Provenance

Mrs. Ailsa Mellon Bruce

Mellon, Ailsa
Mellon Bruce, Ailsa Mrs.

American, 1901 - 1969

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See all 189 works of art
Netherlandish 15th Century, The Raising of Tabitha, c. 1460, tapestry: undyed wool warp, dyed wool and silk weft, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection, 1970.20.2

The Raising of Tabitha

Netherlandish 15th Century · c. 1460 · tapestry: undyed wool warp, dyed wool and silk weft ·  Accession ID  1970.20.2

A young woman with pale, peachy skin and flushed cheeks sits facing our right in profile as she plays a guitar in this horizontal painting. The scene is painted with blended strokes, giving it a soft look and making some of the details indistinct. At the center of the composition, the guitar rests against the woman’s shoulder so it almost spans the width of the painting. The instrument has a caramel-brown body, and the dark brown neck lightens to slate gray by the sound hole. The woman’s eyes are lowered as she looks toward her left hand, her long fingers pinning the strings along the fretboard. She plucks the strings with her other hand. Her hair is covered in a red headscarf tied at the nape of her neck. One end rests on her left shoulder, farther from us, and the other hangs down her back. A low, flat-topped, black, brimmed hat sits atop the scarf. The woman’s features are delicate, and her pink lips are parted. She wears a gold chain with an oval pendant around her neck. Her jacket is gold with a pattern loosely painted with dabs of lapis blue, butter yellow, and rose pink. A yellow ribbon or band is tied to the neck of the guitar and slung over her shoulder. The indistinct space behind her is painted with strokes of moss green, goldenrod yellow, and a few swipes of marigold orange near her face. The artist signed and dated the painting in brown in the lower right corner: “Renoir.98.”
Auguste Renoir, Young Spanish Woman with a Guitar, 1898, oil on canvas, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection, 1970.17.76

Young Spanish Woman with a Guitar

Auguste Renoir · 1898 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1970.17.76

Painted in mostly in jewel tones of topaz and aquamarine blue, and sage, spring, and pine green, a meadow is enclosed by a wooden fence, against a landscape of gently rolling hills under a vibrant sky in this horizontal painting. The scene is loosely painted with visible brushstrokes. Touches of white, cotton candy-pink, ruby-red, and azure-blue paint in the long grasses close to us could be wildflowers. A few swipes of straw yellow and pale and lapis blue could represent two people, standing and kneeling, in the field close to the fence. The rickety fence starts at the right edge of the canvas and extends into the distance, angling away from us to our left. Rolling hills beyond are a patchwork of emerald green and caramel brown, and are dotted with trees with full, dark green canopies. One brown building sits on the crest of a hill to our right of center. The horizon comes about halfway up this picture, and the turquoise-colored sky is dotted with white puffs of clouds. The artist signed and dated the painting in the lower right corner, “Sisley 75.”
Alfred Sisley, Meadow, 1875, oil on canvas, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection, 1970.17.83

Meadow

Alfred Sisley · 1875 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1970.17.83

A small child stands facing us on a sun-dappled path that runs up the center of a garden dominated by towering yellow and burnt-orange sunflowers in this loosely painted, vertical scene. The light comes from our right so long, sea-green and plum-purple shadows cross the peach-colored path. The path is wide at the bottom center of the canvas and narrows as it reaches the steps of a house, beyond the garden. Close to us, four blue and white porcelain urns line the path, separating it from the grassy banks to either side. The urns are filled with tall stems with coral-pink and cardinal-red flowers. The child stands about halfway back along the path, where the garden transitions from grass to the banks of tall sunflowers. A few strokes in front of the child could be a small dog. Behind the child, a woman and another child stand on the steps. The woman wears a cornflower-blue and white dress, while both children have bare legs and wear white clothes and yellow hats. All three have indistinct facial features and peach-colored skin. The house spans with width of the composition. It has an amethyst-purple roofline with two chimneys, and the petal-pink walls have mango-yellow highlights. Windows are covered with blue latticework. Above the house, fluffy white clouds float against a vibrant blue sky. The artist signed and dated the painting at the lower right in dark blue, “Claude Monet 80.”
Claude Monet, The Artist's Garden at Vétheuil, 1881, oil on canvas, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection, 1970.17.45

