Martin H. Colnaghi

died 1908

Explore Selected Works

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

A young woman sits with a small child standing on her lap on an ornate throne as a third person, tiny in scale, kneels and looks up from the lower left corner in this tall, narrow, vertical painting, which has an arched top. The woman and child have pale skin and flat gold halos behind their heads, and the tiny person near the corner has light brown skin. The woman’s body faces us and her head tilts to her right, our left, toward the child, but she cuts her pale eyes down and slightly to our right. She has a delicate, long nose and her small lips are closed in a straight line. A white veil covering blond hair is, in turn, covered with a midnight-blue mantle that falls over her head, shoulders, and body. The underside of her cloak is emerald green where it turns back down over her chest and across her lap. The bottom hem is lined with a wide decorative band with scrolling vines and leaves in gold, and it pools around her feet on the floor. She wears a raspberry-red dress with gold vines over the chest and pearls lining the neckline. With her left hand, on our right, she supports the child on one hip. Her other hand braces the stem of the green apple the baby holds in both hands. Short, blond curls frame the baby’s face. He looks up and to our right with light eyes. He has a short, rounded nose and his lips are parted. His head is large like a baby's, but the proportions of his torso, arms, and legs more closely resemble those of an adult. He wears a pale, rose-pink tunic edged with gold, and his legs and feet are bare. The elaborate throne has an arched top that mirrors the top edge of the arched panel. An inscription in the stone up along the curve of the throne reads, “MEMENTO MEI MATER DEI REGINA CELI LETARE.” A garland of pale green and red fruit, probably apples, hangs behind the woman’s head. There are fantastical creatures where the arms of the throne would be. Carved from the same nickel-gray stone, each arm is made up of dog's face, with mouth wide open and braced against the seat of the chair. A husk-like covering curves up and back to a section of fish's scales, and each arm ends with an ornament like a bunch of grapes where it meets the back. A scarlet-red cloth hangs behind the thorne, against a gold wall, with a salmon-pink floor below. The miniature kneeling man near the lower right corner is only ankle high. His dark hair is cut into a ring around his head. He has a darker complexion and wrinkles around his mouth. He wears long, topaz-blue garment over a black robe. He holds his hands in prayer and looks up at the woman and baby, lips parted. Scaled to the woman, a jeweled crown sits on the floor nearby, projecting behond the front face of a panel of stone with a shell painted at its center.
Carlo Crivelli, Madonna and Child Enthroned with Donor, 1470, tempera on poplar panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952.5.6

Madonna and Child Enthroned with Donor

Carlo Crivelli · 1470 · tempera on poplar panel ·  Accession ID  1952.5.6

Francesco Guardi, Capriccio of a Harbor, c. 1760/1770, oil on canvas, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1943.4.50

Capriccio of a Harbor

Francesco Guardi · c. 1760/1770 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1943.4.50

Golden light from the upper left illuminates an assortment of vegetables, fish, and live and dead animals arranged among kitchen pots, pans, and bowls in this vertical still life painting. The animals and objects are displayed on three levels, each of which takes up about a third of the composition. Starting at the top: the body of a light brown hare lies over the front edge of a stone ledge, which is draped with a rumpled forest-green, gold-edged cloth. A large golden-brown fowl hangs upside down, its feet tied and the string looped over a nail on the dark brown wall behind the still life. The fowl’s cream-white wings are outstretched, and its head rests along the hare’s body. Five birds with feathers of golden yellow, white, black, and apple red lie in a pile to the left of the hare. A live peacock stands on the green cloth to the right, looking down at the other animals. Its long, caramel-brown tail is closed and is dotted with eyes that look like shiny black buttons. The next level down is made up of a short barrel next to a small wooden stool or table. A butterscotch-brown rooster is perched on the barrel among red onions. A copper bowl overflowing with dark green artichokes and leafy greens sits on the stool to our right. The bottom zone has objects and animals across the ginger-brown floor. To our left, a chicken or rooster stands facing away from us as it looks to our right toward a tall, sealed jug and two dark brown pots. Just behind the pots a gleaming copper bowl is propped up at an angle so we see coral-pink fish inside. The bowl leans against a lustrous brass basin and jug with a duck standing in front of it. A radish, lemon, a couple more fish, and two lobsters lie on the floor or are tucked between the pans and bowls. The space opens onto another dimly lit room beyond the still life, in the upper right corner of the painting. In that room, a woman wearing a long skirt and a white cap is backlit against a rectangular window opening filled with pale blue sky. A spark of orange to our left could be a fire on a raised hearth or stove.
Anton Maria Vassallo, The Larder, probably c. 1650/1660, oil on canvas, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1961.9.91

The Larder

Anton Maria Vassallo · probably c. 1650/1660 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1961.9.91

Bibliography

1973

  • Fahy, Everett, and Francis John Bagott Watson. The Wrightsman Collection. Vol. 5: Paintings, drawings, sculpture. New York, 1973.