Provenance

Victor D. Spark

Spark, Victor

American, 1898 - 1991

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The image shows the upper half of a man's body. He is seated, resting his right arm on the arm of a chair. The man has fair skin, dark curly hair, and a composed expression. He is dressed in formal attire, including a white shirt, vest with red, white, and green or blue stripes, and a dark jacket. The background is a blend of browns.
Erastus Salisbury Field, Biel Le Doyt, 1827, oil on canvas, Gift of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, 1971.83.3

Biel Le Doyt

Erastus Salisbury Field · 1827 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1971.83.3

The Denison Limner, Joseph Steward, Miss Denison of Stonington, Connecticut (possibly Matilda Denison), c. 1790, oil on canvas, Gift of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, 1980.62.28

Miss Denison of Stonington, Connecticut (possibly Matilda Denison)

The Denison Limner, Joseph Steward · c. 1790 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1980.62.28

This painting shows a young girl in a full-length portrait. She is standing with her body slightly angled to the left and her left arm resting on a stone pedestal. The girl has light skin, straight brown hair with bangs, dark eyes, and a calm expression on her face. She wears a light pink dress with puffed sleeves, a fitted bodice, and a full skirt with lace details. A pink sash is tied around her waist, and she wears red shoes. She holds a pink rose in her right hand. The background features a lush green garden with dense foliage and a partly cloudy blue sky. The stone pedestal beside her appears to have a vase holding roses.
Charles Peale Polk, Anna Maria Cumpston, c. 1790, oil on canvas, Gift of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, 1953.5.32

Anna Maria Cumpston

Charles Peale Polk · c. 1790 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1953.5.32

The portrait shows the upper body of a woman seated and turned slightly to her left, with her hands delicately holding a string of pearls. She has a composed facial expression with fair skin, rosy cheeks, dark eyes, and dark hair styled in tight curls, framing her face, and partially pinned up with a green decorative piece. She is wearing a deep blue dress with a low-cut neckline and white ruffled trim, accompanied by similarly styled ruffled cuffs on her sleeves. A pink drape is wrapped around her shoulders. In the background, there is a painted landscape depicting a tree with branches extending across the top part of the image on the left and a distant view of a sky transitioning to mountains and sparse foliage on the right.
John Greenwood, Elizabeth Fulford Welshman, 1749, oil on canvas, Gift of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, 1961.4.1

Elizabeth Fulford Welshman

John Greenwood · 1749 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1961.4.1

The image shows an upper-body portrait of a woman sitting in a three-quarter view, facing slightly to her left. She has delicate facial features, smooth complexion, arched eyebrows, and an expression that might suggest attentiveness. Her brunette hair is styled with curls on the sides and a hairpiece topped with a lace headdress. She wears a high-necked gown with long sleeves featuring lace detailing at the cuffs and a voluminous, dark brown skirt, along with a white shawl or fichu draped around her shoulders. Her left hand is visible resting on her lap, while the other hand is unseen. A bracelet or band is visible on her right wrist. The background features a red curtain with a white trim drawn to the side, revealing a scenic view of a bridged body of water and surrounding greenery, with a partly cloudy sky above.
The Denison Limner, Joseph Steward, Mrs. Elizabeth Noyes Denison, c. 1790, oil on canvas, Gift of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, 1980.62.27

Mrs. Elizabeth Noyes Denison

The Denison Limner, Joseph Steward · c. 1790 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1980.62.27

The image shows a half-length portrait of a man seated at a table. He is positioned with his body turned slightly to the right and his head facing forward towards the viewer. The man has a fair complexion, with light facial features, including light-colored eyes and a calm expression. His hair is brown and combed back, with slight waves on the side. He is wearing a formal dark jacket with large decorative buttons, a cream-colored waistcoat, and an elaborate white cravat with ruffled edges at the neck and cuffs. In his hand, he holds a quill, poised over a sheet of paper on the table. Beside the paper, there is an inkwell and another small cylindrical container. The background features a window view of a landscape, including a tree, a body of water, and a cloudy sky, with a red curtain draped across the top. A building is partially visible on the left side of the window.
The Denison Limner, Joseph Steward, Captain Elisha Denison, c. 1790, oil on canvas, Gift of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, 1980.62.26