The Artist's Garden at Vétheuil

Claude Monet · 1881 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1970.17.45

A passenger boat, its bright tan sails reflecting the sun, careens among choppy water with at least eight more sailboats and a town along the water’s edge in the distance in this horizontal landscape painting. The water closest to us is muted slate blue, and it lightens as it extends to the horizon, which comes less than a quarter of the way up this composition. We look onto the long side of the passenger boat, at nine men, women, and children huddled in two groups there, in the lower center of the composition. The people wear black, white, red, or blue, and all seem to wear hats, though they are sketchily painted. Foamy, white crests lap at the long side of the tilted boat. Several larger ships with white sails unfurled float beyond to our left. To our right, seven flags and banners fly from a three-masted ship with its sails tied up. Two rows of more than a dozen black canons each poke through doors along the side we can see. It floats upright, closer to the distant town lining the water across the right half of the picture. The buildings are painted with strokes of white paint to create loose silhouettes. Loosely painted vertical strokes suggest more boats and ships lining the harbor. A bank of cream-white and some pale gray clouds fill most of the sky, breaking to reveal blue sky only in the upper right corner of the painting.
Joseph Mallord William Turner, Rotterdam Ferry-Boat, 1833, oil on canvas, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection, 1970.17.135

Rotterdam Ferry-Boat

Joseph Mallord William Turner · 1833 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1970.17.135

A horizontally oriented landscape with a bridge over a body of water, a grassy lawn, and trees is loosely painted mostly in shades of lemon yellow, spring and forest green, and sky blue. Brushstrokes are broad and blended throughout so details are often difficult to make out or take time to interpret. We look across the landscape from an elevated position, and the horizon nearly reaches the top of the canvas. In the lower left corner, a bridge painted with smoky, pale purple curves gently over a body of water. The lawn stretches to the right, where it meets what might be a fence or screen painted with pale green, rust brown, magenta pink, and yellow angling in from the lower right corner. Just beyond the rise, a person wearing a blue shirt carries a stick over one shoulder, perhaps a fishing pole. Beyond this, trees are covered with wispy, cottony canopies. The lawn continues to the left, where a second person walks toward us. Both people appear to have pale, peachy skin. Continuing into the distance, the impression of a tree-covered, shallow valley is painted with rounded, blended forms in leaf green, icy blue, and aquamarine under a periwinkle-blue sky. The artist signed the lower left corner, “Bonnard.”
Pierre Bonnard, A Spring Landscape, c. 1935, oil on canvas, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection, 1970.17.10

A Spring Landscape

Pierre Bonnard · c. 1935 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1970.17.10

A young girl with pale skin, rosy cheeks, and blond hair stands facing us in front of a landscape with forests and mountains in this vertical portrait painting. The girl looks at us with wide, gray eyes under delicately arched eyebrows. She has a short, rounded nose, and her full, pink lips are parted. Her smooth, rounded cheeks are flushed. She wears a lace-trimmed, sky-blue, scoop-necked bodice that comes to a V at her waist, a full, ankle-length black skirt, and a white bonnet with a royal-blue ribbon, which has a pink rose at the bow. Her long, white, lacy veil, called a mantilla, drapes over the hat, over her shoulders, and to her waist. One end of the mantilla drapes over her left wrist, to our right. The other end is pinned under the back of her other hand, which rests against that hip. One cobalt-blue, pointed shoe with a silver buckle peeks out under her skirt. A small, shaggy, white-haired dog sits at her feet to our right. A low, gray stone wall behind the girl and dog angles away from us to the left. Some plants with dark green leaves grow in front of the wall to our left. Beyond the wall, pine-green, treed foothills rise to meet rocky, nickel-gray mountains under a ice-blue sky with pale, petal-pink clouds kicking up over the mountains. An inscription in all capital letters is painted in black in the lower left corner: “LA S.D. MARIA TERESA HIXA DEL SER. INFANTE D. LUIS DE EDAD DE DOS ANOS Y NUEVE MESES.” A crimson-red letter “B.” is painted to the left nearby. In the lower right corner, the number “15.” is painted in white and the number “5.” is painted in red.
Francisco Goya, María Teresa de Borbón y Vallabriga, later Condesa de Chinchón, 1783, oil on canvas, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection, 1970.17.123

