Provenance

Mr. and Mrs. Richard M. Scaife

Scaife, Richard Mellon and Margaret R. Battle

American, he: 1932 - 2014

Explore selected works

A violin, bow, and at least two pages of sheet music hang from a dark, forest-green, wooden door in this vertical painting. The string holding the violin hangs from a nail at the top center of the composition. The violin takes up the top two-thirds of the painting. The wood body of the instrument is a deep chestnut brown alongside the fingerboard, and it lightens to tawny brown at the corners. White powder coats the strings near the bridge and gathers on the instrument beneath it, where the strings are played. The bow hangs to our right, and it and the violin overlap sheets of music, which curl at the corners. Several pins or nails are pounded into the wooden door, and a few small holes and vertical cracks mar its surface. The door’s handle is a metal ring hanging at the center to our left, and bracket-shaped arms of two rusty hinges nearly span the width of the painting from the right edge. A bolt is missing from the top hinge, and the rightmost section of the bottom hinge has been broken off. A scrap of newspaper is pasted on the door just below the violin, to our left, but the text is illegible. Finally, the corner of a pale blue envelope has been tucked into the edge of the painting near the lower left. A black and white postage stamp with the number 25 is affixed to the upper right corner, and the envelope has been stamped several times. Cursive writing of the address reads, “W. M. Harnett 28 East 14th St New York.” The word “Chargé” has been penned in the lower left corner of the envelope. A circular cancelation stamp near the postage stamp locates and dates the envelope: “PARIS 3 27 AVRIL 86.”
William Michael Harnett, The Old Violin, 1886, oil on canvas, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Mellon Scaife in honor of Paul Mellon, 1993.15.1

The Old Violin

William Michael Harnett · 1886 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1993.15.1

From a little above a dirt road, we look past a grove of trees to a broad plain and a lake at the foot of towering, hazy mountains in this horizontal landscape painting. The narrow, teal-blue lake runs from left to right along the horizon, which comes about a third of the way up the composition so the hills and mountains take up most of the picture. On the far shore of the lake, steep hills are thick with fern-green trees and growth. Beyond these hills, muted gray and green rocky mountains reach precipitously into the clear, robin’s egg-blue sky so some nearly touch the top edge of the canvas. Snow nestles in the mountain peaks while gauzy mist hovers among the mountain tops. The meadow below is a patchwork of avocado-green and sand-brown fields. An ice-blue stream winds from the lake across the plain while olive-green trees and shrubs dot the fields. Closest to us, in the lower left corner of the painting, small stones and clumps of green grass run along the dirt road, and boulders line it to either side. A band of dark green spanning the road creates a screen a short distance from us, in the lower left quadrant of the composition. Through the trees is a view of minuscule buildings lining the lakeside. In the shadows, under the trees, people camp with a covered wagon covered in white fabric and several animals including a donkey. A red and yellow fire glows, almost lost in the deep shadows of the trees, next to the people. On our right, about a dozen people with a horse-drawn wagon, all tiny in scale, work in the field next to the stream. Farther along the stream, another wagon approaches a covered bridge. On our right and close to us, a dark shadow falls across the landscape. Beyond the shadow, a group of buildings with a church in the center sit on a low hill.
Albert Bierstadt, Lake Lucerne, 1858, oil on canvas, Gift of Richard M. Scaife and Margaret R. Battle, in Honor of the 50th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art, 1990.50.1

Lake Lucerne

Albert Bierstadt · 1858 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1990.50.1

The image shows a waterfront with mountains in the background. The viewpoint is elevated, showing the water, landscape, and horizon. Buildings are visible near the water, and mountains loom in the distance. The painting style is soft and dreamy, emphasizing a serene atmosphere with blended brushstrokes. Colors include blues, grays, greens, whites, and light grays, creating a calm and cool mood.
John Robert Cozens, Cetara on the Gulf of Salerno, 1790, watercolor over graphite on wove paper, Gift in honor of Paul Mellon by the Patrons' Permanent Fund with additional support from Dick and Ritchie Scaife, Catherine Mellon Conover, Rachel Mellon Walton, Mr. and Mrs. James M. Walton and an anonymous donor, 1992.19.1

Cetara on the Gulf of Salerno

John Robert Cozens · 1790 · watercolor over graphite on wove paper ·  Accession ID  1992.19.1

A bird in flight with its hooked beak wide open, wings held high, holds a shimmering green and white fish in its talons in this vertical painting. The bird and fish fill the composition against a pale, hazy landscape. Both animals face our left in profile. The bird’s raised wings are dark brown, and the feathers on the underside of its left wing, closer to us, are cream white. Its tail is fanned and the feathers are striped with golden yellow against dark brown. The bird surges forward, to our left, its head low. The yellow eye we see is round and clear, and its dark beak curves to a sharp point over its protruding tongue. The head is striped with cream and brown, creating a mask-like effect. Powerful talons grip the fish, whose tail still dips in the water below. The fish’s mouth gapes and its eye, which is yellow around a black iris, is wide open in the gray and silver head. The top of the fish’s body is iridescent emerald green that fades to tan and parchment yellow along its belly. Light and dark speckles create a dotted pattern along the fish’s length. The body of water meets the horizon about a quarter of the way up the composition. The surface of the water is painted in sage green, golden tan, and pale pink. Cliffs in the distance are soft mauve purple under an aqua-blue sky filled with billowing clouds. White birds with black wingtips fly over the water in the distance.
John James Audubon, Osprey and Weakfish, 1829, oil on canvas on hardboard, Gift of Richard M. Scaife, 2005.32.1

Osprey and Weakfish

John James Audubon · 1829 · oil on canvas on hardboard ·  Accession ID  2005.32.1