Provenance

Hector Brame

Brame & Lorenceau
Private Collection c/o Mme. Sylvie Brame
Private Collection c/o Mr. F. Lorenceau

est. c. 1865

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See all 37 works of art
Clouds hunker over a water-logged street that separates us from the end of a row of buildings in this horizontal painting. The scene is loosely painted, especially in the sky and water. The lowest level of the building across from us is apricot orange. The second story is pale peach, and dormered windows cut into the gray and then brown rooflines above. The words “AS’ NICOLAS” are painted in gray near the top of the second level, and more letters on the level below are illegible. The roofline drops down a level where it meets the structure next to it, along the left edge of the canvas. Two women in long skirts stand at a darkened, open doorway near the front corner of the structure. A sign on the side of the building hangs from a horizontal arm over three men in and near a shallow boat, which is being propelled by a man who stands in the stern with a long stick. The street is so wet that it first appears to be a canal or river. It is only when we notice dashes of mauve, pale pink, and gray to our left that we realize the cobblestone road is flooded. A band of buildings with tan walls and black or red roofs spans the right two-thirds of the horizon, which comes about a quarter of the way up this composition. A grove of cinnamon-brown trees and some open structures could be a submerged park in the near distance. Two poles and some spindly trees to our right are reflected in the water. Dark forms around these areas could be more people. Pale blue and very pale pink whip together in the sky, suggesting churning clouds veiling the blue sky. The artist signed and dated the work in the lower left corner, “Sisley 72.”
Alfred Sisley, Flood at Port-Marly, 1872, oil on canvas, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1985.64.38

Flood at Port-Marly

Alfred Sisley · 1872 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1985.64.38

The sculpture depicts a horse in a walking stance. The figure is rendered in bronze. The surface is smooth with textured details. The proportions are life-like, with defined muscle tone and contours. The sculpture is mounted on a flat rectangular base.
Edgar Degas, Thoroughbred Horse Walking, Part of the Neck Missing, original wax early 1870s, cast c. 1920/1960s, copper alloy, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1999.79.39

Thoroughbred Horse Walking, Part of the Neck Missing

Edgar Degas · original wax early 1870s, cast c. 1920/1960s · copper alloy ·  Accession ID  1999.79.39

Three light-skinned girls hold hands to create a loose ring with their arms extended, in a grassy field in this horizontal painting. All three girls wear white headdresses, ankle-length, long-sleeved dresses, and clogs. Each dress has a wide white collar that extends beyond the shoulders. A ruby-red flower is pinned to the brown apron on the two girls whose fronts we see. Their features and clothing are outlined in cobalt blue and filled in with parallel, often visible strokes. To our left, a girl stands with both arms stretched out, one holding the hand of the girl next to her, to our right. The first girl looks off into the distance to our left with dark eyes. She has a button nose, and her peach-colored lips curve down at the corners. Her auburn-red hair is tucked back under her bonnet. Her dress is navy blue, and her stockings are brick red. She steps forward onto her right foot, to our left. The second girl, holding the first girls’ hand, stands facing our right in profile, looking slightly down. Her features are indistinct, but she also seems to have a snub nose and her pink lips are closed. She has blond hair and an emerald-green dress. Her hazelnut-brown stockings match her apron. She also steps forward, but onto her left foot. The third girl stands with her back to us, seen between the first two, as she looks over her shoulder to our right in profile. Her left arm is also raised but her right arm is hidden behind the second girl. The third girl has brown hair and a pointed nose. Her dress is black, and she steps forward onto her right foot. A small dog with brown and white speckled fur sniffs at the grass to our right of the girls. Piles of long grass or hay dot the lemon-lime green field, which dips down behind the girls and to our left to meet a low, stone gray wall. Buildings in plum purple, ivory white, terracotta orange, and ocean blue span the width of the painting beyond the wall. One narrow spire reaches above the other rooflines. Tall, narrow, dark green trees are interspersed among the buildings, and a hill climbs nearly to the top of the canvas to our left. A few thin slate-gray clouds float across a narrow band of shell-pink sky above. The artist signed and dated the work in lower right corner, “P. Gauguin 88.”
Paul Gauguin, Breton Girls Dancing, Pont-Aven, 1888, oil on canvas, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1983.1.19

