Provenance

M. Knoedler & Company

Knoedler
Knoedler's

1846 - 2011

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See all 559 works of art
We look across an expanse of a flat, grassy lawn at the towering spire of a stone church outlined against billowing clouds in this horizontal landscape painting. The lawn is dappled with light filtering through a line of trees with thick, green canopies to our left. The trees take up almost the left half of the composition, and they line a dirt path where three people walk. Tiny in scale, the people are painted with strokes of slate blue, red, white, and black. A few animals, perhaps cows, graze on the lawn near more trees on the far side of the green. Beyond the trees, the church sits on the horizon, which comes about a quarter of the way up the composition. Minuscule touches of yellow, black, and red may suggest more people in the deep distance. The pale blue sky is nearly filled with puffy parchment-white and mauve-tinged clouds.
John Constable, Salisbury Cathedral from Lower Marsh Close, 1820, oil on canvas, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.108

Salisbury Cathedral from Lower Marsh Close

John Constable · 1820 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1937.1.108

A profusion of white roses bursting from the neck of a tan jug almost fills the height of this horizontal still life painting. The roses have large, round blooms with petals tinged with denim and aquamarine blue, sage green, mauve pink, teal, and butter yellow. Emerald-green leaves fill the spaces between blossoms. The jug has a short, rounded handle and sits on a sea glass-green surface. A few blooms lie in the lower left corner and at the foot of the vessel. Many of the flowers, leaves, and vase are outlined with navy blue or black. A mint-green wall with wavy, diagonal streaks of cream white fills the background. The paint is applied thickly with visible strokes.
Vincent van Gogh, Roses, 1890, oil on canvas, Gift of Pamela Harriman in memory of W. Averell Harriman, 1991.67.1

Roses

Vincent van Gogh · 1890 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1991.67.1

Gilbert Stuart, Robert Liston, 1800, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Collection, 1957.10.1

Robert Liston

Gilbert Stuart · 1800 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1957.10.1

The sculpture depicts a horse and rider engaged in a fast-paced gallop. The sculpture appears to be made of a bronze-like material, giving it a reddish-brown color. The horse's legs are stretched forward and backward, while the rider leans forward. The sculpture captures motion, with detailed texture on the horse and rider's clothing.
Edgar Degas, Jockey with Cap, possibly 1890s, pigmented beeswax, metal armature, cloth, paper, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1999.80.15

Jockey with Cap

Edgar Degas · possibly 1890s · pigmented beeswax, metal armature, cloth, paper ·  Accession ID  1999.80.15

Shown from the knees up, an older man sits in a rustic wooden chair and holds up a pocket watch for a young child who stands at his knees in this vertical portrait painting. They both have pale, peachy skin with flushed cheeks. They are lit from our upper left so the man’s face is partly in shadow while light pours onto the child’s upturned face. The man’s body is angled to our right, almost in profile, but he turns his head to look at us with dark eyes under heavy brows. His has a bulbous nose, lined cheeks, and a heavy jowl around thin lips, which are closed in a line. His light gray, wavy hair is tied back at the nape of his neck. He wears a black coat with a high collar and tightly fitting sleeves. A streak of white at his neck suggests a white shirt under the black, high-necked vest that covers his torso. He rests his right elbow, closer to us, on the arm of the chair so he can dangle a pocket watch in front of the child. The man’s knees disappear behind the child, who leans against his legs. The pocket watch is attached to a short gold chain, and the child holds up the fob, which is shaped like a Hershey’s Kiss candy, at the end of the chain. The young boy looks up at the watch with luminous, brown eyes. He has smooth, round cheeks, a short nose, and his pink lips are closed. The child has wavy, golden brown hair and his white garment has a squared neckline, short sleeves, and falls like a skirt off the bottom edge of the painting. The background behind the pair is painted with streaks of marigold orange, gold, and olive green to suggest trees against a sky painted with butter and harvest yellow, rust orange, and just a touch of pale blue at the upper left corner. The entire portrait is loosely painted, especially in the background, chair, and clothing.
Sir Henry Raeburn, John Tait and His Grandson, c. 1793, with additions c. 1800, oil on canvas, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.103

John Tait and His Grandson

Sir Henry Raeburn · c. 1793, with additions c. 1800 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1937.1.103

An older girl and a younger child, both with pale skin, bend toward each other as they look at a book spread open on a wooden cupboard in this nearly square painting. Shown from the hips up to our right, the girl leans over the cupboard with her body facing our left in profile. She looks at the child peering over the low ledge at the back of the cupboard with her head tilted slightly in that direction. The older girl has a straight, delicate nose, her smooth cheeks are flushed, and her rosy-red lips are pursed. Her brown hair is tucked under a bright white, ruffled cap encircled with a gold and cranberry-red ribbon. The long sleeves of the muted sapphire-blue dress seem to have been rolled back along the forearms to reveal cascading, white cuffs. A translucent white neckerchief, like a short, full scarf, is tucked into an ivory-white apron that also covers the flaring skirt. With both hands on the open book, she points to one page with a metal pointer like a knitting needle. Facing us, the smaller child looks at the book from behind the wood cupboard, eyes downcast, resting one forearm on the surface and pointing to a detail in the book. The child has delicate brows, a short, wide nose, and full raspberry-red lips are closed. The padded cap the child wears covers the ears and is loosely painted with a pattern of honey brown, silvery white, and slate blue. The nutmeg-brown sleeves are pushed back along the forearm and there are white cuffs or sleeves beneath. The cupboard has two diamond-shaped, iron-gray metal pulls in front. Light illuminating the pair from our left creates a greenish glow on the tawny-brown background behind them.
Jean Siméon Chardin, The Little Schoolmistress, after 1740, oil on canvas, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.91

