Provenance

Edward Speelman Ltd.

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A group of light-skinned people and animals gather in an oval ring around a shallow pool in a wooded landscape in this horizontal painting. Deep in shadow but closest to us, animals, objects, and people create a continuous band in the foreground. From left to right is a horse, a reclining woman and small child, a goat tended by a nude child, a dog sniffing at a pile of crockery, baskets, and metal pans and dishes, a cat lapping from a shallow pewter dish, and a young man drinking from a dish or large shell in the lower right corner. Beyond this and to our right, an older man with gray hair and beard and wearing turquoise, pink, and blue robes taps an outcropping of rocks with a thin rod. Water gushes in thin streams from the outcropping into the pool below. The bearded man is surrounded by several standing men and women. Men, women, and children bend over the edge of the pool around its perimeter, filling or drinking from jugs, dishes, and pans. Most of the men wear long robes and some wear turbans, and the women wear long dresses or robes in teal, aquamarine, shell pink, pale yellow, and ivory. Trees enclose this group to the left and at the center of the painting. Another band of dozens of people, animals, and wagons line the horizon in the distance. They are painted in pale gray, blue, pink, and white. The horizon line comes three-quarters of the way up the composition and glimpses of vibrant blue sky and white clouds are seen through breaks in the trees. Light glints off of clothing, smooth skin, the fur of the animals, and especially the metalware in the foreground to give the painting a glimmering, almost glossy look.
Joachim Anthonisz Wtewael, Moses Striking the Rock, 1624, oil on panel, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, 1972.11.1

Moses Striking the Rock

Joachim Anthonisz Wtewael · 1624 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1972.11.1

Arthur Devis, Portrait of a Gentleman Netting Partridges, 1756, oil on canvas, Paul Mellon Collection, 1964.2.3

Portrait of a Gentleman Netting Partridges

Arthur Devis · 1756 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1964.2.3

A pile of flowers overflows a straw basket resting atop a long pink marble table against an inky black background in this horizontal still life painting. Light coming from behind us illuminates the flowers and crisscrossing green stems and leaves. Every petal and leaf, color gradation, and vein are visible among the flowers. These include tulips, anemones, columbines, and roses, and other flowers in butter yellow, coral orange, blush pink, pale blue, and white. Amid the flowers are two black and yellow bees, along with a tiny snail making its way down a narrow green frond. A small orange and black butterfly or moth perches at the top left of the picture, clinging to a bud atop a thin green stem. The basket, of yellow woven straw, is round, wide, and shallow with handles on either side. Smaller blooms are visible through the open sides. We look slightly down onto the table, which spans the width of the composition. Around the basket, a few stems of flowers have fallen onto the table, and a ladybug crawls across the tabletop near us. To the right side of the basket rests a small, green glass vase with looped handles. It holds a handful of tiny, delicate blooms in tones of daffodil yellow, sky blue, ruby red, and white. A blue-winged butterfly has alighted on one of them.
Jan Brueghel the Elder, Flowers in a Basket and a Vase, 1615, oil on panel, Collection of Mrs. Paul Mellon, in Honor of the 50th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art, 1992.51.7

Flowers in a Basket and a Vase

Jan Brueghel the Elder · 1615 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1992.51.7