Provenance

Christie's

Christie's, New York
Private Collection c/o Christie's New York
Christie's, London
Christie's Paris

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Wifredo Lam, L'Esprit veillant (The Watchful Spirit), 1944, oil on canvas, Patrons' Permanent Fund and Gift of Funds from Leonard A. Lauder, 2026.23.1

L'Esprit veillant (The Watchful Spirit)

Wifredo Lam · 1944 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  2026.23.1

In this painting, a woven basket on a stone ledge contains peaches, black grapes, green grapes, and wide green leaves. Peaches are placed prominently at the top of the pile, with grape clusters overflowing on either side. The green leaves and red-tinted grapevine leaves are scattered around. The gray stone surface is visible under the basket, and the background is black.
Louise Moillon, Still Life with a Basket of Peaches and Grapes, 1636, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Fund and Patrons' Permanent Fund, 2024.54.1

Still Life with a Basket of Peaches and Grapes

Louise Moillon · 1636 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  2024.54.1

Shown from the knees up, a seated woman and two winged, nude children gather at the center of this vertical painting. They all have pale, peachy skin. At the center of the composition, the woman, Venus, sits with her body angled slightly to our right as she turns her head back to our left, gazing into the distance with brown eyes under thick brows. She wears a jeweled headpiece over her upswept, honey-blond hair, and delicate ringlets frame her brow. Her cheeks are tinged with dusty rose-pink, and she has a long nose and a ruby-red, bow mouth. She wears an amber-yellow gown trimmed with white lace at the neckline. The short sleeve we can see is slashed to reveal cream-white fabric puffing out of the openings. A wide, gold chain inset with gleaming pale aquamarine-blue jewels the size of thumbprints drapes over her far shoulder and across her chest like a sash. She wears a pearl necklace and teardrop-shaped earrings, and more pearls and gems adorn the gold bracelets on her wrists. One child, in the lower right corner of the painting, stands in front of her with his back to us. He holds an arrow in his left hand, which he rests on the chocolate-brown cloth draped across Venus’s lap. He turns head to the right, and his face is partially obscured by one of his small, charcoal-gray and cream-white wings. Venus holds two ends of an off-white cloth tied around his head as a blindfold. Just beyond him is another person, visible from the hip up, who fills the height of the composition but is mostly cropped by the right edge. We see the left arm, shoulder, and edge of the hip as they stand with their back to us. The arm we can see is raised to hold what appears to be a metal bowl. On Venus’s opposite side, to our left, the second winged child stands on the ledge on which Venus sits. He leans one hand and his chin on Venus’s shoulder and gazes off to our right. He has chestnut-brown hair and eyes, and a round nose in a pudgy face. Loosely painted cranberry-red drapery hangs from the upper left corner and falls in cascading folds behind him. An azure-blue sky with tan clouds is visible beyond the drapes.
Italian 16th Century, Anonymous Artist, Venus Blindfolding Cupid, c. 1566/1570 or c. 1576/1580, oil on canvas, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952.2.12

Venus Blindfolding Cupid

Italian 16th Century, Anonymous Artist · c. 1566/1570 or c. 1576/1580 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1952.2.12

A nude man and woman, both with pale, luminous skin, recline together under an apple tree in front of a deep landscape in this horizontal painting. Their bodies entwined, Adam and Eve gaze into each other’s eyes. To our left, Adam’s muscular torso faces us as his slightly bent knees, resting along the ground, come toward us. He braces his upper body on his elbow, which rests on a low, mossy rock, and he holds a small green fruit in that hand. A sprig of rounded leaves covers his genitals. He has short, tousled, copper-brown hair, dark eyes, a straight nose, and his parted lips curl in a slight smile. A wispy, ginger-brown beard lines his jaw. He looks at Eve in profile as she leans against his chest. Her torso faces away from us, and her legs are tucked under her body, so their feet nearly touch. She lightly touches his chest with the fingertips of her left hand, and she holds up a small green and red apple in her other hand. A bite has been taken from the apple. Eve’s honey-brown hair is gathered at the back of her head, and she has dark eyes, a delicate nose, rosy, rounded cheeks, and full, coral-pink lips. In the lower left corner of the painting, a brown and white cat sits near Adam’s hip and looks out at us with gold-colored eyes. A tree rises behind the pair, along the left edge of the composition, and branches with oblong, sage-green leaves and red fruit frame the couple. Upon closer inspection, a snake winds around the trunk. The snake’s body is mustard yellow and dark teal, and it has a human face with flushed cheeks and blond hair. The snake’s face looms just above Eve’s head, and it looks at or toward us. To our right of Adam and Eve, the scene opens up onto a landscape with a grassy expanse leading back to rocky mountains in the distance. Closer to us and near the right edge of the painting, a goat with almond-colored fur stands facing away from us as it turns its head back to look at the people, munching a tuft of vegetation. The head of a black goat peeks in from the right edge, also looking toward the center of the painting. Tiny in scale, an elephant, two camels, and several other animals move through the landscape near the base of the mountain. A streak of ruby red appears in the otherwise hazy blue sky, near the snake’s head. The artist signed and dated the painting as if he had inscribed the rock on which Adam rests his elbow: “HG AE 1616,” with the HG conjoined to make a monogram.
Hendrick Goltzius, The Fall of Man, 1616, oil on canvas, Patrons' Permanent Fund, 1996.34.1

