Provenance

Grand Duke Georg II Saxe-Meiningen

German, 1826 - 1914

Explore Selected Works

A person holding a flag, Saint Ursula, stands in front of a cloth held up by two winged angels as a fourth person, much smaller in scale, kneels in the lower right corner in this vertical painting. All the people have pale skin. Saint Ursula and the angels have blond hair, rosy cheeks, delicate features, flat gold halos, and they wear leaf-green garments. Saint Ursula stands with her body facing us but she turns to look off to our right and slightly down. A raspberry-red cloak lined with white, perhaps fur, is draped across her shoulders. She holds a bunch of that fabric with her left hand, to our right, and holds the staff with a white standard marked with a red cross with her other. Text around her halo reads, “SANCTA VREVLA VIRGO.” The angels above have red wings and the word “ANGELVS” appears in each halo. The fabric they hold up is forest-green decorated with gold, foliate designs, and the space behind them is lined with thin white clouds against a vivid blue sky. Near the lower right corner of the composition, a person about a half the size of Saint Ursula kneels and wears a dark gray head covering, white cloth covering her chin and neck, and a grayish-brown robe. She faces our left in profile and presses her hands together in prayer. The floor below is loosely swirled with light brown, pink, and blue. Text painted in tiny black letters near the kneeling woman reads, “Suora Ginevera.”
Benozzo Gozzoli, Saint Ursula with Two Angels and Donor, c. 1455/1460, tempera on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1939.1.265

Saint Ursula with Two Angels and Donor

Benozzo Gozzoli · c. 1455/1460 · tempera on panel ·  Accession ID  1939.1.265

A winged angel, a woman, and a baby are gathered on a terrace that overlooks a softly lit landscape in this vertical painting. The people all have parchment-white skin tinged faintly with green, delicate gold halos, and they are close to us. The baby is round and plump, and faces us as he lies on his side on a carpet of pine-green grass dotted with small white and pink flowers. A band of caramel brown spans the lower edge of the painting. Propped up on one elbow, the baby turns his blond head to look at the woman kneeling beside him to our right. The woman, Mary, towers over the baby with her body angled slightly to our left. A midnight-blue cloak trimmed in gold is wrapped around her coral-red gown. The fingertips of her raised hands lightly touch as she bows her head and lowers her brown eyes to look at the child. A transparent white veil drapes over her blond hair. To our left, the angel also kneels and looks down at the baby with arms crossed over the chest. The angel has curly, copper-red hair and wears a carnation-pink robe over a transparent chemise. Semi-transparent, bronze-colored wings nearly disappear into the background. Just beyond the trio, a low balustrade with an opening near Mary encloses the space. A colonnade with arched openings extends into the distance to our left, behind the angel. A flat, olive-green wall rises the height of the painting behind Mary. Between them, the landscape is carpeted with moss and celery-green grass, and dotted with trees. A river winds toward slate-gray hills in the deep distance.
Filippino Lippi, The Adoration of the Child, c. 1475/1480, oil on poplar panel, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.18

The Adoration of the Child

Filippino Lippi · c. 1475/1480 · oil on poplar panel ·  Accession ID  1937.1.18