Piero Tozzi

Italian, 1882 - 1974

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About twenty colorfully dressed people fill a long room behind an old man and young woman standing before a bishop in this horizontal painting. All the people have pale or ash-white skin, and their clothing is in shades of golden yellow, raspberry pink, pumpkin orange, teal, sea blue, or pea green. The men wear tunics and leggings or robes, and some have turbans or feathered hats. The women wear gowns and white or sheer head scarves. The man at the center of the composition, the bishop, wears a pearl-white robe and conical mitre hat. His white hair falls past his shoulders, and he has a long, curly beard. A balding, bearded man and young woman with honey-blond hair stand in front of him. Each has traces of gold halos around their heads. They face each other, and each reaches out one hand, which the bishop in turn holds. The groups of men to our left and women to our right look in all directions, though few look at the couple at the center. An older woman at the rightmost edge of the group stands out. Her gray-toned face is lined, and she wears a black robe. Her eyes are screwed shut, her mouth downturned, and she holds up one hand, palm out. One man in the group to our left plays a lute and others break sticks. More broken sticks are strewn on the ground around the men. The walls of the room are pale lavender or plum purple.
Luca Signorelli, The Marriage of the Virgin, c. 1490/1491, tempera on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1961.9.39

The Marriage of the Virgin

Luca Signorelli · c. 1490/1491 · tempera on panel ·  Accession ID  1961.9.39

Separated by a vertical, column-like partition, a woman to our right kneels opposite a winged angel to our left, who also kneels and holds the stem of a long white lily propped against one shoulder in this horizontal painting. The upper corners are curved, suggesting the panel was set in an arched frame. Both people have pale, peachy skin with a yellow cast, delicate facial features, and starburst-like gold halos hovering over blond, curly hair. To our left, the angel faces our right in profile, one hand held to the chest as the other, resting on the raised knee, holds the stem of the lily. The angel wears a voluminous, lavender-purple robe tied in pleats at the waist with a gold cord. The neckline is marigold orange, and the cuffs and hem are edged with gold. The wings emerging from the shoulder blades are made of rounded, gold and blue feathers like the eyes of peacock feathers. A white dove hovers above the angel’s head and gold rays extend toward the woman, to our right. The woman kneels, facing our left in profile, her head bowed. A gauzy white head covering is tied around her hair. She holds the sides of her deep blue robe at her chest, over a coral-red dress. The hem of the blue robe is edged with gold lettering resembling writing. She clutches a small, thick book with a teal-blue cover and gold edges in one hand at her chest. The angel and woman are separated by a slate-gray, column or partition, and the room behind each person is slightly different. The angel is set in a room with stone-gray walls with a doorway on the back wall, and rectangular openings on the wall to our left. The salmon-pink floor spans both rooms, but is banded with gray along the bottom edge of the painting to our right. The woman is in a room with a bench and shelves holding a thick book and a pink flower in a glass vase. A darkened doorway opens, presumably into another room, opposite us. A curtain hangs down along the partition in front of the angel, perhaps indicating that a window separates them. The rays emanating from the dove also disappear behind the partition to reemerge on the other side, suggesting a window.
Fra Filippo Lippi, The Annunciation, c. 1435/1440, tempera on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1943.4.35

The Annunciation

Fra Filippo Lippi · c. 1435/1440 · tempera on panel ·  Accession ID  1943.4.35

Giovanni Francesco Susini, The Young Saint John the Baptist, c. 1610/1630, Carrara marble, Patrons' Permanent Fund, 2005.109.1

The Young Saint John the Baptist

Giovanni Francesco Susini · c. 1610/1630 · Carrara marble ·  Accession ID  2005.109.1

Italian 19th Century, Italian 20th Century, Hercules Slaying Lichas, 19th/20th century, bronze, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. William B. Jaffe, 1974.8.1

Hercules Slaying Lichas

Italian 19th Century, Italian 20th Century · 19th/20th century · bronze ·  Accession ID  1974.8.1