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Robert Henry and Evelyn Holford Benson

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A bearded and balding man with deeply tanned skin, dressed only in a strip of robin’s egg-blue fabric around his shoulders and hips, sits reading a book on a rock at the entrance to a craggy cave, in front of a landscape in this vertical painting. In the lower right corner of the composition, the man, Saint Jerome, faces our left in profile, his head bowed toward the open book propped on the rock near the knee farther from us. His hair and beard are parchment white, and he has a prominent brow ridge, a long, hooked nose, and sunken cheeks. His arms and legs are sinewy and his torso is muscled. The blue cloth is knotted over his left shoulder and wraps around his hips. A lion lies next to Saint Jerome in lower right corner, his face toward us with his mouth open. There is a rectangular pool lined with blocky, cream-white stones at Saint Jerome’s feet, to our left. The cave behind him, to our right, has a jagged, narrow, vertical entrance, and there are rocky outcroppings above and to our left, over the pool. A stone arch spans the top edge of the painting, enclosing the scene below. Other animals appear around Saint Jerome, including a lizard near the pool; a squirrel on the grassy top of the cave entrance; and a black bird in the barren branches of a tree growing from the rocks above the cave. On the far side of the pool, two rabbits, white and brown, touch noses on a grass-topped, low, rocky wall. There is a hill with two dark green bushes beyond that. In the distance, a cluster of tan-colored, stone buildings, some in ruins, spread down a hillside to the water’s edge. Across the water to our right, deep in the distance, white buildings line the horizon, which comes about two-thirds of the way up this painting. A few puffs of white clouds float along the waterline against a vivd, azure-blue sky above.
Giovanni Bellini, Saint Jerome Reading, 1505, oil on linden panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1939.1.217

Saint Jerome Reading

Giovanni Bellini · 1505 · oil on linden panel ·  Accession ID  1939.1.217
Shown from the chest up, this pale-skinned woman wears a transparent veil and a green gown laced up the bodice in this vertical portrait painting. Her shoulders and face angle to our left, and she looks at us from the corners of her brown eyes with her head tipped slightly away from us. She has faint, arched brows, a long, delicate nose, and a rounded jaw. Shallow dimples to either side of her pale pink lips suggest a faint smile over a cleft chin. Her blond hair is pulled back under a diaphanous veil, which is held in place with a band around the crown of her head. The veil falls in gossamer folds over her shoulders. The bodice and sleeves of her gown are asparagus green. The front is laced over a white shirt, and the white fabric has been pulled through at her shoulders where the sleeves would be tied to the bodice. The gold dress and the white chemise are edged with bands of floral, geometric patterns in gold, and a gold belt wraps around her waist. The pendant hanging from her pearl necklace has red and blue gems set in gold, with three more pearls hanging from the bottom. Another necklace looks like a chain of small, star-like forms, and it is tucked into her bodice. She holds her right hand, to our left, cupped near her chest, and her other arm hangs by her side, off the bottom edge of the composition. The background is black, and the edge of the panel is decorated with a band of gold, geometric, knot-like patterns. The gold border disappears behind the woman’s shoulders, which span the width of the painting.
Girolamo di Benvenuto, Portrait of a Young Woman, c. 1508, oil on poplar panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1939.1.353

Portrait of a Young Woman

Girolamo di Benvenuto · c. 1508 · oil on poplar panel ·  Accession ID  1939.1.353
This nearly square painting is visually divided into three vertical zones, with a pergola-like structure occupied by two people at the center taking up the most space, and narrower scenes with more people to either side. All the people have light, peachy skin tinged in some areas with pale green. The central structure has a shallow roof and several types of arched openings—some rounded and some pointed, all of different sizes. A winged angel to the left under the structure has curly blond hair and wears a shell-pink, floor-length robe. A seated woman to our right wears a lapis-blue dress and a white head covering. She sits with her forearms crossed over her chest, her hands in front of her shoulders. Both have plate-like, gold halos. Two arched openings at the back of the structure lead into rooms beyond. In the left quarter of the painting, a nude man and woman are pushed through an arched gateway by a winged angel with a gold halo. A bearded, haloed man looks down from a gold cloud above. Forest-green trees line the garden at the back and flowers and rabbits fill the space around the people’s feet. To our right, a balding, bearded man warms his hands at a fire in a room beyond the central structure. He wears rose pink and has a gold halo.
Giovanni di Paolo, The Annunciation and Expulsion from Paradise, c. 1435, tempera on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1939.1.223

