Provenance

Sir George Lindsay Holford

1860 - 1926

Explore Selected Works

An armored man riding a white horse cuts his scarlet-red cloak in half using his sword in this loosely painted, vertical panel. The horse walks angled to our left, and a kneeling, bare chested person to the right holds both hands up and grips the other end of the cloak. A woman, a bearded, bald man, child, and baby are clustered behind the kneeling man. The baby sleeps in the woman’s arms, but she and the other child look up at the man on horseback, Saint Martin. The end of a staff or crutch and a shallow wooden bowl are by the kneeling person’s feet. Saint Martin’s silver armor gleams with gold decoration. He and all the others have pale, peach-toned skin. Saint Martin has chin-length, curly brown hair and wears a red cap with a white feather. Two more people on horseback are behind Saint Martin, and the trio rides under an arch twined with some brown vines. A church is visible in the distance through the arch.
Jan Boeckhorst, Saint Martin Dividing His Cloak, c. 1640/1645, oil on panel, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection, 1970.17.107

Saint Martin Dividing His Cloak

Jan Boeckhorst · c. 1640/1645 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1970.17.107

Stefano Della Bella, Two Camel Heads [recto], probably 1649, etching with revisions in black chalk and brown wash on laid paper, Andrew W. Mellon Fund, 1977.15.1.a

Two Camel Heads [recto]

Stefano Della Bella · probably 1649 · etching with revisions in black chalk and brown wash on laid paper ·  Accession ID  1977.15.1.a

Stefano Della Bella, The Flight into Egypt [verso], pen and brown ink with graphite on laid paper, Andrew W. Mellon Fund, 1977.15.1.b

The Flight into Egypt [verso]

Stefano Della Bella · · pen and brown ink with graphite on laid paper ·  Accession ID  1977.15.1.b

A pale-skinned woman sits on a red velvet chair, which is almost entirely hidden by her voluminous, dark emerald-green and gold gown, in this vertical portrait painting. The woman sits in the center of a shadowed, cavernous space, and her body and dress nearly fill the composition. Her body is turned slightly to our right, and she looks at us from the corners of her large, dark eyes. She has a round face, slightly flushed cheeks, and her full, rose-pink lips are closed. Her tawny-brown hair is pulled back under a headband that glints silver over her right ear, to our left. A goldenrod-yellow flower is tucked into her hair near that spot. Her tall, gossamer lace ruff collar is pleated into figure-eights, and it spans the width of her shoulders. Dots of white paint suggest detailing along the pleated edges. The fabric of her gown is so dark green that it appears black in some places, and it is decorated with bands of gold embroidery down the front of the bodice and full skirt, and around the bottom hem. A cape-like garment splits over long, puffy sleeves, which end with pleated, fog-gray fabric at the wrist. The cape and sleeves are densely ornamented with vegetal designs in glimmering gold. She rests her left elbow, on our right, on the arm of her chair so her hand rests palm up, near her waist. The other hand hangs off the end of the other arm of the chair, which is covered by her sleeve. A closed, black and gold fan hangs on a gold chain near that hand. Her skirt brushes the carpet, which is patterned with floral designs in ruby red, mustard yellow, and charcoal gray. The only parts of the chair that we see are a gold orb finial over her right shoulder, to our left, and the velvet-covered arm of the chair on the opposite side. Above the woman to our right hangs the edge of a muted gold curtain. The woman is lit from behind us, and the space around her is largely swallowed in shadow. Another curtain is lifted in the room behind her. Through it, we look out onto a landscape with a stone tower and buildings under a sky swirled with parchment brown, steel gray, and a sweep of brick red.
Sir Anthony van Dyck, Marchesa Balbi, c. 1623, oil on canvas, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.49

Marchesa Balbi

Sir Anthony van Dyck · c. 1623 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1937.1.49

