Provenance

Dowdeswell and Dowdeswell

C.W. Dowdeswell
Walter Dowdeswell

closed c. 1917

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This painting shows a person standing on a small rectangular platform, with one knee slightly bent and the heel of that foot raised off of the ground. The person has pale skin with rosy cheeks, arched eyebrows, brown eyes with dark lashes, small lips in a neutral expression, and long, wavy yellow hair. They are wearing a red robe with a knot around the neckline and a green sash with gold designs around the waist. They are barefoot, and their left hand is on their hip while the other is holding a black staff with gold details at the top, bottom, and middle. The background features a green landscape with buildings, small trees, and a distant body of blue water. There is a gray building on the right, and in front there are two people, one seeming to chase the other. There are more people on the left, including one person who is being restrained by two other people, with a third person holding a sword over them. The people wear clothes in shades of pink, red, green, and silvery gray. The sky above is pale blue. The top of the painting is arched.
Master of the Griselda Legend, Joseph of Egypt, c. 1490/1495, oil on panel transferred to canvas, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952.5.2

Joseph of Egypt

Master of the Griselda Legend · c. 1490/1495 · oil on panel transferred to canvas ·  Accession ID  1952.5.2

Puccio di Simone, Allegretto Nuzi, Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints and Angels, and Saints Anthony Abbot and Venantius [entire triptych], 1354, tempera on panel, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.6.a-c

Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints and Angels, and Saints Anthony Abbot and Venantius [entire triptych]

Puccio di Simone, Allegretto Nuzi · 1354 · tempera on panel ·  Accession ID  1937.1.6.a-c

This altarpiece is made up of three panels, with a single man standing in each of the narrow wings to the left and right and a wider panel at the center, which shows a woman holding a baby as twenty-two people look on. The background behind all the people is gold, and the top of each panel comes to a rounded, pointed arch under a second taller, sharper point. Spiraling columns frame the left and right sides, and rows of semicircular shapes, like inverted scallops, run inside the curving arches. In the central panel, the woman, child, and people around them all have pale skin and blond hair except for two elderly men with gray hair and beards. They all have plate-like gold halos that overlap, sometimes obscuring the face of another person. The woman and child, Mary and Jesus, sit on an unseen chair on two wide steps. They gaze at each other while Mary gently touches Jesus’s chin. Her lapis-blue mantle covers her hair and wraps around her body. The robe is edged with gold and has gold starbursts on one shoulder and on the crown of her head. Jesus’s garment is patterned with blue and gold against a dark orange background, and it wraps around his lower body. He holds a bird in one hand, touches Mary’s robe with the other, and a piece of coral hangs from a cord around his neck. Most of the people on each side wear azure-blue, pale peach, or brick-red garments decorated with gold. There are three inscriptions in this central panel. Mary’s halo is inscribed with “SCA MARIA MATER DEI” and Jesus’s halo reads, “IIS XRO M.” A third inscription across the bottom of the panel is partially damaged, but some of it reads, “LIIII QUESTA TA ATTA FRE FRATE GIOVANNI DA.” In the wing to our left, a balding, bearded man wearing a brown cloak over a black robe stands facing our right almost in profile. His pale skin has a dark, ash-gray cast. The hood of the black robe lies across his shoulders. He holds a wooden crutch with a curved top in the hand closer to us, and holds up his other hand with his palm facing us, fingers slightly curled in. A halo around his head is incised into the gold background and is filled with letters reading, “SaS ANTONIVS O VIENA.” Nearly lost against his dark robes, a black boar or pig stands near his feet. The floor here and in the right panel have a brocade-like pattern with three-lobed, gold designs against a field of brick red. The right wing is filled by a blond, cleanshaven young man standing facing our left as he looks toward Mary and Jesus in the center. He wears a long orange tunic decorated with blue flowers, and has a peacock-blue cloak and matching boots. Flags patterned with gold against black or red backgrounds flutter from a staff he holds with his right hand, farther from us. His other hand rests on the gold belt at his waist. His inscribed halo reads, “SCS. VENANCIVS MRTIRI.” The three panels are separated by spiraling gold columns and topped with triangular gables. The gables are filled with stylized leaves and animals in muted shades of brown against a black background. Near the pointed tops of the panels, the side wings have three-lobed shapes filled with a winged angel on the left and a person with a halo holding a hand to the chest on the right. The central gable has a four-lobed shape showing a man hanging on a cross.
Puccio di Simone, Allegretto Nuzi, Saint Anthony Abbot [left panel], 1354, tempera on panel, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.6.a