The Annunciation and Expulsion from Paradise

Giovanni di Paolo · c. 1435 · tempera on panel ·  Accession ID  1939.1.223
A man and two winged angels support the limp body of a muscular, nearly nude man, Jesus, who is perched on the end of a tomb in this wide, horizontal painting. The people all have nearly white-colored skin faintly tinged with green. Jesus’s knees and body are angled very slightly to our left, and his head hangs down in that direction with his eyes and lips closed. He has a beard and long blond hair and a delicate gold halo. White cloth wraps around his shoulders and upper arms and another across his hips, and blood trickles from a gash over his right ribs. The man supporting him is bearded and wears a sapphire-blue turban and a raspberry-red robe. He looks at us from over Jesus’s left shoulder, to our right, and he supports Jesus’s torso with both hands. Both angels have blue robes over amethyst-purple garments visible only at the necklines and cuffs, long blond hair, gold halos, and wings shaded with pastel blue, yellow, and pink. They each support one of Jesus’s arms near the elbows. The angel to our left looks up at Jesus and holds one end of the white cloth that wraps around Jesus’s shoulders. The other angel looks down and holds a ring of thorns. The fabric separates Jesus’s body from the man and angel’s touch for all four hands. Jesus’s legs are shown from the mid-thigh up against the dark opening of the rectangular tomb. The area behind the group is dark within a rocky outcropping painted with shades of caramel and ash brown.
Filippino Lippi, Pietà (The Dead Christ Mourned by Nicodemus and Two Angels), c. 1500, oil (and possibly tempera) on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952.5.86

Pietà (The Dead Christ Mourned by Nicodemus and Two Angels)

Filippino Lippi · c. 1500 · oil (and possibly tempera) on panel ·  Accession ID  1952.5.86
A winged angel leads a clean-shaven young man across a landscape in this vertical painting. The angel and man nearly fill the composition. They both have pale skin slightly tinged with green, rosy cheeks, copper-blond curly hair, fluttering robes, and halos. Their jaws are rounded, and their full lips closed. They each step forward onto one foot. To our left, the angel’s head turns back with eyes downcast or closed. The angel’s sky-blue robe is gathered up around the waist and falls to the ankles. The neckline and bottom hem are edged with gold writing, and the halo is a gold ring filled in with gold dots. The angel holds a gold vessel or object in the right hand, farther from us, and reaches the other arm slightly back. The man, Tobias, leans forward and reaches one arm to hook wrists with the angel. A scroll curls down from Tobias’s wrist. He tips his head to our left and looks up with large, light brown eyes. He wears a rose-pink robe over a powder-blue tunic. The robe also has gold lettering around the lower hem, and he wears matching pink stockings and shin-high, golden-yellow boots. He carries a fish hanging from a gold thread with his other hand. Gold rays radiate around his head like a starburst. A small, shaggy white dog looks at the ground to our left of the angel’s feet. Some forest-green shrubs and spindly trees with sage-green canopies grow on the far side of the path. Water winds into the distance to meet white buildings along the right edge of the composition. More trees and a steeple are hazy blue in the distance along the horizon, which comes about halfway up the painting. The sky is streaked with white and ice blue.
Filippino Lippi, Tobias and the Angel, c. 1475/1480, oil and tempera on poplar panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1939.1.229

