Dutch 17th Century

Anonymous Dutch 17th Century

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Dutch 17th Century, Memento Mori, c. 1680, mezzotint on laid paper, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, 2015.74.3

Memento Mori

Dutch 17th Century · c. 1680 · mezzotint on laid paper ·  Accession ID  2015.74.3

It appears that a piece of paper printed in black and gray, showing a portrait of an older, bearded man, has been stuck to a wood panel using a red wax seal in this vertical composition. The cream-colored paper is crinkled and creased with wide margins around the portrait. The printed portrait shows a man from the chest up, angled to our right but looking out at us. The inner corners of his eyes are in deep shadow and he has a bulbous nose over a long, full beard. He wears a wide, soft hat tipped down to our right. He wears a heavy coat or jacket, possibly fur. His hands rest on the top of a cane, suggesting he is seated. A cross hangs from a long chain around his neck. The print is signed at dated at the top right corner of the printed image: “F. Bol. F 1642.” The glimmering red wax seal holding the paper to the wood board is imprinted with a shield. The wood itself is light tan almost with a greenish tint, and it has a dark knot near the lower left corner. Only upon closer inspection do we realize that the entire work is a single painting, and is not an actual print affixed to a wooden board.
Dutch 17th Century, Flemish 17th century, Trompe l'Oeil of an Etching by Ferdinand Bol, c. 1675, oil on panel, Fund given in honor of Derald Ruttenberg's Grandchildren, 2016.3.1

Trompe l'Oeil of an Etching by Ferdinand Bol

Dutch 17th Century, Flemish 17th century · c. 1675 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  2016.3.1

Dutch 17th Century, De Derde Zee-slagh (The Third Sea Battle), 1673, etching and letterpress on laid paper, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, 2003.5.1

De Derde Zee-slagh (The Third Sea Battle)

Dutch 17th Century · 1673 · etching and letterpress on laid paper ·  Accession ID  2003.5.1

Shown from the waist up, a young woman sits on the other side of the edge of a table, leaning toward us on one elbow in this vertical painting. She looks at us with dark brown eyes under faint, arched brows. She has pale skin with flushed cheeks, a long, rounded nose, and her ruby-red lips are parted. Her brown hair is tucked into a wide, conical hat with gray, pale yellow, and ash-brown vertical stripes. Light falls across her face from our right, so the hat casts a shadow over her eyes and on the far cheek, to our left. Light glints off of two teardrop-shaped pearl earrings. Her muted blue bodice has a few touches of topaz and sky blue create a brocade-like floral pattern. The bodice is trimmed with a wide band of white fur down the front and around the cuffs, which come down just beyond her elbows. A white kerchief tucked into the bodice covers her shoulders. She leans onto her left forearm, to our right, and that arm is close and parallel to the bottom edge of the composition. In that hand she holds a golden flute like a pencil, and her other hand rests against the edge of the table. She leans to our right so we can see the gold lion's head finial at the top of her wooden chair. The area behind her is painted with patches of harvest yellow, fawn brown, muted brick red, and parchment white to create a loosely patterned drapery that fills the background.
Dutch 17th Century, Girl with a Flute, c. 1669/1675, oil on panel, Widener Collection, 1942.9.98

Girl with a Flute

Dutch 17th Century · c. 1669/1675 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1942.9.98

Shown from the shoulders up, the head of a pale-skinned, elderly man with a long beard and short brown hair takes up most of this vertical portrait painting. The man’s face is turned slightly to our right, and his amber eyes gaze in that direction. Thick strokes of taupe, smoke gray, harvest gold, and flecks of black paint form his thick, chest-length beard. Patches of peach, butterscotch yellow, and rust red create his face. Wide squiggles of chestnut and tawny brown suggest short curls under a coffee-brown cap. The loose painting technique blurs his features, and his shoulders are suggested by sloping areas of coffee and chestnut brown below his head. He is lit from our left so the far side of his face is in shadow, and he is set against an earth-brown background.
Dutch 17th Century, Head of Saint Matthew, probably early 1660s, oil on panel, Widener Collection, 1942.9.58

Head of Saint Matthew

Dutch 17th Century · probably early 1660s · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1942.9.58

Shown from the chest up, a pale-skinned older woman looks down and to our right in front of a shadowy background in this vertical painting. Brushstrokes are visible throughout, especially in the woman’s face and clothing. Her shoulders square toward us but she looks down and to the side with heavy-lidded, sunken eyes. Her face is deeply lined between her eyebrows, down the sides of her nose, and at the corners of her mouth. Her cheeks sag in jowls on either side of a fleshy chin, and her thin lips are set in a line. A cream-white cloth wraps across her forehead and covers her head. An earth-brown, voluminous hood rests across the crown of her head and droops to her shoulders, where it meets the cloak fastened at her throat over a steel-gray garment. The background is also dark brown and signed to our left near the woman’s shoulder, “Rembrandt 1957.”
Dutch 17th Century, Head of an Aged Woman, 1655/1660, oil on panel, Widener Collection, 1942.9.64