Saint Anthony Abbot [left panel]

Puccio di Simone, Allegretto Nuzi · 1354 · tempera on panel ·  Accession ID  1937.1.6.a

This altarpiece is made up of three panels, with a single man standing in each of the narrow wings to the left and right and a wider panel at the center, which shows a woman holding a baby as twenty-two people look on. The background behind all the people is gold, and the top of each panel comes to a rounded, pointed arch under a second taller, sharper point. Spiraling columns frame the left and right sides, and rows of semicircular shapes, like inverted scallops, run inside the curving arches. In the central panel, the woman, child, and people around them all have pale skin and blond hair except for two elderly men with gray hair and beards. They all have plate-like gold halos that overlap, sometimes obscuring the face of another person. The woman and child, Mary and Jesus, sit on an unseen chair on two wide steps. They gaze at each other while Mary gently touches Jesus’s chin. Her lapis-blue mantle covers her hair and wraps around her body. The robe is edged with gold and has gold starbursts on one shoulder and on the crown of her head. Jesus’s garment is patterned with blue and gold against a dark orange background, and it wraps around his lower body. He holds a bird in one hand, touches Mary’s robe with the other, and a piece of coral hangs from a cord around his neck. Most of the people on each side wear azure-blue, pale peach, or brick-red garments decorated with gold. There are three inscriptions in this central panel. Mary’s halo is inscribed with “SCA MARIA MATER DEI” and Jesus’s halo reads, “IIS XRO M.” A third inscription across the bottom of the panel is partially damaged, but some of it reads, “LIIII QUESTA TA ATTA FRE FRATE GIOVANNI DA.” In the wing to our left, a balding, bearded man wearing a brown cloak over a black robe stands facing our right almost in profile. His pale skin has a dark, ash-gray cast. The hood of the black robe lies across his shoulders. He holds a wooden crutch with a curved top in the hand closer to us, and holds up his other hand with his palm facing us, fingers slightly curled in. A halo around his head is incised into the gold background and is filled with letters reading, “SaS ANTONIVS O VIENA.” Nearly lost against his dark robes, a black boar or pig stands near his feet. The floor here and in the right panel have a brocade-like pattern with three-lobed, gold designs against a field of brick red. The right wing is filled by a blond, cleanshaven young man standing facing our left as he looks toward Mary and Jesus in the center. He wears a long orange tunic decorated with blue flowers, and has a peacock-blue cloak and matching boots. Flags patterned with gold against black or red backgrounds flutter from a staff he holds with his right hand, farther from us. His other hand rests on the gold belt at his waist. His inscribed halo reads, “SCS. VENANCIVS MRTIRI.” The three panels are separated by spiraling gold columns and topped with triangular gables. The gables are filled with stylized leaves and animals in muted shades of brown against a black background. Near the pointed tops of the panels, the side wings have three-lobed shapes filled with a winged angel on the left and a person with a halo holding a hand to the chest on the right. The central gable has a four-lobed shape showing a man hanging on a cross.
Puccio di Simone, Allegretto Nuzi, Madonna and Child Enthroned with Four Saints and Eighteen Angels [middle panel], 1354, tempera on panel, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.6.b

Madonna and Child Enthroned with Four Saints and Eighteen Angels [middle panel]

Puccio di Simone, Allegretto Nuzi · 1354 · tempera on panel ·  Accession ID  1937.1.6.b