Tobias and the Angel

Filippino Lippi · c. 1475/1480 · oil and tempera on poplar panel ·  Accession ID  1939.1.229
An old man and a young woman holding an infant are seated together in the center of this almost square painting. All three people have pale, peachy skin. To our left, the man sits on a low, tan brick wall with his head bowed to look at the baby on the woman’s lap. A periwinkle-blue cloak is wrapped around the kelly-green robe that covers his shoulders, back, and legs. One hand grips a short staff planted on the ground. His receding white hair and beard are thin and scraggly with tufts sticking out over his ears. The woman sits next to and slightly in front of him, to our right, on a low rock, her body angled toward the man. A long, cobalt-blue cloak is draped around her shoulders and covers her knees over her rose-pink gown. Her honey-brown hair is parted in the middle and gathered at the back of her head. Her brown eyes look down at the infant, who is blond with brown eyes. A long white shawl is tucked into the neckline of her dress, drapes over her shoulders, and wraps under the baby as she cradles his body with one hand under his backside and the other behind his head. The baby lies on his back with his head turned toward the woman, and he points to her with one outstretched arm. The dirt ground is scattered with pebbles that make a loose ring around the trio, with moss-green growth to either side. A brown brick wall fills the upper half of the composition behind the people and extends off the top edge. A rounded arch pierces the back wall to our right of the woman. On the other side of the opening, trees with copper-brown leaves grow up along the left and the landscape beyond opens onto rocky hills with a white, square tower. In the deep distance, the silhouette of a town is painted in robin’s egg-blue against a pale peach horizon line. Thin, white clouds skim across the blue sky above.
Giorgione, The Holy Family, probably c. 1500, oil on panel transferred to hardboard, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952.2.8

The Holy Family

Giorgione · probably c. 1500 · oil on panel transferred to hardboard ·  Accession ID  1952.2.8
Shown from the waist up, a young woman embraces a baby in this vertical painting. They both have peachy skin, reddish-blond hair, and round faces. The woman is angled to our left and almost takes up the height of the painting. She looks down with gray eyes through lowered lids, under slender, arched brows. She has a straight nose and her pale pink lips are closed. Barely visible, a thin dotted white line spans her brow. A few loose, copper-colored tendrils frame her face under an azure-blue mantle that drapes over her head, shoulders, and arms. Under the mantle she wears a brick-red robe with a stylized, plant-like pattern in gold on the upper bodice and the cuff we can see. Her left elbow, on our right, rests on a sage-green ledge that runs along the bottom edge of the composition, and that hand dangles over the child’s leg. Her other hand curves around the baby’s back. The child is turned to our right to face the woman. He is wrapped in a cloak the same red as the woman's robe, and it has a thin gold border. He sits on a kelly-green cushion resting along the left side of the ledge. His head is turned to gaze off to our right with large hazel eyes under thin brows. He has a button nose and a rosy flush around his small pink mouth, which is slightly open. His right hand dips into the woman’s neckline while the other arm embraces her neck. His right leg stretches out toward her so one pudgy foot peeks out from under the red cloth. The horizon of the landscape behind them comes halfway up the painting. Sloping fields are dotted with trees. Low hills are ice blue in the hazy distance along the horizon, and the sky above is nearly white near the mountains, deepening to pale blue along the top edge.
Antonello da Messina, Madonna and Child, c. 1475, oil and tempera on panel transferred from panel, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.30

Madonna and Child

Antonello da Messina · c. 1475 · oil and tempera on panel transferred from panel ·  Accession ID  1937.1.30
A young, pale-skinned boy wearing a brilliant blue toga sits on a rock and holds a gold pitcher in a landscape in this vertical painting. The boy’s body faces us, and he leans onto his right hand, to our left, so his body and head tip in that direction. He wears a leafy crown over long blond curls. He looks slightly up with wide-set, light brown eyes. He has round, rosy cheeks, and his pink lips are parted. He holds the gold pitcher up in his left hand, to our right. One foot rests on a rock and the other stretches long, to our right. A thin tree grows diagonally up and to our right from behind the outstretched foot, and another tree grows a short distance beyond. Behind the boy, green hills roll back to the horizon, which comes three-quarters of the way up the composition. Mountains, which are blue in the hazy distance, line the horizon under a sky streaked with ivory white above the peaks and topaz blue above.
Giovanni Bellini, The Infant Bacchus, probably 1505/1510, oil on panel transferred to panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1961.9.5

