Provenance

Charles Sedelmeyer

French, 1837 - 1925

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Bernardino Luini, Procris Pierced by Cephalus' Javelin, c. 1520/1522, fresco, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1943.4.56

Procris Pierced by Cephalus' Javelin

Bernardino Luini · c. 1520/1522 · fresco ·  Accession ID  1943.4.56

A man and woman are surrounded by six pudgy children, some with wings, against a deep landscape in this square painting. At the center of the composition, the man, Bacchus, sits astride a wine barrel, which is about half his height. Bacchus has tanned, peachy skin, and is nude except for a claret-purple cloth draped across his groin. He wears a crown of grapevines with gold and purple fruit and palm-sized leaves. A staff topped with grapevines leans across one splayed leg, and he holds a shallow bowl in his left hand, to our right. With his other hand, he lifts a delicate gold circlet lined with tiny, bright stars over the woman, Ariadne. He smiles down at her as she reclines next to the barrel, to our left. Ariadne has ash-white, pale skin with flushed cheeks. She looks away from Bacchus, up and to our left, with large brown eyes and her full lips closed. She leans on one elbow near the barrel so her legs extend to our left. A few stems of wheat are tucked into her blond hair. She is nude except for a gold-colored cloth over her groin and a cameo on a gold band around her upper arm. She holds flowers and more wheat in the crook of her elbow, which rests near a tall urn, and touches a grapevine and bunch of grapes that drape over the urn with the other hand. Two putto, one with wings visible, hover behind her right shoulder, to our left. Another child-like putto drinks wine from a rope-wrapped bottle behind Bacchus’s barrel, to our right. A putto holds a round tray and another stands astride a cheetah, who lies in front of the barrel. This final putto holds up a vine with golden grapes and more grapevines are next to the tray. We are separated from the scene by painted architectural features meant to resemble carved white stone. The cheetah’s backside dips over a step that parallels the bottom edge of the canvas. Imaginary creatures in the lower corners have the bodies of large cats, chests with women’s breasts, long necks, curling ears, and long-snouted dog’s faces. Tall, brown, leaf-like forms rising along each side of the painting are wrapped with gold ribbons. Stone molding curls into the scene from the upper corners like parentheses, and the innermost scrolling ends meet at the top center. One more putto, also with wings, leans against the volute to our left, holding up flowers with both hands. Most of the putti have pale or rosy skin and dark blond hair, except for the one standing over the cheetah, who has brown skin and dark brown hair. Tucked into the scene in the lower left, just past the imaginary creature there, another pale-skinned person with a long nose, pointed chin, and the suggestion of jowls is shown from the waist up, looking toward Ariadne. This person has short dark hair and wears a black garment and a square hat in the shape of a white stone castle. A dark green hill rises behind this person, and a satyr, a man with goat’s legs and horns, walks alongside a donkey on which another pale-skinned child rides. There are white buildings with brown roofs in the distance in front of rocky, powder-blue mountains along the horizon. Puffy white clouds tower against the ice-blue sky above.
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Bacchus and Ariadne, c. 1743/1745, oil on canvas, Timken Collection, 1960.6.36

Bacchus and Ariadne

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo · c. 1743/1745 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1960.6.36

Bernardino Luini, The Despair of Cephalus, c. 1520/1522, fresco, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1943.4.58

The Despair of Cephalus

Bernardino Luini · c. 1520/1522 · fresco ·  Accession ID  1943.4.58

Two men hold the mouth of a horse open to work on its teeth as a third, short boy or man looks on in front of a building to our left, where a blacksmith works in this vertical painting. All the people have peach-colored skin. A dark horse with a white stripe down its nose stands in a small, shed-like enclosure covered with a peaked roof, which is attached to the brick blacksmith’s shop. A balding man with a white beard and fringe of white hair, and wearing glasses, a tattered crimson-red shirt, and dark pants, holds a long, rod-like instrument in the horse’s gaping mouth. A hat lies on the ground near his feet. The man next to him is cleanshaven and wears a tall hat, a dark jacket with red sleeves, and dark pants and boots. He stands facing the horse with his mouth and eyes wide open. The horse’s nose is caught in long-handled, vice-like tongs, presumably to make the horse show its teeth. A noticeably shorter man or boy stands behind the pair, to our right, and looks on. He wears a tall, floppy hat, and his dark clothes are worn. His face is deep in shadow under the hat but he might have a mustache and beard. A white horse stands with its rump angled toward us behind the trio. Almost lost in shadow, a wide-shouldered man works on a hot piece of metal, glowing orange, next to a fire just inside the doorway to the building. Charcoal-gray smoke pours from a chimney on the roof. One dog lies down in front of the door and another frolics nearby. A chicken and a rooster peck at the dirt ground to our right. The horizon of the tree-lined landscape comes about a quarter of the way up the composition, and cream-colored, puffy clouds float across a blue sky above. Two people stands near a cow in the deep distance, near the trees.
Paulus Potter, A Farrier's Shop, 1648, oil on panel, Widener Collection, 1942.9.52

A Farrier's Shop

Paulus Potter · 1648 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1942.9.52

Bernardino Luini, Procris' Prayer to Diana, c. 1520/1522, fresco, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1943.4.52