Captain Elisha Denison

The Denison Limner, Joseph Steward · c. 1790 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1980.62.26

About fifty pale-skinned men, women, and children along with a giraffe, ox, and other animals gather in groups across a hilly landscape in this vertical painting. The people wear robes or dresses in shades of carnation pink, honey orange, sky blue, ruby red, leaf green, or golden brown. The people’s skin is painted pearl white or, in a few instances, tinged with gray. A crowd of eight men and women gather in the lower left quadrant behind a man who points to the right with a stick. Others sit on the ground or on rocks, stand at barrel-sized urns, or bend to the ground. A porcupine, white rabbit, black bear, cow, cheetah-like animals, and several others are spaced along the foreground, close to us. The gathering continues into the distance to the right, where a path leads to a cluster of buildings along a jagged coastline. Craggy mountains rising from water line are shaded aquamarine blue under a cloudy sky. A few tall, spindly trees grow up the center of the composition, and a tall, rocky outcropping takes up most of the upper left quadrant.
Bachiacca, The Gathering of Manna, 1540/1555, oil on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952.5.4

The Gathering of Manna

Bachiacca · 1540/1555 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1952.5.4

The image displays a still life arrangement of various fruits on an intricate pedestal. It includes a watermelon slice, pineapple, lemons, orange, grapes, peaches, and berries among others. Colors range from deep greens to vibrant yellows, reds, and soft pinks set against a dark background. Fruits are centrally placed, with the watermelon forming a horizontal base near the top of the pedestal, while the pineapple and citrus fruits are stacked above it, slightly right of center.
M.A. Goode, Still Life, second half 19th century, oil on canvas, Gift of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, 1978.80.7

Still Life

M.A. Goode · second half 19th century · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1978.80.7

Twigs of a magnolia tree with light green, glossy leaves and three cream-white blossoms lie on a sapphire-blue cloth in this horizontal still life painting. Brightly lit from our left, the blossoms and leaves nearly fill the composition, and the cut ends lie on the fabric to our right. The blue fabric cascades from the upper left and across the table or ledge. The three flowers are in various stages of bloom. The tightest bud is to our left, overlapped by a stem and the tender, unfurling leaves of a branch. The blossom next to it, at the center, is starting to open. The petals of the third blossom, to our right, splay open around the flower’s oval-shaped stamen. Light glints off the waxy leaves surrounding the flowers. The tawny-brown underside of one leaf is visible where it turns over, near the cut ends of the branches. Light shimmering on the fabric darkens from bright blue to our right, to deep royal blue in the shadows to the upper left, suggesting the fabric is velvet. The background is streaked with tan and pine green behind the fabric, and becomes nearly black in the shadows of the upper right corner and along the bottom edge. The artist signed the lower right corner, "MJ. Heade."
Martin Johnson Heade, Giant Magnolias on a Blue Velvet Cloth, c. 1890, oil on canvas, Gift of The Circle of the National Gallery of Art in Commemoration of its 10th Anniversary, 1996.14.1

Giant Magnolias on a Blue Velvet Cloth

Martin Johnson Heade · c. 1890 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1996.14.1

The image shows a person standing with their arms extended outward. The individual is facing the viewer, wearing a hood and a flowing garment that wraps around their body. The person has a serene expression, and there is a hint of an architectural structure in the background. Another smaller figure nearby mirrors the central figure's pose. The drawing has a textured, earthy tone.
Italian 17th Century, Female Saint (Saint Clare of Assisi or Saint Catherine of Siena?), c. 1600, black and red chalk on laid paper, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, 1974.118.1

Female Saint (Saint Clare of Assisi or Saint Catherine of Siena?)

Italian 17th Century · c. 1600 · black and red chalk on laid paper ·  Accession ID  1974.118.1