The Infant Bacchus

Giovanni Bellini · probably 1505/1510 · oil on panel transferred to panel ·  Accession ID  1961.9.5
Shown from the hips up against a landscape, a woman with pale skin, wearing a burgundy-red dress with marigold-orange sleeves and a sheer veil, sits facing our left in profile as she reads a small book in this vertical painting. She has a straight nose and peach-colored lips. Her blond hair is covered by a bone-white headdress tied over her forehead. The veil drapes over the headdress, and her head is encircled with a faint gold ring, creating a halo. Her dress has full sleeves and is cinched into pleats at the high waist. The neckline is edged with a band of nickel gray decorated with a pattern of circles and leafy forms. The book has a red cover with a red ribbon, and she holds one index finger between the pages. A low chalk-white stone wall beyond the woman suggests she sits on a porch or balcony. A swath of powder-blue fabric drapes over the ledge on which she sits near one knee. To our left, a sliver of a shoulder, elbow, and toes of one foot suggest a person with pale skin draped in midnight blue, leaning back against a maroon-red pillow with tassels at the corners, in front of the woman and to our left. Behind that second person, in the landscape beyond the balcony, barren branches of a tree twist against the sky while a second tree, to our right, has a leafy, green canopy. A mustard-yellow meadow lined with bushes leads to the water’s edge, where ice-blue water leads back to rolling hills along the horizon. A few white buildings and a tower are clustered on the opposite shore. White and gray clouds float against the pale blue sky.
Vittore Carpaccio, The Virgin Reading, c. 1505, oil on panel transferred to canvas, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1939.1.354

The Virgin Reading

Vittore Carpaccio · c. 1505 · oil on panel transferred to canvas ·  Accession ID  1939.1.354
A man stands on a rocky, tan-colored outcropping and gestures to two men in a rowboat, all against a gold background in this square painting. The men’s pale skin is tinged with gray but they have rosy cheeks, and all three have beards. The outcropping rises steeply up along the left edge of the panel. The man who stands on it has long brown hair, a straight nose, and a small mouth. A halo is incised with geometric designs around his head against the gold background. He wears a crimson-red robe under a sea-blue mantle, both of which are edged with a line of gold. He holds up his blue robe with his left hand, farther from us, and holds out his other hand, palm up, to the other men. Those men stand in a wooden rowboat and hold a net heavy with fish over the side. Both of these men have ash-blond hair. The man to our left in the boat wears a sky-blue tunic and holds up one hand to his chest as he faces our left, his other hand holding a line of the net. The second man, to our right, has a longer beard and wears a brick-red robe. He holds the net with both hands, and looks up and to our left. The boat floats on a copper-green sea with several fish swimming in its undulating current. The fish are painted with dark green outlines. Closer inspection reveals two fish with gaping mouths facing us head on.
Duccio di Buoninsegna, The Calling of the Apostles Peter and Andrew, 1308-1311, tempera on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1939.1.141

The Calling of the Apostles Peter and Andrew

Duccio di Buoninsegna · 1308-1311 · tempera on panel ·  Accession ID  1939.1.141

Bibliography

1914

  • Benson, Robert Henry. Catalogue of Italian Pictures at 16 South Street, Park Lane, London and Buckhurst in Sussex. London, privately printed, 1914.

1988

  • Sebag-Montefiore, Charles. "Three Lost Collections of London." National Art Collections Fund Magazine 38 (Christmas 1988): 53+

1997

  • Wake, Jehanne. Kleinword Benson: this history of two families in banking. Oxford, 1997.