The Little Schoolmistress

Jean Siméon Chardin · after 1740 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1937.1.91

Shown from the waist up on the other side of a strawberry-red table, an elderly, pale-skinned woman sits facing us, sleeping with her head propped on her hand in this vertical painting. She is brightly lit from our upper left, which creates deep shadows across her face, and behind and around her. The woman rests her cheek against her closed left fist, to our right. That elbow is propped on a gold and amber-yellow cushion tucked into the corner where the table meets the wall to our right. Her brows are slightly furrowed over deep-set eyes. She has loose jowls, thin lips, and wrinkles line the corners of her eyes and her mouth. Almost lost in shadow, her other hand rests on the large book lying open before her. She wears a black coat draped over a parchment-white garment. Her hair is covered by a ginger-brown and black striped veil that hangs to her shoulders. Three iron-gray keys hang from a rail running across the wall next to her at head height. The wall is sage green and mustard yellow in the light, and the corners and left edge are swallowed in shadow. The artist signed the painting in capital letters on the right, just above the rail, “N. Maes.”
Nicolaes Maes, An Old Woman Dozing over a Book, c. 1655, oil on canvas, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.63

An Old Woman Dozing over a Book

Nicolaes Maes · c. 1655 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1937.1.63

This painting is a portrait of a woman. She is seated on a red chair with gold studs along its edges, positioned with her arms crossed over her lap, slightly turned to the left. The woman's facial features include a fair complexion with rosy cheeks, slightly smiling lips, and large, dark eyes. Her brown hair is curly and voluminous, adorned with a pearl band and a light blue ribbon visible towards the back. Her clothing consists of a long-sleeved white dress with a ruffled neckline, cinched in the waist by a light greenish-blue sash. The background is a plain, muted green tone, with a light color on the left indicating a partially visible door or paneling.
American 18th Century, Matilda Caroline Cruger, c. 1795, oil on canvas, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1942.8.13

Matilda Caroline Cruger

American 18th Century · c. 1795 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1942.8.13

From high above the earth, we look down onto a view with a densely wooded area to the right, buildings clustered along a rocky ridge at the center, and a river winding back into the far distance to our left in this horizontal landscape painting. The color palette is dominated by pine and deep, emerald greens for the forest, tawny brown for tree trunks and the earth along the foreground, and slate gray and pale blue for the rocks, river, sky, and distant hazy landscape. Closer inspection reveals surprising and surreal details along the riverbanks and in the sky, beginning with a nightmarish hybrid of creatures and goblins in the lower right corner, at the outskirts of the forest. One creature has the body of a person with the head of a white bird, and another resembles a head walking around on two legs without a body. Tucked under a lean-to in the lower right, a man with a long white beard wearing a black hooded robe sits near goblin-like critters. In the foreground on our left, a group of people with peach-colored skin gathers around an oversized fish washed up onshore, which is covered with a black cloth marked with a large white X. A hooded and cloaked person sits atop the fish, holding a bell. Groups of fantastical creatures move in clusters or individually toward or around the buildings clustered on the rocky ridge. Dark brown plumes of smoke billow from a high steeple, probably a church and bell tower, and a bright light, possibly fire, illuminates the structure from behind. To our left, what first looks like a conical structure turns out to have a pink nose and eyes peeking out from what may be an overturned teacup being worn like a hat. More crowds and creatures line the shore of the river that winds away from us, around a peninsula, and into the distant horizon, which comes about halfway up this painting. The surface of the water has a pearly, opalescent sheen. White clouds swirl across a bright blue sky, as if they were waves in the sea. Incongruously, a group of spindly, insect-like creatures gathers in the sky riding fish or boats.
Anonymous Artist, The Temptation of Saint Anthony, c. 1550/1575, oil on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952.2.19

The Temptation of Saint Anthony

Anonymous Artist · c. 1550/1575 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1952.2.19

This painting shows a person standing on a small rectangular platform, with one knee slightly bent and the heel of that foot raised off of the ground. The person has pale skin with rosy cheeks, arched eyebrows, brown eyes with dark lashes, small lips in a neutral expression, and long, wavy yellow hair. They are wearing a red robe with a knot around the neckline and a green sash with gold designs around the waist. They are barefoot, and their left hand is on their hip while the other is holding a black staff with gold details at the top, bottom, and middle. The background features a green landscape with buildings, small trees, and a distant body of blue water. There is a gray building on the right, and in front there are two people, one seeming to chase the other. There are more people on the left, including one person who is being restrained by two other people, with a third person holding a sword over them. The people wear clothes in shades of pink, red, green, and silvery gray. The sky above is pale blue. The top of the painting is arched.
Master of the Griselda Legend, Joseph of Egypt, c. 1490/1495, oil on panel transferred to canvas, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952.5.2

Joseph of Egypt

Master of the Griselda Legend · c. 1490/1495 · oil on panel transferred to canvas ·  Accession ID  1952.5.2

Bibliography

1996

  • The Rise of the Art World in America: Knoedler at 150. Exh. cat. New York, 1996.