María Teresa de Borbón y Vallabriga, later Condesa de Chinchón

Francisco Goya · 1783 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1970.17.123

This abstract, horizontal painting is created with broad, visible strokes in areas of saffron orange, harvest yellow, carnation pink, violet, tomato red, cobalt and ultramarine blue, and shades of icy, seafoam, and pine green. Many of the colors are layered like strata in a canyon. A few objects are more recognizable, like a loosely painted pink kettle with royal-blue highlights at the back next to a bottle outlined with blue against the background. A spring-green teapot with a peach lid is to our right. The surface, presumably the table, is painted in tones of marigold and pumpkin orange. The left two-thirds of the background is painted with strokes of lavender-blue and mauve-pink streaked with cream white. The rightmost third is lapis blue. The artist signed the painting in the upper right corner, “Henri Matisse.”
Henri Matisse, Still Life, c. 1905, oil on cardboard on wood, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection, 1970.17.40

Still Life

Henri Matisse · c. 1905 · oil on cardboard on wood ·  Accession ID  1970.17.40

Eight men, women, and children stand or sit in straight-backed, wooden chairs gathered along a sandy beach near low, gently breaking waves with sailboats floating in the ocean beyond in this horizontal landscape painting. The scene is loosely painted throughout, making much of the detail indistinct. Most of the people sit with their backs to us but the faces we can see suggest they have light skin. The people gather in a loose crowd that spans the left half of the composition, except for one woman wearing white and holding a blue parasol who sits to the right. The women wear long dresses with full skirts in shades of black, aquamarine or arctic blue, or snowy white. They all wear straw-colored hats with royal-blue bands. The three men also wear hats and suits in black or pecan brown. Two women, in addition to the one sitting alone, hold up blue parasols. One child wears a white dress and hat, and the other wears shades of blue and a straw hat with a red band. A white dog with brown spots stands on our side of the chairs near a woman and the child wearing white. One tall, wooden pole with a blue banner rises high above the crowd near the left edge of the composition, and another with a red pennant is farther back to the right. Between the group and the water, a person rides a brown horse, several women walk, and two children play in the sand. A rowboat is near the breaking waves and five white sailboats line the horizon, which comes about a quarter of the way up this painting. A steamship leaves a line of muted lilac-purple smoke in the deep distance to the right. A blanket of pale gray clouds cover much of the bright blue sky. The artist signed the lower right corner, “E. Boudin.”
Eugène Boudin, Beach at Trouville, 1864/1865, oil on wood, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection, 1970.17.12

Beach at Trouville

Eugène Boudin · 1864/1865 · oil on wood ·  Accession ID  1970.17.12

This painting depicts a sandy beach under a vast, light blue sky. The horizon is in the center of the painting where the blue sky blends into the blue water. In the center of the painting, a group of women are on the beach, some standing and some seated. The women have light skin and wear clothing in shades of brown, dark blue, and red. They all wear headscarves covering their hair, mostly white except for one that is dark blue. Some of the women carry baskets, while others set them on the sandy ground. In the background, there are faint shapes near the shoreline created by small daubs of paint that suggest other people. The brushstrokes in the painting are thick and visible, especially those that create the shapes of the women. Small details are suggested with dashes and dots of paint instead of being shown clearly.
Eugène Boudin, Women on the Beach at Berck, 1881, oil on wood, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection, 1970.17.15

Women on the Beach at Berck

Eugène Boudin · 1881 · oil on wood ·  Accession ID  1970.17.15

Bibliography

1969

  • Pittsburgh Press. August 29, 1969: 46.

  • The New York Times. August 26, 1969: 41.

  • The Washington Evening Star. August 26, 1969:B-4.

  • Obituary, The Evening Star, August 26, 1969: B4.

  • Obituary, The New York Times, August 26, 1969: 41:3.

1971

  • Cott, Perry B. "The Ailsa Mellon Bruce Gifts." The Connoisseur 178, no. 718 (December 1971): 249.

1978

  • Hersh, Burton. The Mellon Family: A Fortune In History. New York, 1978.