Provenance

Prince Alois II of Liechtenstein

1796 - 1858

Explore Selected Works

A woman with smooth, pale skin, wearing an ivory-white headdress and a peacock-blue dress, is shown from the hips up in this vertical portrait painting, which has an arched top. The woman’s body and face are angled to our left, and she looks off in that direction with gray eyes. Her smooth cheeks are lightly blushed in her heart-shaped face. She has a high forehead, faint brows, and her full, pale pink lips are closed. Narrow panels of her headdress come down the sides of her face, emphasizing the heart shape. The fabric covers her head and falls in a veil down her back. Her dress comes up high across the back of her neck and then flares out to nearly her armpits across a low, straight neckline. Sheer fabric covers her chest, and the inner part of her neckline has a band of black to each side. The blue dress is lined with gray fur along the neckline, down the front, and on the undersides of voluminous sleeves, which are turned back at her wrists. Black cuffs peek out from under the folds. In her right hand, to our left, she holds a single pink carnation in front of her abdomen with her thumb and first two fingers. She wears a gold ring on the pointer finger of her other hand, in which she holds a string of coral-red beads. A hint of a gold belt is just visible between and behind her hands. The green background behind her glows around her shoulders and deepens to moss green around the arched top of the panel.
Joos van Cleve, Margaretha Boghe, probably 1518, oil on panel, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, 1962.9.2

Margaretha Boghe

Joos van Cleve · probably 1518 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1962.9.2

Shown from the waist up, a clean-shaven, pale-skinned man dressed in black gazes at us in this vertical portrait painting, which has an arched top. His body is angled to our right, but he glances back toward us with slightly drooping hazel-green eyes under slender brows. His face tapers to a narrow chin, and his pale pink lips are closed. His ear-length brown hair and bangs are mostly covered by a wide, black hat that sits cocked to our left. He wears a voluminous black coat with a wide fur collar over a black garment with a notched collar. A white shirt beneath is visible at the neck and cuffs. He pulls a bone-white glove onto one hand and wears a gold ring with a green gem on the index finger of his bare hand. The green background behind him glows around his shoulders and deepens to moss green around the arched top of the panel.
Joos van Cleve, Joris Vezeleer, probably 1518, oil on panel, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, 1962.9.1

Joris Vezeleer

Joos van Cleve · probably 1518 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1962.9.1

A laurel branch to the left and a palm branch to the right, both in muted green tones, curve toward each other, crossing near the top to frame a sprig of spiky juniper in this square painting. A scroll with the Latin words “VIRTVUTEM FORMA DECORAT” weaves around and across the circle made by the branches near the bottom of the composition. The laurel has slightly serrated, oblong leaves that come to a point at either end. The palm has closely packed, narrow leaves that flare out like a feather to our right. The laurel, palm, and delicate twig of juniper are cut off near the bottom edge, where there is an area of flat brown that rises like a mound at the middle and tapers to each side. The rest of the background is dark brown speckled with rose pink, and a crimson-red, round seal is pressed into the top right corner.
Leonardo da Vinci, Wreath of Laurel, Palm, and Juniper with a Scroll inscribed Virtutem Forma Decorat [reverse], c. 1474/1478, tempera on panel, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, 1967.6.1.b

Wreath of Laurel, Palm, and Juniper with a Scroll inscribed Virtutem Forma Decorat [reverse]

Leonardo da Vinci · c. 1474/1478 · tempera on panel ·  Accession ID  1967.6.1.b

Shown from the shoulders up, a man and woman face our left in profile against a dark background in this vertical portrait painting. The woman is situated closer to us so she overlaps the man, whose profile is shifted to our left. The woman’s eye we can see is brown and she looks ahead from under a gently arched eyebrow. She has a pale skin with faintly blushed cheeks, a straight nose, and her pink lips are closed. Her reddish-gold hair is pulled back into a loose knot at the base of her head, and tendrils fall down her neck. Her hair is braided across the crown of her head, which is encircled with a string of pearls and adorned with a red jewel over her forehead. Gossamer-white fabric wraps around the base of her long neck. The man behind her and to our left has a more tan complexion. He looks ahead with brown eyes under lowered eyebrows. He has a long, bumped nose and his pink lips are closed. He has auburn-brown hair and wears a burgundy-red robe around his shoulders. The pair occupy a shallow space behind a stone ledge that runs along the bottom edge of this composition. The light that illuminates them from the front creates a halo-like effect on the midnight-blue background behind them. The number "19" is painted in the lower left corner.
Sir Peter Paul Rubens, Agrippina and Germanicus, c. 1614, oil on panel, Andrew W. Mellon Fund, 1963.8.1

Agrippina and Germanicus

Sir Peter Paul Rubens · c. 1614 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1963.8.1

This square portrait shows the head and shoulders of a young woman in front of a spiky bush that fills much of the background except for a landscape view that extends into the deep distance to our right. The woman's body is angled to our right but her face turns to us. She has chalk-white, smooth skin with heavily lidded, light brown eyes, and her pale pink lips are closed. Pale blush highlights her cheeks, and she looks either at us or very slightly away from our eyes. Her brown hair is parted down the middle and pulled back, but tight, lively curls frame her face. Her hair turns gold where the light shines on it. She wears a brown dress, trimmed along the square neckline with gold. The front of the bodice is tied with a blue ribbon, and the lacing holes are also edged with gold. A sheer white veil covers her chest and is pinned at the center with a small gold ball. The bush fills the space around her head with copper-brown, spiky leaves. A river winds between trees and rolling hills in the distance to our right. Trees and a town along the horizon, which comes about halfway up the painting, is pale blue under an ice-blue sky.
Leonardo da Vinci, Ginevra de' Benci [obverse], c. 1474/1478, oil on panel, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, 1967.6.1.a

Ginevra de' Benci [obverse]

Leonardo da Vinci · c. 1474/1478 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1967.6.1.a

Facing away from us, a young woman with pale skin, wearing a golden yellow gown, leans her head down toward the lute she holds nearly upright in her lap in this horizontal painting. She sits near the right edge of the painting so her body faces the table beyond her, to our left. Her body is angled away from us but she turns her head so we see her in profile, facing our left. She tips her head to put her ear next to the lute, and she looks down and off to our left with brown eyes under thin, slightly arched brows. She has a straight nose, smooth, flushed cheeks, and her coral-pink lips are closed. Her dark blond hair is parted down the middle and pulled back under long braids looped around the back and over the top of her head. Light reflects off her hair and off the short, loose strands near the ear we can see. Her long yellow dress has a full skirt. The stiff bodice is laced up the sides and hooks over the shoulders, over a voluminous, bright white blouse. The sleeve we can see is pushed up over her forearm. Her seat is draped in crimson-red, velvety fabric. She holds the neck of the lute up high with her left hand, her fingers pressing the strings, so she brings the rounded body of the instrument up to her ear. In front of her, the table is draped with fringed, olive-green fabric. A violin made with blond wood lies on the table with the neck stretching toward us. There is also the violin bow and at least three wooden recorders on the table. One book of music is open so the pages fall over the edge of the table, near the woman. One other book of music at the back of the table is held open with a recorder. The feet of the table and the ankles of the woman are cut off by the bottom edge of the painting. The background is dark, earth brown except for a diagonal shaft of light across the top left corner of the composition, presumably from a high window in the wall out of our view.
Orazio Gentileschi, The Lute Player, c. 1612/1620, oil on canvas, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, 1962.8.1

The Lute Player

Orazio Gentileschi · c. 1612/1620 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1962.8.1