A rutted, dirt road curves from the bottom center of the canvas toward and behind a grove of tall trees to our left, beneath a pale blue sky with fluffy white clouds that fills the top two-thirds of this horizontal landscape painting. The broad, green canopies of the trees to our left create deep shade over twisting trunks, shrubs, and grasses. A narrow stream meandering alongside the road to our left reflects the moss, pine, and sage greens of the leaves. The land rises in a sloping bank to our right, and leads back to open fields with hedgerows that stretch to the horizon. Shorter, more spindly trees cluster along the bank in the distance. Tiny in scale, people are sprinkled throughout the landscape, either singly or in small groups. In the shade of the grove to our left, a man with dark pantaloons, a brown hat and coat, and a walking stick strolls along the road with a woman wearing a red skirt, a dark shirt, and a white apron and cap. Just off the curve of the road to our right, another man with a walking stick, tan hat, and dark gray pantaloons talks to a woman also wearing red, black, and white. Another person, slightly smaller in stature, stands between them. At a pond farther back from this trio, a man with a broad-brimmed hat sits fishing at the edge of the water. Barely visible, a house with a pitched roof, a tall, brick-red chimney, and a white picket fence peeks out from behind the trees beyond the pond. Finally, a man wearing a rust-orange coat, gray pantaloons with white stockings, and a tall hat, carrying a pole propped on his shoulder, walks toward us on a footpath running alongside the fields. Tall, cream-white clouds dot the pale blue sky above, and tiny dots of dark paint suggest flying birds. Soft sunlight pours across the countryside. The artist signed and dated the painting in small script in the lower right corner: “meijndert Hobbema F 1663.”
Meindert Hobbema, A Wooded Landscape, 1663, oil on canvas, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.61

A Wooded Landscape

Meindert Hobbema · 1663 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1937.1.61

Shown from the knees up, a pale-skinned, bearded man dressed in black gazes at us in this vertical portrait painting. His body is angled to our left, and he looks at us from the corners of his hazel eyes under thick brows. He has close-cut, dark brown hair, a short nose, a trimmed beard, and a bushy moustache over pale pink lips, which are closed. He wears a voluminous velvet-black cloak trimmed with sable-brown fur, and his far arm rests on a stone ledge under a window. The face of the ledge is carved in relief with leaves. The man’s other arm hangs by his side, and he holds a brown glove in that hand. A celery-green drapery behind him fills the right half of the background. A short span of wall leads to a window to the left, through which a deep landscape is painted in tones of tan, gold, and bronze brown. Hills, a fence, stairs, what might be aqueducts, and a castle-like complex are nestled against tall hills under a white sky shaded with light tan clouds.
Jacopo Tintoretto, Maarten de Vos, Portrait of a Man with a Landscape View, 1552/1556, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Collection, 1943.7.10

Portrait of a Man with a Landscape View

Jacopo Tintoretto, Maarten de Vos · 1552/1556 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1943.7.10

Master of the Medici Banquet Decanters, A Wine Decanter with Lions and Putti, 1650/1670, pen and brown ink with blue wash over graphite on light beige laid paper, Wolfgang Ratjen Collection, Purchased as the Gift of Helen Porter and James T. Dyke, 2007.111.61

A Wine Decanter with Lions and Putti

Master of the Medici Banquet Decanters · 1650/1670 · pen and brown ink with blue wash over graphite on light beige laid paper ·  Accession ID  2007.111.61

Master of the Medici Banquet Decanters, A Wine Decanter with Two Fighting Sea Horses, 1650/1670, pen and brown ink with blue wash over graphite on light beige laid paper, Wolfgang Ratjen Collection, Purchased as the Gift of Vincent and Linda Buonanno, 2007.111.62

A Wine Decanter with Two Fighting Sea Horses

Master of the Medici Banquet Decanters · 1650/1670 · pen and brown ink with blue wash over graphite on light beige laid paper ·  Accession ID  2007.111.62

Bibliography

1988

  • Sebag-Montefiore, Charles. "Three Lost Collections of London." National Art Collections Fund Magazine 38 (Christmas 1988): 55+