The Fall of Man

Hendrick Goltzius · 1616 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1996.34.1

This painting shows a landscape with castle-like structures on a green hill, with a group of people gathering in colorful clothing in the bottom left. The people are indistinct, painted in shades of red, brown, and blue, with no visible facial features. Two objects appear in the center of the groups of people: a low cream-colored object and a square brown object. One of the large buildings to the right of center appears to be under construction. Green trees are scattered across the ground and hills. Some of the green, building-lined hills on the left are separated from the rest of the land by strips of blue, as if they are surrounded by mist, or float in the sky.
Dosso Dossi, The Trojans Building the Temple to Venus and Making Offerings at Anchises's Grave in Sicily, c. 1520, oil on canvas, Purchased as the Gift of Anonymous, 2021.6.1

The Trojans Building the Temple to Venus and Making Offerings at Anchises's Grave in Sicily

Dosso Dossi · c. 1520 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  2021.6.1

From a rocky ledge, we look down into a valley between two humped mountains that run into the distance ahead of us in this horizontal landscape painting. The area closest to us has golden yellow and sage-green grasses on a ledge of ash-gray stone. The land drops away beyond the ledge, into a valley, which is also deep in shadow. The conical tops of a few evergreen trees poke up on the far side of the stone ledge. The flat, grassy area between the mountains is moss and olive green. The mountain to our left curves down as it moves away from us, and the long side facing us is sheer, cinnamon-brown stone. The ridge continues into the distance and comes to an end in an emerald-green meadow, which runs parallel to a band of pale blue water. The mountain to our right is entirely in shadow, but the bristly ridge suggests trees. The water meets the ice-blue sky about two-thirds of the way up the composition.
John La Farge, The Last Valley - Paradise Rocks, 1867-1868, oil on canvas, Gaillard F. Ravenel and Frances P. Smyth-Ravenel Fund, 2000.144.1

The Last Valley - Paradise Rocks

John La Farge · 1867-1868 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  2000.144.1

This painting features a large ornate vase overflowing with an arrangement of colorful flowers, including roses, peonies, and poppies. The color palette is vibrant and varied, with hues of red, pink, blue, purple, white, and green. Positioned in the center, the vase is adorned with gold embellishments, including a small carving of a person on its front. The vase stands on a marble surface that also holds a pineapple and peaches to the right. Several leaves and clusters of green grapes rest on the left side of the marble. The light source is at the upper left, illuminating the flowers and casting dark shadows behind them. The background of the painting is dark gray.
Anne Vallayer-Coster, Still Life with Flowers in an Alabaster Vase and Fruit, 1783, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Fund, 2023.40.1

Still Life with Flowers in an Alabaster Vase and Fruit

Anne Vallayer-Coster · 1783 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  2023.40.1

Ferdinand Bol, Portrait of a Woman, 1660s, oil on canvas, Gift of Miriam and Eliezer Benbassat, 2025.11.3

Portrait of a Woman

Ferdinand Bol · 1660s · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  2025.11.3

We are eye-level on a beach with half a dozen ships in view, sitting on the ground against a gray sky in this vertical landscape oil painting created with broad, unblended strokes. The horizon line is approximately a quarter of the way from the bottom of the painting, separating the damp sandy brown beach from the water and blue-gray sky. This landscape contains five grounded boats and one in the water. The closest boat to us is slightly off-center to the left. It is a sailboat with a light brown, tall pole supporting the sails that appears broken as it lies down on the dark brown hull. The boat is pointing towards our right. Behind this boat on the left is a very similar boat, but its mask is intact, and it is pointing towards us. Further back in our view are approximately two more boats, more indistinct but appear to be the same type as the closer boats. In the back of our view on the right of the painting, where the sand meets the water, there is a grounded brown boat with no mast. It is very small, and directly to its left, there are two indistinct people made of only a few brushstrokes. One step further behind this boat, in the water and on the horizon line, there is one more boat with its sails up that appears to be sailing almost out of the painting towards our right. Also on our right side of the painting, next to the closest boat, the beach has a puddle of water, which seems to indicate low tide. This puddle reflects the colors of the sky. The large body of water at the farthest view in the painting blends seamlessly into the sky, starting with a pale blue at the horizon line that darkens into a medium dark blue-gray as it moves towards the top of our view. The words E. Boudin are marked in the bottom left corner.
Eugène Boudin, Low Tide, Sailboats Run Aground, 1885-1890, oil on panel, Gift of Miriam and Eliezer Benbassat, 2025.11.8

Low Tide, Sailboats Run Aground

Eugène Boudin · 1885-1890 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  2025.11.8

The image shows a rustic interior with large objects, including a collection of ceramic pots, bowls, and raw vegetables like cabbages, carrots, and onions in the foreground. The color palette is earthy and warm, with browns, beiges, and muted greens. A table is on the left side of the image where several people are seated, while in the center, a man with his arm around a woman stands in front of a stone archway, surrounded by pottery on a wooden table. In the background, another figure can be seen through a doorway.
Jan Jansz van Buesem, Tavern Scene with Standing Couple, 1653 or later, oil on panel, Gift of Miriam and Eliezer Benbassat, 2025.11.4

Tavern Scene with Standing Couple

Jan Jansz van Buesem · 1653 or later · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  2025.11.4