Provenance

Arnold Seligmann, Rey & Co.

active 1940

Explore selected works

Two chubby, winged children hold onto a swan with its wings thrust back, beak open, and long neck curving up in this freestanding sculpture, which was originally a fountain cast in iron. The cherubs and swan are on a bunched-up cloth on a disk fluted like a seashell. In this photograph, the swan’s body is angled to our right. One cherub stands behind the swan to our left, and the other lies on his back with one hand and foot lifted, facing the swan. Both cherubs have caps of curly hair and short wings. Each has a strap across their chest, and a quiver with arrows lies next to the prone cherub. The sculpture rests on a pale peach-colored stone pedestal carved with a band of layered leaves around the middle. The base stands in a shallow basin of water. The fountain is photographed in a bright space with white marble columns and floors.
Jean-Baptiste Tuby I, Cherubs Playing with a Swan, 1672-1673, lead with traces of gilding, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1940.1.15

Cherubs Playing with a Swan

Jean-Baptiste Tuby I · 1672-1673 · lead with traces of gilding ·  Accession ID  1940.1.15

This painting shows a plucked chicken hanging upside down by one yellow leg from a piece of string. The chicken's bare skin is pale yellow with some areas of pale pink. Its tail and head are still intact, showing white plumage and a red crest. There are some small white feathers still connected to its skin, and a few scattered feathers float downward against the brown wooden panel background.
William Michael Harnett, Plucked Clean, 1882, oil on canvas, Corcoran Collection (Museum Purchase, William A. Clark Fund, 1977), 2014.136.133

Plucked Clean

William Michael Harnett · 1882 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  2014.136.133

The painting shows a high vantage point of a group of people in a dark, green landscape. Closest to us, near the center of the painting, are the six people with pale white skin and long yellow hair, wearing in flowing garments in yellow, white, and blue. They stand under dark foliage from large trees. In the distance to the right, the dark trees open into a wide, white landscape. Towards the upper right corner, there is a faint architectural structure resembling a shining white castle. Rolling hills are visible in the distance, and the sky is filled with swirling clouds in grey, peach, and yellow tones.
Emilian 16th Century, Fantastic Landscape with Figures, late 16th century, oil on canvas, Gift of Duncan Phillips, 1952.4.1

Fantastic Landscape with Figures

Emilian 16th Century · late 16th century · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1952.4.1

This is a large fountain featuring two cherubic children with curly hair. They sit on opposite sides of a solid harp-shaped object, holding it with their hands. The object has two small goat heads on its top corners and a small face on the bottom with rays emanating from it. The cherubs and the object sit on carved leaves on top of a round scalloped platform, under which is the column-shaped base of the fountain. Around this base is a shallow pool of water. The sculpture is mainly a light gray color with rusty red and yellow discoloration in some areas. The cherubs' wings are golden. Surrounding the sculpture are white lilies, and the background shows classical architecture with grand columns and draped curtains.
Pierre Legros I, Cherubs Playing with a Lyre, 1672-1673, lead with traces of gilding, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1940.1.16

Cherubs Playing with a Lyre

Pierre Legros I · 1672-1673 · lead with traces of gilding ·  Accession ID  1940.1.16

Five men and boy, all with pale skin, crowd around a book of music propped on a wooden stand on a piano or similar instrument in this horizontal painting. Light falls across the scene from high to our left. The boy is closest to us, in the lower left corner. Shown from the shoulders up, he holds an open book but looks up at the keyboardist. His lips are mouth parted and his face deep in shadow. Three of the men appear to sing, one plays a bassoon, and the keyboardist plays with grim determination, his downturned lips pressed tightly together. The keyboardist’s eyebrows are lowered under a high forehead. He wears a long, gray wig and a gray jacket. The bassoonist is over his shoulder to our left. He appears to be bald or balding and wears a frilly white cravat tucked into an ochre-yellow vest. His eyes and cheeks bulge as he plays, his lips pressed around the reeds. The brown suits of the other three men nearly blend into the wall behind them, and they all have chin-length gray hair, presumably wigs. The man to our far left glares down at a book with his dark brows arched up and away from his nose, and his lopsided mouth open wide. The man next to him leans in to look at the book in front of the pianist, and the third singer, to the far right, lifts one hand as he opens his mouth wide, his brows gathered, and his wig pushed back on his head.
Philip Mercier, The Singing Party, c. 1732/1760, oil on canvas, Gift of Duncan Phillips, 1952.4.2

The Singing Party

Philip Mercier · c. 1732/1760 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1952.4.2

Bibliography

1961

  • Seligman, Germain. Merchants of Art: 1880-1960, Eighty Years of Professional Collecting. New York, 1961.