Breton Girls Dancing, Pont-Aven

Paul Gauguin · 1888 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1983.1.19

We look slightly down onto a stage, at a woman who dances at the center of this square painting. The pale, white skin on her face is tinged with slate-blue shadows and heightened noticeably with pink blush at the cheekbones. She wears crimson-red lipstick and her dark brown eyebrows are peaked over blue eyes. Two flaring pink flowers, each about the size of the woman’s face, are pinned in the woman’s flame-red hair. The black bodice of her dress has puffed, elbow-length sleeves and a low-cut square neckline. The lime-green skirt flares around her dancing feet to billow up and reveal layers of bubblegum pink underneath. Her body is angled to our left as she points her left, black-stockinged foot and holds her arms by her sides. Behind her, thirteen people dressed in sapphire-blue, ocean-green, and black costumes suggest a royal court, including a dark-haired man who wears a brick-red bolero style suit. He stands near the woman to our right, watching her dance.
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Marcelle Lender Dancing the Bolero in "Chilpéric", 1895-1896, oil on canvas, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. John Hay Whitney, 1990.127.1

Marcelle Lender Dancing the Bolero in "Chilpéric"

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec · 1895-1896 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1990.127.1

A man sitting in a tall, upholstered armchair reads a newspaper in this vertical portrait painting. The man and the room in which he sits is loosely painted with bold, visible strokes throughout. He holds the paper close to his face, and the top edge falls over so we can read the title, “L’EVENEMENT.” He has a light, olive-toned complexion, and his white hair peeks from under a close-fitting black cap. He wears a high-necked white shirt under a chocolate-brown jacket, steel-gray trousers, white socks, and camel-brown shoes. The fabric on the chair is painted with broad brushstrokes to create a loose floral pattern on a white background. The man and chair are outlined in black. The man sits in the corner of a room with a closed door behind him to our right. Hanging on the wall over his head, and partially obscured by it, is a small, possibly unframed, still life painting with what could be kelly-green fruit and a royal-blue cup against a black background.
Paul Cezanne, The Artist's Father, Reading "L'Événement", 1866, oil on canvas, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1970.5.1

The Artist's Father, Reading "L'Événement"

Paul Cezanne · 1866 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1970.5.1

The sculpture depicts a horse in a raised stance on its hind legs, crafted from metallic material, possibly bronze. The color is warm brown with darker accents highlighting muscle texture. It is mounted on a flat base, with one hoof at the edge, suggesting motion. The detailed but slightly abstract form offers a lifelike representation of a horse's build and posture.
Edgar Degas, Horse Rearing, original wax 1880s, cast 1920/by 1964, copper alloy, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1999.79.38

Horse Rearing

Edgar Degas · original wax 1880s, cast 1920/by 1964 · copper alloy ·  Accession ID  1999.79.38

People walk or stand along a city street in front of buildings outlined in amethyst purple and hung with flags in this loosely painted, vertical composition. In the bottom quarter of the canvas, the people are painted with a few strokes of brown, pale blue, dark purple, or pale pink. Two four or five-story buildings fill most of the rest of the composition. Four flags flutter from flagpoles along a balcony or arcade on the central building. Two flags have blue crosses outlined in white against red backgrounds. One other is vertically striped with blue, white, and then red, and the fourth has a yellow cross on a blue background. The upper-story exterior walls of the buildings and the sky are mottled parchment white with a few touches of very pale pink or yellow. The artist signed the painting in the lower left corner, “Raoul Dufy 1906.”
Raoul Dufy, July 14 in Le Havre, 1906, oil on canvas, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1985.64.13

July 14 in Le Havre

Raoul Dufy · 1906 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1985.64.13

