Kaufman Americana Foundation

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Shown from the shoulders up, a bearded man with wrinkles lining his pale-skinned face looks up and to our left, toward a bright light source, in this vertical portrait painting. His shoulders are angled to our left, and he tips his head slightly back so his face turns toward us. He looks up from the corners of his gray eyes under bushy brows. A soft gray cap, pushed back high over the crown of his head, frames his face over a few tuffs of charcoal-gray hair on his high forehead. His brows are furrowed and his hollow cheeks ruddy. He has a silvery gray mustache, and his long, full beard falls to his chest. Lines have been incised in the gray and white paint of his beard to reveal an underlayer of rust orange. His slate-gray tunic is streaked with fawn brown to create highlights. The background is painted with blended strokes of leather brown and touches of golden orange, and it lightens around the man’s head.
Jan Lievens, Bearded Man with a Beret, c. 1630, oil on panel, Gift of George M. and Linda H. Kaufman, 2006.172.1

Bearded Man with a Beret

Jan Lievens · c. 1630 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  2006.172.1

We look across a body of calm water onto a wooden pier, rowboats, sailboats, and a town on the distant shore, all beneath a cloudy sky that takes up the top three-quarters of this horizontal landscape. The pier extends into the scene from the left edge, and stretches about a quarter of the way across the painting’s width. Three men and a woman, all with light skin, stand in a group near a fourth man, who sits on a piling at the front corner. They all wear charcoal-gray, muted blue, or fawn-brown clothing and hats. A rifle leans against the hip of one man, and another man looks out at the water, his back turned to the rest of the group. Three small boats are tied to the end of the dock. The one closest to us holds large containers, perhaps wrapped with rope. A fifth man bends over the far edge of the boat farthest from us. In another rowboat to our right, a man stands, another sits, and a third pulls on the oars. Four sailboats float into the distance down the center of the composition. To our right, the town along the far shore has closely spaced buildings with peaked roofs, a windmill, and a tall steeple, all painted with tones of peanut brown and tan. Light falls across the water from our left, casting the area closest to us in deep shadow. The surface of water is painted with tones of ivory and gray, matching the sky above. Light filters and streaks through ash-gray clouds across most of the sky. The clouds part to reveal a patch of pale blue at the upper left corner.
Aelbert Cuyp, A Pier Overlooking Dordrecht, early 1640s, oil on panel, Gift of George M. and Linda H. Kaufman, 2012.73.1

A Pier Overlooking Dordrecht

Aelbert Cuyp · early 1640s · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  2012.73.1

We look across a sunny waterway to the opposite bank, where a line of tall, leafy trees along the canal is backed by a row of red brick buildings and rowhouses with white stone trim in this horizontal landscape painting. The far bank angles from the lower left corner into the distance to our right, where it meets the horizon line near the right edge of the panel, about a fifth of the way up the composition. The water in front of us ripples gently, reflecting the white clouds, pale blue sky, low barges or boats tied up along the edge of both sides of the canal, and the moss green of the trees. Tiny in scale, a few people walk and work under the trees along the far bank. The building closest to us, to our left, has a stepped roofline and a lantern-shaped cupola. The gray spire of a church rises above the trees farther down the canal, and more red brick buildings are visible in the gaps between the tree trunks. People and a horse cross a low, arched bridge spanning the canal in the distance to our right. The artist signed the painting as if he had inscribed his initials as a monogram on the boat closest to us to our right, “IVH.”
Jan van der Heyden, View Down a Dutch Canal, c. 1670, oil on panel, Gift of George M. and Linda H. Kaufman, 2012.73.2

View Down a Dutch Canal

Jan van der Heyden · c. 1670 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  2012.73.2