Didier Aaron

Explore Selected Works

Jean François Pierre Peyron, Venus and the Graces Crowning Thémire, 1795/1796, pen and black and brown ink with brown wash over traces of graphite, on laid paper, laid down, Gift of Jeffrey E. Horvitz, 2008.117.1

Venus and the Graces Crowning Thémire

Jean François Pierre Peyron · 1795/1796 · pen and black and brown ink with brown wash over traces of graphite, on laid paper, laid down ·  Accession ID  2008.117.1

Shown from the knees up, a young woman sits nuzzling a baby in her lap in this vertical painting. They both have pale skin tinged with pink. The woman’s body is angled to our right with her head in profile. A narrow, white scarf ties around her dark brown hair, leaving soft tendrils brushing the side of her face and neck. Her eyes are lowered, and her pursed, rose-pink lips almost touch the infant’s upturned face. A sea-blue mantle is draped across her back and one shoulder, and wraps around to lie across her lap. Ivory-white fabric drapes across her neckline over a voluminous, coral-red robe. The nude, plump child faces away from us, perched on the woman’s knee. He turns to reach fir the woman, so we see a sliver of his flushed, left cheek and the tip of his nose. He has curly blond hair. One pudgy hand rests on her neck while the other cradles her chin. A mustard-yellow cloth wraps around his hips and under his dimpled bottom. The woman’s left hand, on our right, delicately embraces his hip. She leans onto her other arm, propped on a stone ledge to our left, and that hand loosely holds one end of the baby’s yellow drapery. The scene is lit from the upper left, and they are set against a background that transitions from earth brown on the left to cinnamon brown on the right. The artist signed the work as if he had written his name and the date on the face of the ledge, just under the woman’s elbow: “Simon Vovet Pinxit.1633.”
Simon Vouet, Madonna and Child, 1633, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Fund, 2016.20.1

Madonna and Child

Simon Vouet · 1633 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  2016.20.1

Hippolyte Lalaisse, Workmen Gathering Ice at the Water's Edge, c. 1850, black chalk heightened with white on blue paper, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, 2015.196.1

Workmen Gathering Ice at the Water's Edge

Hippolyte Lalaisse · c. 1850 · black chalk heightened with white on blue paper ·  Accession ID  2015.196.1

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The Transfiguration

Ercole Setti · c. 1570s/1580s · pen and brown ink on laid paper ·  Accession ID  2020.93.1

Adam Frans van der Meulen, French Troops before Salins and the Surrounding Hills, 1668/1670, red chalk over black chalk surrounding red chalk counterproof, on two joined sheets of laid paper, incised overall for transfer and laid down, The Ahmanson Foundation, 2008.88.1

French Troops before Salins and the Surrounding Hills

Adam Frans van der Meulen · 1668/1670 · red chalk over black chalk surrounding red chalk counterproof, on two joined sheets of laid paper, incised overall for transfer and laid down ·  Accession ID  2008.88.1

Hippolyte Lalaisse, An Ancient Roman Warrior in Battle, c. 1830, pen and brown ink on wove paper, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, 2015.196.3

An Ancient Roman Warrior in Battle

Hippolyte Lalaisse · c. 1830 · pen and brown ink on wove paper ·  Accession ID  2015.196.3

Hippolyte Lalaisse, Nessus and Dejanira in Four Poses, and the Dying Nessus, 1830s, pen and brown ink with brown wash, heightened with white on blue wove paper, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, 2015.196.2

Nessus and Dejanira in Four Poses, and the Dying Nessus

Hippolyte Lalaisse · 1830s · pen and brown ink with brown wash, heightened with white on blue wove paper ·  Accession ID  2015.196.2

Hippolyte Lalaisse, A Pollard Willow by a Stream, c. 1840, pen and brown ink on cream wove paper, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, 2015.196.4

A Pollard Willow by a Stream

Hippolyte Lalaisse · c. 1840 · pen and brown ink on cream wove paper ·  Accession ID  2015.196.4

Shown from the lap up, a young woman with smooth, olive-toned skin tinged with pink sits facing our left on a waterfront verandah in this vertical painting. A peanut-brown stone wall behind her angles into the picture from the right edge of the painting, and a stone balustrade spans the width of the composition beyond her. A sliver of a coral-pink drapery hangs just behind her shoulders, to our right. She tips her head down and to our right over slightly slumped shoulders. She looks at or toward us with large brown eyes under dark, arching brows. She has a thin, straight nose, and her full, rosy lips are closed. Her black hair is parted down the middle and long braids fall to each side of her face. Her head is covered with a sheer, straw-yellow fabric that winds around the braids. Her bare arms stretch forward from her sleeveless dress, and her hands are loosely clasped on one raised knee. The dress has a white bodice trimmed with a delicate gold pattern around the loose neckline, and a gleaming bead at the shoulder we can see. The voluminous skirt starts just under the bust, and falls in folds around her lower body. It is patterned with stylized, golden-tan leaves, vines, and flowers against an aquamarine-blue background, and the skirt is belted around her waist. Water in the distance is painted with a band of pale blue. Where the clear sky meets the horizon is misty peach that deepens to topaz blue along the top of the composition. The artist has signed and dated the painting in the upper right corner “HEINRICH.LEHMANN 1837 PARIS.”
Henri Lehmann, Woman of the "Orient", 1837, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Fund, 2019.15.1

Woman of the "Orient"

Henri Lehmann · 1837 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  2019.15.1

Giuseppe Maria Crespi, Portrait of a Man, c. 1700, red chalk on laid paper, William B. O'Neal Fund, 2021.65.1

Portrait of a Man

Giuseppe Maria Crespi · c. 1700 · red chalk on laid paper ·  Accession ID  2021.65.1