Head of an Aged Woman

Dutch 17th Century · 1655/1660 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1942.9.64

A pale-skinned woman sits in a pool of light against a deeply shadowed background in the bottom half of this vertical painting. She sits in the center of the composition, in a heavy wooden armchair next to a bed, which is flanked by two men. The woman wears a rose-pink, fur-trimmed robe draped over a white chemise. A pearl necklace and gold bracelets gleam at her throat and wrists, and her chestnut-brown hair is partially pulled up while curls fall to her shoulders. She looks to her left, our right, at a shadowy bearded man. He wears a turban wrapped in a gold chain, a cloak patterned with shades of bronze, olive green, and rust red, and a sword hangs from his belt. He stands facing our left, stooping slightly to rest his right arm, farther from us, on her chair, and his hand brushes her shoulder. The woman's mouth is open and brow furrowed as she points to the bed with her right hand, to our left. Her other hand holds up the loose neckline of her chemise to cover her chest. The bed is angled slightly away from us, to our left. It is covered with white linens and a mustard-yellow coverlet. A burgundy-red cloth or garment is draped over a bedpost at the foot of the bed. A younger man stands on the far side of the bed with his body angled to our right. He wears an olive-green tunic. A broad, scarlet-red sash is tied around his waist, and a bunch of keys hangs from it. Shoulder-length, light brown hair frames his face. His head tilts slightly to our right, and his hands are clasped at the waist, holding what looks like a black cap. A faint light him behind him creates a soft halo around his body. The top half of the painting is swallowed in deep shadow. The artist signed and dated the painting in the lower right, “Rembrandt. f. 1655.”
Dutch 17th Century, Joseph Accused by Potiphar's Wife, 1655, oil on canvas transferred to canvas, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.79

Joseph Accused by Potiphar's Wife

Dutch 17th Century · 1655 · oil on canvas transferred to canvas ·  Accession ID  1937.1.79

Dutch 17th Century, Portrait of a Man, c. 1655, oil on canvas, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1947.17.98

Portrait of a Man

Dutch 17th Century · c. 1655 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1947.17.98

Shown from the chest up, a light-skinned man with a gaunt face, wearing a large, dark brown hat, almost fills this vertical painting. His chest faces us, leaning over his hands, which are folded along the bottom of the painting. His head turns to our left, and he looks in that direction. His deep set, hazel eyes are rimmed in pink under dark, thick brows. His long nose has a slight bump at the bridge, and his pale coral-red mouth is slightly open, creating shaded hollows under high cheek bones. His brown beard is trimmed straight across the bottom. The soft, oversized, earth-brown beret covers most of his head, leaving just a fringe of dark brown hair along his forehead. A brocaded robe with bands of rust red and gold is draped over a mustard-yellow garment with a low scooped neckline. The garment is layered over a high-necked, pleated, ivory-white undergarment. A thick gold chain hangs low across his chest, and the background is mottled with honey and tawny brown.
Dutch 17th Century, Willem Drost, The Philosopher, c. 1653, oil on panel, Widener Collection, 1942.9.66

The Philosopher

Dutch 17th Century, Willem Drost · c. 1653 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1942.9.66

Shown from the waist up, a man dressed in fine clothing looks out at us from against a deeply shadowed background in this vertical portrait painting. The man’s pale, peachy skin has a warm undertone that glows in a stark light source from our left. His body and face are angled to our right, and he cuts his dark eyes back to look at us under raised brows. He has a rounded, bulbous nose, and a wispy golden-brown goatee frames his closed pink lips. Shadows on his cheeks and jowls suggest soft flesh and a five o’clock shadow. Wiry brown hair curls out over his temples and down to the nape of his neck beneath a green, gold, orange, and burgundy-red skullcap. A soft brown beret rests on top of his skullcap tipped at an angle away from us. A teardrop-shaped pearl earring hangs from a gold setting in the ear we can see. He wears a cream-white tunic with gold and brown detailing along the hemlines. Over that is a dark brown, vest-like garment. The sleeves are slashed so the outer fabric is eggplant purple, and the inner slashes are golden yellow. A red cloth drapes over his left arm, farther from us, and that hand rests on a gold, spiraling shaft. A dark sash may be tied around his waist, and it seems that his other hand rests against his hip, to our left. The lower half of his chest and the background fall into deep shadow, though, so some the details there are difficult to make out. The painting is signed and dated in dark letters in a shaded area, so is nearly invisible in the lower center right; it reads, “Rembrandt f. 1650.”
Dutch 17th Century, Portrait of Rembrandt, 1650, oil on canvas, Widener Collection, 1942.9.70

Portrait of Rembrandt

Dutch 17th Century · 1650 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1942.9.70