Provenance

Peter Arrell Brown Widener

Widener Collection

American, 1834 - 1915

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Giovanni Battista Foggini, Vittoria della Rovere, Grand Duchess of Tuscany, c. 1690, marble, Widener Collection, 1942.9.130

Vittoria della Rovere, Grand Duchess of Tuscany

Giovanni Battista Foggini · c. 1690 · marble ·  Accession ID  1942.9.130

Two women with pale skin look out at us from the other side of a rectangular window opening with a shadowy interior behind them in this vertical painting. On our right, in the lower third of the composition, one young woman leans toward us over her left arm, which rests along the window ledge. She bends her right arm and props her chin on her fist. She looks at us with dark brown eyes under dark brows. She has shiny chestnut-brown hair with a strawberry-red bow on the right side of her head, to our left. She has a straight nose, and her full pink lips curve up in a smile. She wears a gossamer-white dress with a wide neckline trimmed in dark gray, with another red bow on the front of her chest. Her voluminous sleeves are pushed back to her elbows. To our left, a second woman peeks around a partially opened shutter. She is slightly older, and she stands next to the first woman with her body facing us. She tilts her head and also gazes at us with dark eyes under dark brown brows. She has dark brown hair covered by an oyster-white shawl. She holds the shawl up with her right hand to cover the bottom half of her face. Her mouth is hidden but her eyes crinkle as if in a smile. Her left arm bends at the elbow as she grasps the open shutter. She also wears a white shirt pushed back to her elbows, and a rose-pink skirt. The frame of the window runs parallel to the sides and bottom of the canvas. The room behind them is black in shadow.
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, Two Women at a Window, c. 1655/1660, oil on canvas, Widener Collection, 1942.9.46

Two Women at a Window

Bartolomé Esteban Murillo · c. 1655/1660 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1942.9.46

A man, woman, several children, a dog, and a chicken work and play outside a two-story, partially vine-covered, brown brick house in this vertical painting. All the people have peachy, light skin. We look slightly down onto a courtyard enclosed by the house to our right and a wall along the back of the yard, a short distance from us. To our right and closest to us, laundry dries on a line over a pile of branches, cast off bricks, and a wooden shovel near the lower right corner. A young girl wearing a white bonnet, a royal-blue shirt, and a long, harvest-yellow skirt sits on the dirt ground, leaning toward a little boy holding the paws of a black and white dog that stands on its hind legs. A broom leans against a fenced-in chicken coop behind the boy, and a bunch of carrots rests on the flat roof of the coop. Beyond the children, a woman sits hunched on a rushed chair, cleaning mussels taken from a wooden bucket and placed in an earthenware dish. A bearded man leans in the open doorway in the courtyard wall looking at the woman and a young girl helps a toddler stand nearby, as a chicken pecks at the ground. The roof slouches atop the brick house along the top edge of the canvas to our right, and the peak of another roof and trees rise above the courtyard wall. Fluffy white clouds float across the bright blue sky in the upper right corner. The artist signed and dated the work in dark paint in the lower center: “Av. Ostade 1673.”
Adriaen van Ostade, The Cottage Dooryard, 1673, oil on canvas, Widener Collection, 1942.9.48

The Cottage Dooryard

Adriaen van Ostade · 1673 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1942.9.48

An armored man on horseback hands a piece of emerald-green cloth down to the nearly nude man standing next to him in this slightly stylized, vertical painting. Both men have light skin, and they, along with the horse, nearly fill the composition. To our right, the bright white horse stands angled to our right with the front left hoof raised. It has a smoke-gray mane, and wears a black bridle. The man riding the horse has short, copper-blond hair and a long face with a pointed chin. He looks down at the ground with dark eyes under black, arched brows. He has a long, thin nose, and his small lips are closed and framed by the faint suggestion of a mustache. He wears a white ruff pleated into figure-eights over his high-necked armor, which is liberally outlined and decorated with gold against the pewter-colored plates. He grips the voluminous, green cape in one hand and holds a sword in the other, down by the leg we can see. The cleanshaven man next to him, to our left, looks off to our right in profile. He has close-cropped, dark hair and smooth skin. His lips are parted, and he tips his head slightly away from us. He holds the green cloth with the hand closer to the horse and gestures down with his other pointer finger, in front of his hip. A white cloth bandage is wrapped around one shin, and he rests his weight on the other leg. The horse and man stand on a curving spit of brown earth. A spring-green landscape dips down behind them, running low near the bottom edge of the painting. The horizon comes about a quarter of the way up the composition, and fog-gray and white clouds create thin screens across the topaz-blue sky. The loose brushstrokes are visible in some areas, especially in the landscape and clothing. The artist signed his name in Greek near the lower right corner.
El Greco, Saint Martin and the Beggar, 1597/1599, oil on canvas, Widener Collection, 1942.9.25

Saint Martin and the Beggar

El Greco · 1597/1599 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1942.9.25

