Provenance

Edward Solly

1776 - 1844

Explore Selected Works

Close to us, a bearded, balding man leads a donkey carrying a woman and child to our right against a hilly landscape in this horizontal painting. All three people have pale, peachy skin and halos. The man has a gray beard and hair, and wears a royal-blue tunic under a ruby-red robe. He leans on a walking stick and looks back at the donkey. The woman riding the donkey wears a blue and gold brocade-like cloak covering her head and body. She has a straight nose, small pink lips, and she looks toward the infant she holds close to her body. The baby wears a white garment and reaches for the woman’s face with one hand as he turns to look over his shoulder toward us. The path they walk on is lined with grass and detailed plants. A river runs parallel to the path a short distance away. The horizon line comes about two-thirds of the way up the painting is lined with green trees, blue mountains, and a few buildings to our left. Wispy white clouds sweep across an azure-blue sky streaked with peach near the horizon.
Vittore Carpaccio, The Flight into Egypt, c. 1515, oil on panel, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.28

The Flight into Egypt

Vittore Carpaccio · c. 1515 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1937.1.28

A woman supports a pudgy baby who sits on a stone ledge in this vertical painting. They both have pale skin, rosy cheeks, blond hair, and subtle halos made of gold dots. The woman’s body faces us, and her head tips to our left. She looks at us with brown eyes under delicate brows, and she has a straight nose, full cheeks, and her small, bow-shaped lips are slightly parted. A translucent white veil wraps around her hair and falls to her shoulders. Her rose-pink dress is pleated vertically down the front, and her lapis-blue cloak falls from her shoulders. Gold lettering lines the neckline of the dress and the full sleeves of the cloak. A gold star is painted on her right shoulder, to our left, and gold dots create shimmering highlights on her clothing. She braces the baby’s chest with one hand, and the other rests behind the forest-green pillow on which he sits. The child has small, light brown eyes, a delicate nose, and round cheeks. A white cloth wraps around his chest and falls across his lap. He holds onto the woman’s hand with one of his own, and his other hand grips the woman’s ring finger. The woman stands behind the ledge in front of a carved, round-topped niche. The niche is inset with laurel-green stone around a half shell that curves over her head. The upper corners and back of the niche below the shell are set with pink stone against the white molding.
Fra Filippo Lippi, Madonna and Child, c. 1440, tempera on poplar panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1939.1.290

Madonna and Child

Fra Filippo Lippi · c. 1440 · tempera on poplar panel ·  Accession ID  1939.1.290

Bibliography

1967

  • Hermann, F. "Who Was Solly?" The Connoisseur 164 (1967): 229-234;165 (1967): 12-18, 153-161; 166 (1967): 10-18; 169 (1968): 12-17.

1996

  • Turner, Jane, ed. The Dictionary of Art. 34 vols. New York and London, 1996: 29:46.