Eugène Fischhof

French, active early 20th century

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Shown from the waist up, a young, pale-skinned woman faces our left in profile, filling the height of this vertical portrait painting. She is brightly lit from the left and set against an inky black background. A faint eyebrow arches over the green eye we can see, and her blush pink lips are closed. Her auburn-red hair is pulled back with a few loose strands brushing her pale cheek. A cluster of jewels, like a brooch, is affixed to a thin, black band that encircles her brow, over her ear. The brooch has an azure-blue jewel over a knot of four topaz-brown gems, all set in gold. Four pink pearls hang from the bottom edge, and a banner with the words “MERITO ET TEMPORE” intertwines among the jewels along the top. Long, black loops hang from the headband to brush the woman’s shoulder. The headband wraps over an elaborate headdress that covers the back of her head like a cap. The headdress is a golden net adorned with pearls, garnets, and other gems. A thick ponytail falls down her back past her waist, and is wrapped with crisscrossing strands of black and white pearls. Her dress has a low-cut, square neckline, a tight-fitting bodice, and a flaring skirt. The fabric is patterned with stylized flowers and leaves outlined in brown against honey gold. A strand of gleaming white pearls hangs around her thin, long neck over a gold chain with a pendant made up of black and ruby-red gems. One more teardrop-shaped pearl hangs from the bottom of the pendant. A gem-studded, gold belt wraps around her waist. A red carnation is tucked into the belt near her elbow. The sleeve we can see is tied onto the bodice at the shoulder with black cord over cream-white fabric, which cascades out from the wide seams across the shoulder and down the back of the arm.
Ambrogio de Predis, Bianca Maria Sforza, probably 1493, oil on poplar panel, Widener Collection, 1942.9.53

Bianca Maria Sforza

Ambrogio de Predis · probably 1493 · oil on poplar panel ·  Accession ID  1942.9.53

Bright light from the upper left illuminates two muscular men and a winged angel against a dim landscape in this square painting. They all have pale skin, and the two men have dark brown hair and beards. One man, Jesus, stands ankle-deep in a rippling dark blue stream in the center of the composition facing us with downcast eyes. He is nude except for a white cloth that drapes over one shoulder and is tied around his hips. The other end of the cloth drops into the water. Jesus’s hands are pressed together in prayer at chest-height closer to his right shoulder, to our left. He leans his torso in the other direction and looks down at the water. The second man stands on the riverbank to our right. His body faces our left but his left shoulder, closer to us, dips down so his broad back is angled toward us. His lower body is wrapped in a cobalt-blue garment bordered with what looks like sheepskin. His near hand swings back to clutch the trunk of a tree growing immediately behind him. In his other hand, he holds up a pewter-grey dish that dribbles water onto Jesus’s head. On the left riverbank, the copper-haired angel looks on, facing our right in profile but the body faces us. The angel wears a sleeveless, pumpkin-orange robe with a shimmering salmon-pink mantle draped over the right shoulder, to our left. Petal-pink and dark grey wings extend from the shoulders, and the lower legs and feet are bare. The shadowy landscape has a dark green field stretching back to jagged, sapphire-blue mountains along the horizon, which comes four-fifths of the way up this composition. Pale blue clouds skim across the vivid blue sky, where three chubby, winged babies float. One holds a triangle and a rod with which to strike it, and another might hold a rectangular musical instrument. Blue clouds split nearby to show a sliver of golden yellow light, and possibly more angels.
Paris Bordone, The Baptism of Christ, c. 1535/1540, oil on canvas, Widener Collection, 1942.9.5

The Baptism of Christ

Paris Bordone · c. 1535/1540 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1942.9.5

An older, pale-skinned man wearing a richly brocaded robe and bishop’s mitre stands under a rounded arch in front of a deep landscape in this tall, narrow, vertical painting. The man faces our right and has a deeply lined face with light brown eyes under thick brows, a long nose, and a pale, closed mouth. His dimpled chin and jowly neck are tinged with a five-o-clock shadow. The pointed gold mitre on his head is encrusted with pearls and ruby-red, olive-green, and dark gray gems. He wears a long white garment under a scarlet-red and shimmering gold brocaded robe. Bands down the shoulders and front of the robe show angels, an eagle, and a collection of objects. He wears marine-blue gloves and gold rings on both hands. One hand is held in front of his chest, the first two fingers extended. He holds a crozier, a staff with a gold, spiraling top, in the other hand. He stands on a pink and blue tiled floor near a gray step. The arched opening behind him gives way to a landscape with trees, gray stone towers, and distant blue hills under a pale blue sky.
Gerard David, Netherlandish 15th/16th Century, The Saint Anne Altarpiece: Saint Nicholas [left panel], c. 1500/1520, oil on panel, Widener Collection, 1942.9.17.a

The Saint Anne Altarpiece: Saint Nicholas [left panel]

Gerard David, Netherlandish 15th/16th Century · c. 1500/1520 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1942.9.17.a

