Baron Adolphe de Rothschild

French, 1823 - 1900

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A man bows to a woman as another man looks on from the shadowy background, while a woman sitting at a table plays a lute in this vertical painting. All the people have pale skin. The bowing man enters from an open door to our left. He faces our right in profile and has a bumped nose, a dark mustache, and his brown hair falls loosely over his shoulders. He wears a voluminous, black jacket that has a wide white collar and flat, plate-like, starched white cuffs. He bends forward with one foot stretched in front of him, as he gazes at the woman to our right. His hands are spread wide. His left forefinger and thumb touch to make an O shape, and he holds a wide-brimmed, black hat in his right hand, closer to us. At the center of the composition, the woman wears a dress with a coral-pink bodice and a cream-white satin skirt trimmed with gold down the front and around the hem. She faces our left in profile and looks at the man, her cheeks flushed. Her eyebrows are slightly raised over dark eyes, and she has a straight nose and the hint of a double chin. Her blond hair is pulled back under a lace covering, and curls frame her face. A black ribbon is tied into a bow at the shoulder closer to us. A brown and white dog, about knee-high, stands between the man and woman. To our right, a young woman sits at the far side of a table playing a lute. She wears a sapphire-blue dress and looks down at her instrument. One elbow is propped on the patterned rug that covers the table. A second instrument, perhaps a cello, lies on the table, and a wooden chair with a pine-green upholstered seat has been pulled up to our side of the table. Almost lost in the shadows at the back of the room between the two women, a man with a goatee and wearing a brown jacket and trousers stands with his body angled to our right as he looks over his shoulder at the couple at the door. He stands in front of a fireplace with an opening so large that the mantle is supported by columns as tall as the man.
Gerard ter Borch the Younger, The Suitor's Visit, c. 1658, oil on canvas, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.58

The Suitor's Visit

Gerard ter Borch the Younger · c. 1658 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1937.1.58

Venetian 17th Century, Tiziano Aspetti, Andiron with Figure of Venus, c. 1600/1675, bronze, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1961.9.101

Andiron with Figure of Venus

Venetian 17th Century, Tiziano Aspetti · c. 1600/1675 · bronze ·  Accession ID  1961.9.101

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Scene from Ancient History, c. 1750, oil on canvas, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1939.1.365

Scene from Ancient History

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo · c. 1750 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1939.1.365

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

Bibliography

1998

  • Ferguson, Niall. The House of Rothschild: Money's Prophets, 1798-1848. New York, 1998

  • Ferguson, Niall. The House of Rothschild: The World's Banker: 1849-1999. New York, 1998