From low on a hillside, we look up at a light-skinned woman and boy standing in tall grass against a sunny blue sky in this vertical painting. The woman stands at the center of the composition, and the moss-green parasol she holds over her head almost brushes the top edge of the canvas. Her body faces our left but she turns her head to look at us. Her long dress is painted largely with strokes of pale blue and gray with a few touches of yellow. Her voluminous skirts swirl around her legs to our left. She holds the parasol with both hands, and her brown hair is covered with a hat. Long strokes of white paint across her face suggest a veil fluttering in the breeze. The tall grass she stands in is dotted with buttercup yellow and plum purple, and she casts a long diagonal shadow along the grass toward us. The young boy seems to stand on the other side of the hill, since the grass and flowers comes up to his waist. He wears a white jacket and pale yellow straw hat. His arms are by his sides, and he seems to look off into the distance to our left. A sunny blue sky behind the people is dotted with bright blue clouds. The painting is created with loose brushstrokes throughout, and they are especially choppy in the clouds. The artist signed and dated the painting in royal-blue letters at the lower right: “Claude Monet 75.”
Claude Monet, Woman with a Parasol - Madame Monet and Her Son, 1875, oil on canvas, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1983.1.29

Woman with a Parasol - Madame Monet and Her Son

Claude Monet · 1875 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1983.1.29

A young, nude girl is roughly modeled and cast with bronze-colored copper alloy in this free-standing sculpture. Her body is angled to our left in this photograph. Her weight rests on her left foot and her other leg extends long, the foot turned out at an angle. Her hands are clasped behind her back, and her round belly projects from her swayed hips. Her head is tipped back so her chin is lifted. Her eyes are closed, and her thin lips are set in a line. Light glints off the surface of the copper in some areas, especially on the cheek closer to us and the front of her shoulder. She stands on a rectangular base. The work is stamped on the top of the base in the front left corner, “Degas.”
Edgar Degas, Study in the Nude of Little Dancer Aged Fourteen (Nude Little Dancer), original wax c. 1878-1881, cast 1920/1926, copper alloy, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1985.64.67

Study in the Nude of Little Dancer Aged Fourteen (Nude Little Dancer)

Edgar Degas · original wax c. 1878-1881, cast 1920/1926 · copper alloy ·  Accession ID  1985.64.67

Two sailboats and a rowboat float on a glistening, azure-blue river spanned by a stone bridge to our right in this horizontal landscape painting. The scene is loosely painted with visible strokes and dashes throughout so some details are indistinct. An area of asparagus and moss-green dabs creates a patch of grassy riverbank in the lower right corner of the painting. The rippling, sun-dappled surface of the river is created with short parallel strokes of pale pink, caramel brown, white, sage green, and light blue. An empty sailboat, with its sails tightly furled or removed all together, floats near us to our left of center. It has a single tall, pale wood mast. A similar pole rises from the bottom edge of the picture, presumably the mast of another ship below us or out of our view. Farther out on the water and to our left is another sailboat with full white sails catching the sunlight. The final vessel is loosely painted with a few swipes of goldenrod yellow, black, white, and pink to suggest two people sitting in a rowboat, one of them holding a pink parasol. The gray stone bridge is shaded on our side with denim blue along the faces of the four arches we can see. Several people, painted with a few touches of peach and black, stand at the railing. The bridge angles from near the upper right corner of the canvas to almost the middle of the composition, where it meets a narrow, three-story coral-pink and light gray building. A two-story, white building sits a short distance to its left. They bask in warm sunlight against a row of emerald and olive-green trees. A baby-blue sky scattered with puffy white clouds spans the upper half of the composition. The artist signed the lower right with dark red letters, “Claude Monet.”
Claude Monet, The Bridge at Argenteuil, 1874, oil on canvas, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1983.1.24

The Bridge at Argenteuil

Claude Monet · 1874 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1983.1.24

Bibliography

1998

  • Yeide, Nancy. "Hector Brame: An art dealer in nineteenth-century Paris." Apollo (March 1998):40-47