Two women and a baby, all with pale skin, sit together on a gray, stone throne with patterned fabric hanging behind them and a patterned rug below in this narrow, vertical painting. The woman sitting on the throne, Saint Anne, is the largest. A second woman, Mary, is smaller in scale, and she sits on Saint Anne’s lap. Mary, in turn, holds a nude baby boy on her lap. Both women have light brown eyes under faint, arched brows, smooth skin, long straight noses, and their shell-pink lips are closed. Saint Anne sits with her body facing us and she looks down with her head slightly tilted to our left. Her white head covering drapes over her shoulders and hangs down from her chin to cover her neck. She wears a marine-blue dress cinched at her waist with a black and gold belt, and a crimson-red robe that falls to and puddles around her feet. Her right arm, on our left, wraps around and holds Mary’s hip, and she supports a book with gold-edged pages with her other hand. Mary sits on Saint Anne’s right thigh, to our left, and leans toward the baby, who sits on her left knee, to our right. Her long, wavy, brown hair falls over her shoulders, and she wears a cobalt-blue robe over a lilac-purple dress. The baby has short, curly blond hair and reaches to turn the pages of the book. He has rounded cheeks and a pudgy torso. The stone throne is ornamented on the arms and at the top corners with ivory-white, nude children that are presumably also carved out of stone. The cloth hanging behind Saint Anne is decorated with glimmering gold, ornamental leaf designs against a pine-green background. The rug beneath her feet is a geometric pattern of red, tan, black, and white.
Gerard David, Netherlandish 15th/16th Century, The Saint Anne Altarpiece: Saint Anne with the Virgin and Child [middle panel], c. 1500/1520, oil on panel, Widener Collection, 1942.9.17.b

The Saint Anne Altarpiece: Saint Anne with the Virgin and Child [middle panel]

Gerard David, Netherlandish 15th/16th Century · c. 1500/1520 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1942.9.17.b

A pale-skinned man wearing a gray monk’s robe stands holding a wooden cross in one hand and a book and a baby in the other in this tall, narrow, vertical painting. The man is under a rounded arch in front of a deep landscape. His body faces us but he looks down and to our left with brown eyes under curved brows. He is clean-shaven, and his dark hair is cut into a ring around his head. The dark gray robe falls to his bare feet and is tied with a rope around his middle. The book he holds in his left hand, to our right, is open, the gold edges of the pages shiny against the vivid red binding. A small nude baby sits upright on the open book, hands together in prayer. The child has blond hair and thin limbs. The man stands on a pink and blue tiled floor near a gray step. Just beyond the dark gray stone arch is a cluster of royal blue iris. A grassy lawn extends to a body of water, a white tower tucked among trees, and distant blue hills under a pale blue sky.
Gerard David, Netherlandish 15th/16th Century, The Saint Anne Altarpiece: Saint Anthony of Padua [right panel], c. 1500/1520, oil on panel, Widener Collection, 1942.9.17.c

The Saint Anne Altarpiece: Saint Anthony of Padua [right panel]

Gerard David, Netherlandish 15th/16th Century · c. 1500/1520 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1942.9.17.c

A group of pale-skinned men, women, and children along with a few horses and dogs form a loose line across a dirt road, which is flanked with rows of buildings on both sides that converge in the tree-filled distance in this horizontal painting. The scene is painted mostly with sage and moss green, peanut and caramel brown, cream white, and black. Most of the people wear hats or caps. The women wear long dresses and the men wear jackets and pants. One man wearing a black jacket with buttons down the front, and with white at the neck and cuffs, leans down from atop a black horse at the center of the group. Another man with a tall, cream-white, brimmed hat and white collar stands behind a dappled horse to our right of center. Men, women, and children, most wearing tattered and worn clothing, look on. One woman to our left holds a baby strapped to her back and others gather around the horses. A pair of men in front of a stone building to our right smoke long, white, tobacco pipes. Others peer out of the open door and windows. An illegible wooden sign hangs above the door. Leafy vines grow over parts of the building façade. To our left, a woman sits on the ground and holds a spindle as she winds wool with a spinning frame. A man leans down over her shoulder, and a child looks away from us, into a fenced enclosure in front of a building. People, horses, dogs, and chickens are scattered along the road into the distance, and a church steeple rises against the ivory-white clouds in the sky beyond. A partial inscription with the artist’s name and date appears in black paint in the lower right corner: “Isack van Os 164.”
Isack van Ostade, The Halt at the Inn, 1645, oil on panel transferred to canvas, Widener Collection, 1942.9.49

The Halt at the Inn

Isack van Ostade · 1645 · oil on panel transferred to canvas ·  Accession ID  1942.9.49

George Romney, Mrs. Alexander Blair, 1787-1789, oil on canvas, Widener Collection, 1942.9.77

Mrs. Alexander Blair

George Romney · 1787-1789 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1942.9.77