Provenance

Mrs. Lillian S. Timken

American, 1881 - 1959

Explore Selected Works

See all 62 works of art
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Saint Peter

Anonymous Artist · after 1660 · oil on wood ·  Accession ID  1960.6.11.a

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Saint James

Anonymous Artist · after 1660 · oil on wood ·  Accession ID  1960.6.11.h

Three apples and two pears sit next to a knife and a luminous, white mug on a tan, stone surface before a muted, olive-green background in this horizontal still life painting. The objects and background are painted with blended strokes, giving the painting a soft, glowing appearance. At the center of the ledge or table, the apples are dappled with candy red and pale yellow. Two golden and moss-green pears are to our left, one upright and the other lying with its stem coming toward us. The fruit is painted with white highlights from a light source to our left. The cream-white mug sits next to the apples to our right. The mug has straight sides, a low band near the top and bottom, and the handle curves out to our right. Between the apples and mug, the black handle of a knife angles to our right, off the edge of the table. Shadows are painted in brick red on the surface of the table, which extends off both sides of the canvas. There is a vertical seam in the table under the upright pear.
Jean Siméon Chardin, Still Life with a White Mug, c. 1764, oil on canvas, Gift of the W. Averell Harriman Foundation in memory of Marie N. Harriman, 1972.9.6

Still Life with a White Mug

Jean Siméon Chardin · c. 1764 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1972.9.6

Anonymous Artist, Barbara Villiers, Duchess of Cleveland, c. 1661-1665, oil on canvas, Timken Collection, 1960.6.26

Barbara Villiers, Duchess of Cleveland

Anonymous Artist · c. 1661-1665 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1960.6.26

Shown from the waist up, a pale-skinned young girl sits next to a table with two small brown birds in this vertical, oval-shaped portrait. The girl’s body is angled to our right, and she looks down her cheeks at the birds. Her heavy lids are pale purple, and she has a delicate nose, full, red lips, and a round chin. Her brown hair is parted down the middle and pulled back under a white band. Her white gown is loose over her chest, exposing both round breasts and pale nipples. She holds the cloth to each side of her left breast, farther from us. A bird at the edge of the table leans forward toward the girl. The second bird pokes its head out of a box-like cage and looks up, beak open. The table has a mauve-purple top over a carved gold apron and leg. The girl’s chair has a nut-shaped finial on one rail, and the background is dark gray.
Anonymous Artist, Girl with Birds, c. 1780/1782, oil on canvas, Timken Collection, 1960.6.19

Girl with Birds

Anonymous Artist · c. 1780/1782 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1960.6.19

Portuguese 15th Century, St. Dionysius, c. 1475/1500, oil on panel, Timken Collection, 1960.6.30.1

St. Dionysius

Portuguese 15th Century · c. 1475/1500 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1960.6.30.1

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Saint Andrew

Anonymous Artist · after 1660 · oil on wood ·  Accession ID  1960.6.11.d

Shown from the waist up, an elderly man with pale, peachy skin, wavy, silvery-gray hair, and a long beard stands facing our right, almost filling this vertical painting. He wears a butterscotch-gold robe and clutches two large skeleton keys the length of his forearm in his right hand while his other fist rests at his waist. One key is iron gray and the other is copper colored. The man’s balding, high forehead slopes down to thick black brows arching over deep-set, hazel eyes that gaze upward. He has a long nose, pale pink mouth, and hollows under his high cheekbones. He is brightly lit from the upper left against an ink-black background. The strong light creates shadows in the folds of his garment and on his craggy features.
Anonymous Artist, Saint Peter, c. 1616/1618, oil on panel, Timken Collection, 1960.6.32

Saint Peter

Anonymous Artist · c. 1616/1618 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1960.6.32

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Shepherd and Sheep

Georgia Timken Fry · early 20th century · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1960.6.18

In a deeply shadowed room, two women and several children are gathered at the center of this wide, oval painting, looking toward a young man and donkey who peer in over a half-door to our left. The people all have light skin, and all of the children have blond hair. Light coming into the darkened room falls on a young woman holding a baby at the center of the composition. The woman sits facing our left in profile, looking at or toward the baby with brown eyes and parted lips. She has a long, straight nose, flushed cheeks, and her brown hair is pulled back into a bun at the back of her head. She wears a low-cut, ivory-white bodice with puffy sleeves, a black sash tied around her waist, and a voluminous crimson-red skirt. She props the baby so the child stands braced on chubby legs against her lap as the woman supports the torso and backside. One of the baby’s hands reaches for the woman’s neck and the other for her forehead as the head twists back to look to our left. The child wears a white garment. Two more children rest near the woman, with one leaning back against the woman’s shins and the other sitting with a white dog at the woman’s side, closer to us. Both children wear brown, white, and teal blue. Behind this group, another woman, seen mostly silhouetted against the shadows, reaches back and braces another child who seems to sit on a box or chest. The fifth and final child stands at the head of the donkey who peeks in over the half-door to our left. Above the donkey, a young, cleanshaven man wearing a wide-brimmed hat and baggy coat leans into the room and looks toward the central woman, a smile on his lips. His features are cast into shadow by the light coming in behind him but he has dark hair and dark eyes. The room beyond the women and children is draped with a gray cloth, as if hung over a low beam. The upper regions of the room are swallowed in shadow.
Jean Honoré Fragonard, The Happy Family, c. 1775, oil on canvas, Timken Collection, 1960.6.12

The Happy Family

Jean Honoré Fragonard · c. 1775 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1960.6.12

Bibliography

1949

  • "W.R. Timken, Made Roller Bearings." The New York Times (13 June 1949): 19 [obituary].

1959

  • "Two Museums to Get Mrs. Timken's Art." The New York Times (27 October 1959): 39.

  • "Wealthy Widow Found Dead Here." The New York Times (25 October 1959): 70 [obituary].