holds have notes written in and one staff is empty. The small organ is angled away from us so we see one narrow end and the row of low pipes along its back. The dark brown background lightens behind the young woman’s head.
Orazio Gentileschi, Giovanni Lanfranco, Saint Cecilia and an Angel, c. 1617/1618 and c. 1621/1627, oil on canvas, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1961.9.73

Saint Cecilia and an Angel

Orazio Gentileschi, Giovanni Lanfranco · c. 1617/1618 and c. 1621/1627 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1961.9.73

Bibliography

1976

  • The Burlington Magazine 118 (January 1976): 30-31 [Obituary]

1978

  • "Vitale Bloch Bequest to Rotterdam", The Burlington Magazine 120 (April 1978): 196-7

  • Legaat Vitale Bloch, exh. cat., Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam, 1978

2010

  • Grasman, Edward. "Vitale Bloch: the early years." RKD Bulletin 2010/2: 3-12

2011

  • Grasman, Edward. "Vitale Bloch, the elusive (conclusion)." RKD Bulletin 2011/2: 3-11.