Provenance

Galerie Heinemann

German

Explore Selected Works

Shown from the lap up, a young woman sits facing us as she cradles a plump baby in her lap in this square painting. They both have pale, peachy skin and blond hair. They are softly lit from the upper left, and the background behind them is inky black. A sea-blue cloth drapes over the woman’s head and across her shoulders. Its top edge is rolled back slightly, revealing tendrils of long, wavy hair framing her face. A thin gold line creates a delicate halo around head. Her scarlet-red gown is gathered and belted high above the waist. A cobalt-blue mantle lined with pumpkin orange drapes down over her shoulders, the arm of her chair, and her lap. She tilts her head slightly to our left, and lowers her eyes to gaze at or toward the child. She holds his torso with her right hand, to our left, and rests her other hand across his ankles. The child wears a dove-gray tunic with rolled up sleeves. His short hair lies in flat swirls, and his chubby cheeks are tinged with pale pink. Clusters of short gold rays fan out from the top and sides of his head. He fingers the hem of his tunic with his left hand as he turns his upper body to his right, our left, to pluck a carnation with tan, spiky petals on a long, thin green stem with his other. This carnation and at least one other with a wine-red center is held in a wide, squat, cream-white vase decorated with fern-green scallops and leaves.
Bernardino Luini, The Madonna of the Carnation, c. 1515, oil on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1939.1.152

The Madonna of the Carnation

Bernardino Luini · c. 1515 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1939.1.152

Anders Zorn, Precipice, 1909, etching on Van Gelder laid paper, Rosenwald Collection, 1943.3.8850

Precipice

Anders Zorn · 1909 · etching on Van Gelder laid paper ·  Accession ID  1943.3.8850

Shown from the waist up and nearly filling the picture, a young woman with pale skin, dressed in a jewel-toned gown and cape, looks out at us in this vertical painting. Her shoulders are angled slightly to our right, and she tilts her head in that direction. Her pale cheeks are tinged with pink, and she gazes at us from the corners of large brown eyes under thin brows. A slender gold crown is looped with gleaming strands of pearls hung with red and dark green gems. It rests on her upswept auburn-brown hair, and a thin halo frames her head. She wears a bright, flame-red gown with voluminous sleeves and a pleated bodice. Sheer, white fabric covers her chest to create a V that reaches the squared neckline. An emerald-green cloak is loosely draped across the back of her shoulders and over the top of a spiked, wooden wheel on which she rests her hands. She wears a gold ring on the third finger of her left hand and holds a yellow palm frond in the other. Behind her, a burgundy-red cloth patterned with stylized, brighter red plants and flowers hangs in bunches and folds.
Lorenzo Lotto, Saint Catherine, 1522, oil on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1939.1.117

Saint Catherine

Lorenzo Lotto · 1522 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1939.1.117

A woman wearing a sheer white blouse, short red and gold vest, and full-legged, patterned pants cinched below the knee lies back and looks at us with hooded eyes in this horizontal painting. Her shoulders lean back against an oversized white pillow, up along the right edge of the composition. Her body tips toward us, and her knees are bent so her feet are together in the lower left corner. Her right arm rests along the side of her body, and she props herself up with her other arm. That hand has a gold band on the ring finger. Her light skin is tinged with green on her face. Her head rolls slightly away from us so she looks down her cheeks at us with slitted, dark eyes through heavily lined lids. She has dark brows, and her rose-red lips are parted. The angle of her head creates a slight double chin. Gold hoops with dangling fringe or chains hang from her ears, and she wears three strands of dark beads around her neck. Her black hair is plaited in a thick braid that comes down over her left shoulder, closer to us. A cap made of gold-colored disks and red fringe sits on the far side of her head. The woman’s clothing is more loosely painted. We may see her breasts and pink nipples through her sheer, silver-gray tunic, which has long, voluminous sleeves. The short, bolero-style vest is strawberry red and gold, with narrow cap sleeves. A sea-blue sash around her waist is striped with overlapping burnt-orange and black lines. Her pants have flaring legs gathered with a button just below her knees. The pattern is of sage-green circles with swipes of rust-red in the center, suggesting flowers and vines against a black background. Her knees are spread open so her feet can barely be contained within the composition. Her teal-green slip-on shoes have the suggestion of flowers painted with dabs of yellow, black, and red, and a pompom atop each toe box. A red and gold cushion sits just beyond her feet. On it is a tray of oranges and an emerald-green jug. The pillow the woman leans on is propped against a short section of wall or piece of furniture painted with a border of roses. The room opens up beyond this, and has a turquoise and brown rug leading back to a cranberry-red sofa, on which a gray piece of fabric has been draped. The wall above is patterned with yellow and green diamonds and pink flowers against a laurel-green background. The artist signed the lower left, “A. Renoir. 70.”
Auguste Renoir, Odalisque, 1870, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Collection, 1963.10.207

Odalisque

Auguste Renoir · 1870 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1963.10.207