Procris' Prayer to Diana

Bernardino Luini · c. 1520/1522 · fresco ·  Accession ID  1943.4.52

A group of pale-skinned men, women, and children along with a few horses and dogs form a loose line across a dirt road, which is flanked with rows of buildings on both sides that converge in the tree-filled distance in this horizontal painting. The scene is painted mostly with sage and moss green, peanut and caramel brown, cream white, and black. Most of the people wear hats or caps. The women wear long dresses and the men wear jackets and pants. One man wearing a black jacket with buttons down the front, and with white at the neck and cuffs, leans down from atop a black horse at the center of the group. Another man with a tall, cream-white, brimmed hat and white collar stands behind a dappled horse to our right of center. Men, women, and children, most wearing tattered and worn clothing, look on. One woman to our left holds a baby strapped to her back and others gather around the horses. A pair of men in front of a stone building to our right smoke long, white, tobacco pipes. Others peer out of the open door and windows. An illegible wooden sign hangs above the door. Leafy vines grow over parts of the building façade. To our left, a woman sits on the ground and holds a spindle as she winds wool with a spinning frame. A man leans down over her shoulder, and a child looks away from us, into a fenced enclosure in front of a building. People, horses, dogs, and chickens are scattered along the road into the distance, and a church steeple rises against the ivory-white clouds in the sky beyond. A partial inscription with the artist’s name and date appears in black paint in the lower right corner: “Isack van Os 164.”
Isack van Ostade, The Halt at the Inn, 1645, oil on panel transferred to canvas, Widener Collection, 1942.9.49

The Halt at the Inn

Isack van Ostade · 1645 · oil on panel transferred to canvas ·  Accession ID  1942.9.49

This is a fresco showing a pastoral scene with human activity. The viewpoint is slightly elevated, overlooking a hilly landscape with structures, trees, and five people, some of whom are dressed in gold robes. The people are engaged in various activities such as walking across the hills or kneeling beside a tree, tending to something on the ground. The person closest to us is to the left of center, kneeling down and lifting a small hammer in the air. This person has pale skin and golden hair, and they wear a golden robe over a white shirt and white pants. The color palette is muted and earthy, with soft greens, browns, and yellows dominating the scene.
Bernardino Luini, Cephalus Hiding the Jewels, c. 1520/1522, fresco, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1943.4.53

Cephalus Hiding the Jewels

Bernardino Luini · c. 1520/1522 · fresco ·  Accession ID  1943.4.53

This is a painting of a pastoral scene with a person standing beside a group of sleeping people and animals. The setting includes rolling green hills and towering trees on the right, with a distant gray castle on a mountain to the left. Near the bottom left, there is a person standing and holding a long, thin staff. This person has pale skin and curly blond hair, and they wear a purple dress or robe and laced sandals. They are looking towards us, and their right hand is gesturing towards a group of two people and three animals on the right who are all curled on the grassy ground, appearing to sleep. These people wear clothes in shades of yellow, red, and white, and they also seem to have pale skin and blond hair. The animals look like small dogs. The sky above is pale gray-blue color with soft clouds.
Bernardino Luini, Cephalus and the Nymphs, c. 1520/1522, fresco, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1943.4.57

Cephalus and the Nymphs

Bernardino Luini · c. 1520/1522 · fresco ·  Accession ID  1943.4.57

Three men and a woman sit around a wooden table on the right side of a dimly lit room in this horizontal painting. The scene is painted entirely in warm shades of bronze, golden yellow, and dark brown. A cleanshaven man to our right, Mercury, is dramatically backlit by golden light so we see his face almost in silhouette, though we can make out his eyes, straight nose, and parted lips. He rests both hands on the table, one palm down by the edge close to him and one palm up in front of him, near a glass of amber-colored liquid. He wears a gray and brown tunic, and light glinting in his chin-length hair suggests a silver band or another ornament. He looks toward a man and woman at the other end of the table, to our left and near the center of the composition. The woman’s head is covered with a dark cloth, and she holds a gray fowl in her lap. Her lips are also parted and her face tips down. The man next to her, closer to us, has a gray beard and hair, and he holds a rust-red cap at his chest with both hands as he looks across the table. A bowl of food lies in the center of the table between this couple and Mercury. The fourth person has a long gray beard and hair, and faces us across the table. He wears a gleaming copper and silvery-gray robe and cloak, and holds one hand up, palm down, over the table. Much of the rest of the room is swallowed in shadow but there is the suggestion of rafters and beams, and a small fire glows in a hearth on the left side of the scene. The artist signed and dated the lower left, “Rembrandt f. 1658.”
Rembrandt van Rijn, Philemon and Baucis, 1658, oil on panel transferred to panel, Widener Collection, 1942.9.65

Philemon and Baucis

Rembrandt van Rijn · 1658 · oil on panel transferred to panel ·  Accession ID  1942.9.65

This tall, vertical fresco depicts a person in a red garment extending their arm towards a white unicorn that is bowing down on grass. The person is on the left side of the image, and only partially visible. The unicorn's long horn almost touches the person’s outstretched hand. The unicorn's back legs are extended, but its front legs are kneeling. The person and unicorn are on a light green field with red flowers and small green ferns. Behind them are thin trees in front of distant, rocky mountains. The sky above is beige, blending into the earthy tones of the landscape.
Bernardino Luini, Procris and the Unicorn, c. 1520/1522, fresco, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1943.4.60

Procris and the Unicorn

Bernardino Luini · c. 1520/1522 · fresco ·  Accession ID  1943.4.60

Bibliography

1989

  • Les donateurs du Louvre. Paris, 1989:321

1999

  • Huemer, Christian. "Charles Sedelmeyer (1837-1925): Kunst und Spekulation am Kunstmarkt in Paris" Belvedere 2/99 (1999): 4-19.