Provenance

Hugo Richard Charteris, 11th earl of Wemyss

Scottish, 1857 - 1937

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A winged angel with arms crossed kneels across from a young woman sitting and holding a book, both under an archway in a paneled room in this vertical painting. They both have pale, yellow-toned skin, blond hair, and flat, gold halos. They also have golden brown eyes, long, straight noses, smooth cheeks, and their pale, pink lips are closed. To our right, the woman sits in a throne-like chair with her body facing our left. Her head tilts down, and she looks toward the angel under lowered lids. Her hair is pulled back under the neck of the lapis-blue cloak she wears over a crimson-red dress. The dress and cloak are trimmed with gold, and a there is a gold starburst on the cloak over her left shoulder, closer to us. She holds her other hand up near that shoulder with her fingertips brushing her chest. With her other hand, she holds open the pages of a small book in her lap, so her fingers overlap some of the words. The entire Latin inscription would read, “virgo concipiet et pariet filium et vocabitur nomen eius emmanuel butirum et mel come dit ut fiat reprobare.” A slender, bone-white column separates her from the angel across from her, along the left edge of the painting. The angel has curly, shoulder-length hair and wears a robe with a gold, floral pattern against a burgundy-red background. Long, golden wings emerge from the shoulder blades and extend off the side of the composition. An open archway just beyond the angel is filled with streaks of flax yellow and burnt orange, possibly representing flames. Some of the walls in the room around the pair are pale olive green and other areas are darker spruce green. There are bands of coral-pink molding and inset panels of patterned mosaics. The flat ceiling of the space immediately over the pair is decorated with checkerboard panels in navy blue, hunter green, brown, and brick red. Gold lines create a ray coming from the ceiling toward the woman. At the back of the space, beyond the column separating the woman and angel, the room extends into an alcove with an arched hallway painted with gold stars against a midnight-blue background. Double doors open at the back of the alcove onto a room with a pale-yellow curtain with a mesh-like trim. We see the pair as if through a stone archway that lines the top and sides of the composition. The upper corners are filled with leafy decorations, as if carved into the stone.
Masolino da Panicale, The Annunciation, c. 1423/1424, tempera (and possibly oil glazes) on panel, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.16

The Annunciation

Masolino da Panicale · c. 1423/1424 · tempera (and possibly oil glazes) on panel ·  Accession ID  1937.1.16

Shown from the shins up, a pale-skinned, balding, bearded man wearing a voluminous rust-red robe lined with black-speckled white fur looks out at us in this vertical portrait painting. The man sits in a wood-framed chair with a curving seat. His body angled slightly to our left, but his face turns to us. He looks out with dark gray eyes under a lined forehead, one eyebrow slightly cocked. He has a rounded nose, thin lips, and paunchy cheeks. A few wisps of gray hair are suggested across the top of his mostly bald head, and his gray beard is trimmed. His left hand, to our right, rests on the terminus of the chair’s arm, and his other hand rests in front of his belly, presumably with that elbow on the other arm. His robe falls heavily in deep folds, and the wide openings of the sleeves continue down and off the bottom edge of the canvas. The front of the robe and the insides of the sleeves are lined with white fur dotted with black. A scarf-like band of fabric brocaded with dark red-on-red drapes over one shoulder. The background is charcoal gray except for a dark, olive-green shape suggesting a doorway over the man’s left shoulder.
Jacopo Tintoretto, A Procurator of Saint Mark's, c. 1575/1585, oil on canvas, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952.5.79

A Procurator of Saint Mark's

Jacopo Tintoretto · c. 1575/1585 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1952.5.79

Shown from the chest up, an older, pale-skinned man dressed in scarlet red faces us in this vertical portrait painting. His slender body is turned slightly to our right, but his head turns back to our left so he gazes at a point just over our left shoulder. His large, deep-set dark blue eyes are lined with crow’s feet over high, angular cheekbones. His dark brown beard is shot through with silvery gray, and he has brown, chin-length hair and bangs across his lined forehead. His red garment has a high neck, and the opening down the front is lined with white, perhaps fur. A black sash drapes over his left shoulder, to our right. He is illuminated with warm light from the upper left and set against a dark brown background. A portion of an inscribed plaque is visible just over his right shoulder. It reads, “…TIS …OIX.”
Anonymous Artist, Andrea de' Franceschi, late 16th or early 17th century, oil on canvas, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.35

Andrea de' Franceschi

Anonymous Artist · late 16th or early 17th century · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1937.1.35