Joseph E. Widener

Widener, Joseph Early

American, 1871 - 1943

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Pseudo Antonio da Brescia, Sleeping Cupid, early 16th century, bronze, Widener Collection, 1942.9.186

Sleeping Cupid

Pseudo Antonio da Brescia · early 16th century · bronze ·  Accession ID  1942.9.186

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Orlando Furioso (volume II)

Francesco Bartolozzi, Nicolas Delaunay, Emmanuel Jean Nepomucène de Ghendt, Jean-Baptiste Blaise Simonet, Various Artists, Lodovico Ariosto · published 1773 · 1 vol: ill: etchings and engravings ·  Accession ID  1942.9.1215

Chinese Qing Dynasty, Amphora Vase, Kangxi period, 1662/1722, porcelain with peachbloom glaze, Widener Collection, 1942.9.520

Amphora Vase

Chinese Qing Dynasty · Kangxi period, 1662/1722 · porcelain with peachbloom glaze ·  Accession ID  1942.9.520

Deruta 16th Century, Large dish with segmental border of plant sprays and scale pattern; in the center, an emblematic female figure holding a crowned toad and cornucopia, c. 1510/1540, tin-glazed earthenware (maiolica), Widener Collection, 1942.9.317

Large dish with segmental border of plant sprays and scale pattern; in the center, an emblematic female figure holding a crowned toad and cornucopia

Deruta 16th Century · c. 1510/1540 · tin-glazed earthenware (maiolica) ·  Accession ID  1942.9.317

A man wearing a cloak tied around his body kneels with his hands together at the foot of a crucifix, set against a rocky outcropping on this stone panel. The scene is shallowly carved in low relief from pale, apricot-peach marble. Both the kneeling man, Saint Jerome, and the man hanging on the cross have raised, disk-like halos. Slightly right of center, the kneeling man looks up at the cross from under heavy brows. He has hollow cheekbones and short hair. His robe is tied over his shoulders and falls across his hips, but his feet and slender arms are bare. The man on the cross is smaller in scale, less than half the size of Saint Jerome. He hangs heavily from his hands, which are nailed into the cross, and his head falls forward. He is nude except for a loincloth across his hips. A rocky, hut-like form fills the space behind Saint Jerome. A few details are lightly carved so are visible only on closer inspection. These include a smaller cross along the left edge of the panel and a skull at the base of the crucifix. Between the crucifix and rocky structure, a male and female lion run toward Saint Jerome, mouths open. In the space between Saint Jerome and the right edge of the panel, another person is lightly carved into the background. He runs to our right while looking back over one shoulder, perhaps at the lions. One hand is flung high, his mouth wide open, and his hair stands on end. His voluminous robe flutters around his body. Beyond him, triangular trees recede into the distance under a cloud-streaked sky.
Desiderio da Settignano, Saint Jerome in the Desert, c. 1461, marble, Widener Collection, 1942.9.113

Saint Jerome in the Desert

Desiderio da Settignano · c. 1461 · marble ·  Accession ID  1942.9.113

Louis-Marin Bonnet, Le Bain, color stipple, Widener Collection, 1942.9.2387

Le Bain

Louis-Marin Bonnet · · color stipple ·  Accession ID  1942.9.2387

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Il Decamerone ... (volume V)

Giovanni Boccaccio, Various Artists · published 1757 · 1 vol: ill: etchings & engravings by Aliamet, Choffard, Lempereur, Pasquier, St.Aubin, Le Mire, Tardieu, Flipart, Legrand, Moitte, and Ouvrier after Gravelot, Boucher, and Eisen ·  Accession ID  1942.9.1433

Shown from the knees up, a pale-skinned man wearing armor stands with his body facing our left in profile but he turns his head to look up and over our right shoulder in front of a distant, gray landscape in this vertical portrait painting. He looks into the distance with brown eyes under dark, arched eyebrows. Chestnut-brown hair flows around his ears and to the back of his neck. His straight nose is slightly hooked at the end, and his pink lips are closed under a wispy mustache. He has plump, lightly flushed cheeks, and sagging jowls lead to a double chin. Light from our left glints off the suit of armor that covers his arms and round belly. He stands with his left hand, closer to us, resting on the hilt of a sword hanging at his side so his elbow points toward us. His other hand rests on the top of a cane. A leather strap crosses his chest, and a thin layer of lace encircles his neck. A ruby-red sash is tied around his upper left arm in a bow and billows around and behind him. The landscape beyond has a dark blue sky with charcoal-gray clouds above a low, sunlit horizon. The painting is inscribed with dark capital letters in the upper right corner: “MDV RAPHAEL RACIVS. H REIP. TRIREMIVM PRAEFE.”
Sir Anthony van Dyck, The Prefect Raffaele Raggi, c. 1625, oil on canvas, Widener Collection, 1942.9.90

The Prefect Raffaele Raggi

Sir Anthony van Dyck · c. 1625 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1942.9.90

Bernard Vanrisamburgh II, Work and Writing Table (table en chiffonnière), c. 1750/1760, veneered partly on oak and partly on pine with tulipwood, purplewood, crosscut kingwood, and casuarina; gilded bronze mounts, Widener Collection, 1942.9.420

Work and Writing Table (table en chiffonnière)

Bernard Vanrisamburgh II · c. 1750/1760 · veneered partly on oak and partly on pine with tulipwood, purplewood, crosscut kingwood, and casuarina; gilded bronze mounts ·  Accession ID  1942.9.420

Alfred André, Pendant with Europa and the Bull, 1870/1890, baroque pearl; gold enameled in white, black, dark green, pale blue, translucent red, green, yellow, and blue; 22 colorless stones (sapphires, diamonds), 1 blue sapphire, 19 red stones (rubies, glass), 6 pearls, Widener Collection, 1942.9.304

Pendant with Europa and the Bull

Alfred André · 1870/1890 · baroque pearl; gold enameled in white, black, dark green, pale blue, translucent red, green, yellow, and blue; 22 colorless stones (sapphires, diamonds), 1 blue sapphire, 19 red stones (rubies, glass), 6 pearls ·  Accession ID  1942.9.304

Bibliography

1940

  • Widener, P.A.B. Without Drums. New York, 1940.

1943

  • The New York Times (27 October 1943): 23:1 [obituary].

1973

  • Finley, David. A Standard of Excellence. Washington, 1973.

1974

  • Walker, John. Self-Portrait with Donors. Boston, 1974.

2002

  • Quodbach, Esmé. "'The last of the American Versailles': the Widener Collection at Lynnewood Hall." Simiolus 29, no. 1/2 (2002): 42-96.

2003

  • Minty, Nancy T. Dutch and Flemish Seventeeth-Century Art in America, 1800-1940: Collections, Connoisseurship and Perceptions. Ph.D. diss, New York University, 2003:172-194, 444-494