This altarpiece is made up of three panels, with a single man standing in each of the narrow wings to the left and right and a wider panel at the center, which shows a woman holding a baby as twenty-two people look on. The background behind all the people is gold, and the top of each panel comes to a rounded, pointed arch under a second taller, sharper point. Spiraling columns frame the left and right sides, and rows of semicircular shapes, like inverted scallops, run inside the curving arches. In the central panel, the woman, child, and people around them all have pale skin and blond hair except for two elderly men with gray hair and beards. They all have plate-like gold halos that overlap, sometimes obscuring the face of another person. The woman and child, Mary and Jesus, sit on an unseen chair on two wide steps. They gaze at each other while Mary gently touches Jesus’s chin. Her lapis-blue mantle covers her hair and wraps around her body. The robe is edged with gold and has gold starbursts on one shoulder and on the crown of her head. Jesus’s garment is patterned with blue and gold against a dark orange background, and it wraps around his lower body. He holds a bird in one hand, touches Mary’s robe with the other, and a piece of coral hangs from a cord around his neck. Most of the people on each side wear azure-blue, pale peach, or brick-red garments decorated with gold. There are three inscriptions in this central panel. Mary’s halo is inscribed with “SCA MARIA MATER DEI” and Jesus’s halo reads, “IIS XRO M.” A third inscription across the bottom of the panel is partially damaged, but some of it reads, “LIIII QUESTA TA ATTA FRE FRATE GIOVANNI DA.” In the wing to our left, a balding, bearded man wearing a brown cloak over a black robe stands facing our right almost in profile. His pale skin has a dark, ash-gray cast. The hood of the black robe lies across his shoulders. He holds a wooden crutch with a curved top in the hand closer to us, and holds up his other hand with his palm facing us, fingers slightly curled in. A halo around his head is incised into the gold background and is filled with letters reading, “SaS ANTONIVS O VIENA.” Nearly lost against his dark robes, a black boar or pig stands near his feet. The floor here and in the right panel have a brocade-like pattern with three-lobed, gold designs against a field of brick red. The right wing is filled by a blond, cleanshaven young man standing facing our left as he looks toward Mary and Jesus in the center. He wears a long orange tunic decorated with blue flowers, and has a peacock-blue cloak and matching boots. Flags patterned with gold against black or red backgrounds flutter from a staff he holds with his right hand, farther from us. His other hand rests on the gold belt at his waist. His inscribed halo reads, “SCS. VENANCIVS MRTIRI.” The three panels are separated by spiraling gold columns and topped with triangular gables. The gables are filled with stylized leaves and animals in muted shades of brown against a black background. Near the pointed tops of the panels, the side wings have three-lobed shapes filled with a winged angel on the left and a person with a halo holding a hand to the chest on the right. The central gable has a four-lobed shape showing a man hanging on a cross.
Puccio di Simone, Allegretto Nuzi, Saint Venantius [right panel], 1354, tempera on panel, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.6.c

Saint Venantius [right panel]

Puccio di Simone, Allegretto Nuzi · 1354 · tempera on panel ·  Accession ID  1937.1.6.c

A man with thick, tousled gray hair and a long beard squared off at the bottom bows his head toward us in this vertical painting. His head and chest nearly fill the canvas against a background that lightens from black in the upper left corner to muted, amber brown in the upper right. Against the surrounding darkness, light falls across the peach-colored flesh of his forehead, right cheek, and nose. His heavy gray brows are drawn together, and they cast shadows over his deep-set eyes. The dark irises moving to our right are just visible. Loose brushstrokes sketch short, gray curls, a few of them streaked with white, covering the top of his head. One gray lock falling down his right temple curls up and out. Gray and tan strokes define individual curling strands of his beard and moustache. His chestnut-brown garment blends into the dark background.
Anonymous Artist, Study of an Old Man, probably late 17th century, oil on panel, Widener Collection, 1942.9.63

Study of an Old Man

Anonymous Artist · probably late 17th century · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1942.9.63

This painting depicts a seated woman looking off to the left, resting her head on her right hand, our left, with her elbow on an abstract green surface. She has a fair complexion, a long nose, pale eyebrows, pale lips in a neutral expression, and reddish-brown hair styled up with a blue clip. She is wearing a pale mauve dress and shawl with a deep neckline, blue-green ribbon details, and puffed sleeves. A thin black belt is tied around her waist and there is a silver bracelet on her forearm. The background is painted in soft shades of blue and green, with a few highlights of pale yellow. An inscription in gold lettering in the top left corner identifies her as "Annetta D. of Edward Coke, wife of Lewis Cage of Milgate Kent."
Sir Joshua Reynolds, Annetta Coke, 1758, oil on canvas, Corcoran Collection (William A. Clark Collection, 1926), 2015.19.45

Annetta Coke

Sir Joshua Reynolds · 1758 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  2015.19.45

Bibliography

1929

  • "Obituary, Walter Dowdeswell." Art News 28 (November 2, 1929):14

  • "Dowdeswell." Cicerone XXI (1929):694-5.