Provenance

Welbore Ellis Agar, 2nd Earl of Normanton

Normanton Welbore Ellis Agar, 2nd Earl of

British, 1778 - 1868

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A young girl wearing a rust-red dress with a tight bodice and full, voluminous skirt sits in a hazy, garden-like setting in this vertical portrait painting. Her skin is pale with a greenish cast, but her cheeks are slightly flushed. Her body faces us but her head turns as she looks off to our left with dark eyes. She has faint brows, high cheekbones, a pointed chin, and her thin lips are parted. Her blond hair falls down the sides of her face, and she wears a brick-red bow across the top of her head. A second bow, the same color, is tied under her chin. Her dress is off the shoulders and cut low across her chest. The bodice, neckline, and half-length sleeves are lined with lace, and a sprig with forest-green leaves is tucked into the neckline. She holds a bouquet of red, pink, blue, and white flowers in her lap with both hands. The pointed tip of one gold shoe peeks out from under the hem of her skirt. The background around her is painted with blended tones of teal, aquamarine, and steel blue. A tree grows up along the right edge, and the dark canopy curves over her head, in the upper right corner. One rose lies in deep shadow near her feet.
Sir Joshua Reynolds, Lady Elizabeth Hamilton, 1758, oil on canvas, Widener Collection, 1942.9.75

Lady Elizabeth Hamilton

Sir Joshua Reynolds · 1758 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1942.9.75

We look across a sun-drenched canal lined with boats and cream-white buildings under a vivid blue sky in this horizontal landscape painting. A broad, blue swath of water stretches across the lower third of the picture. White, balconied buildings with terracotta-red tiled roofs face the canal on both sides. Closest to us, to our left, a shallow skiff holds a man in a red cap who holds a large rust-red and white sail stretched out along his boat. Behind him is a cluster of other boats, one with a tall, bare mast and two red-capped sailors. On our right, a partially submerged wooden platform provides a resting spot for three swimmers. Beyond them, the blue canal extends toward a hazy distance, where a white tower points up into white clouds. The canal presumably curves around a corner, because our view is enclosed in the distance by a band of buildings and a bridge, which are loosely painted. A bright blue sky, dotted with wispy white clouds, stretches across the top two-thirds of the scene.
Richard Parkes Bonington, The Grand Canal, 1826/1827, oil on canvas, Gift of Victoria and Roger Sant, 2001.87.1

The Grand Canal

Richard Parkes Bonington · 1826/1827 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  2001.87.1