Shown from the about the thighs up, a man, a woman holding a swaddled baby, and a satyr, which has a man’s torso and goat’s legs, sit and stand around a table in a deeply shadowed room, filling this horizontal painting. All the people have light skin and dark hair, and are lit dramatically from our left. To our left, the bare-chested satyr faces our right in profile as he leans toward the table, looking up at the woman. He wears a crown of leaves and has a dark goatee. Almost lost in shadow, a sable-brown horn juts up from his temple. Light falls across his bare shoulders, and his hands and neck are ruddy. Another ring of leaves encircles his waist over the silvery-gray fur of his goat’s legs. He holds his left hand, farther from us, in front of his chest with his open palm facing the couple to our right. His other hand rests at the top of a wooden staff behind his right hip, closer to us. The staff disappears behind a wood plank resting across at least one barrel, which presumably acts as the bench on which he sits on or hovers slightly over. The second man sits at the table to our right, his back mostly to us as he looks over his left shoulder, up toward the satyr, with his face in profile. One brow is cocked over the dark eye we can see, and he has a prominent nose and a mustache. He wears a loose-fitting, long-sleeved, white garment tied around the waist. He blows across a soup spoon held to his lips, his cheeks puffed. He leans on his other arm, which rests on the tabletop near a blue bowl. Across the table, behind the seated man, a woman looks back at the satyr from the corners of her eyes, her coral-red lips curled up in a smile. Her body faces our left and she tilts her head to her left, our right, as she turns her face down toward that shoulder. Her dark brown hair is pulled up and back, and she wears an olive-green wrap over a white shirt. The baby she holds leans away from her chest to twist and look back at the satyr as well. A few details eventually emerge from the deeply shadowed background, including a fourth person tucked into the lower left corner, who looks back over a shoulder at us or the group. Light rims the corner of a window cut from a stone wall, and a few ceramic dishes and cups line two shelves to our right behind the woman.
Johann Liss, The Satyr and the Peasant, possibly c. 1623/1626, oil on canvas, Widener Collection, 1942.9.39

The Satyr and the Peasant

Johann Liss · possibly c. 1623/1626 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1942.9.39

The image is of a ceramic plate featuring a bust of a person shown from the chest up in profile facing left. The person has wavy hair adorned with a headband. The plate has a decorative pattern of yellow scales against a blue background and additional floral and geometric motifs. The background is a creamy shade.
Deruta 16th Century, Large dish with scale border; in the center, an imperial Roman figure and the letter N crowned, c. 1510/1540, tin-glazed earthenware (maiolica), Widener Collection, 1942.9.320

Large dish with scale border; in the center, an imperial Roman figure and the letter N crowned

Deruta 16th Century · c. 1510/1540 · tin-glazed earthenware (maiolica) ·  Accession ID  1942.9.320

This is a painting of people and animals in a rich green landscape under a blue sky with one bright star. On the right, under an arch, there is a seated woman with an infant on her lap, one man standing behind her and another kneeling in front of her, a crown on the ground next to him. There are two more men with crowns standing near the kneeling man, both pointing towards the child. The left side shows more people standing and looking at the woman and child, with some mounted on horses. More people are walking down a tall hill on the left, coming towards us. The people are clothed in tunics and cloaks in bright shades of green, blue, and orange-yellow. Most of them have pale yellow skin, although one of the crowned men in front of the woman has brown skin.
Nicola da Urbino, Panel with the Adoration of the Magi, c. 1525, tin-glazed earthenware (maiolica), Widener Collection, 1942.9.341

Panel with the Adoration of the Magi

Nicola da Urbino · c. 1525 · tin-glazed earthenware (maiolica) ·  Accession ID  1942.9.341

This is a painting of a group of figures gathered around a long table with various dishes and food items. The figures are depicted in intricate detail, with the central figures showing emotional expressions. The setting is a richly decorated interior with ornate architectural elements, including columns, arches, and a large window. The clothing of the figures is rendered with rich colors and patterns, emphasizing the formal and historical significance of the scene. The artwork exhibits rich texture and vibrant colors, consistent with the style associated with the artist, reflecting a scene of historical or religious importance.
Jean I Penicaud, Plaque with the Last Supper, c. 1530, enamel painted on copper, Widener Collection, 1942.9.289

Plaque with the Last Supper

Jean I Penicaud · c. 1530 · enamel painted on copper ·  Accession ID  1942.9.289

From a low perspective, we look at a man wearing black and white, lying on the ground with a pink flag beside him in this long, horizontal painting. We look onto the top of his head and his feet reach into the upper left corner of the composition, so he nearly fills the painting. His dark hair is cut short and gleams softly in the light from the upper left. His head has fallen toward his left shoulder, and his eyes are closed. He wears a black jacket and knee-length black pants. His jacket falls open to show white lining, and he wears a wide, white cummerbund and white stockings. His black, loafer-style shoes have pointed toes and possibly a bow at the bridge of each foot. He man’s right hand, farther from us, rests on his chest, and a black-handled sword or dagger is tucked into that elbow. That hand and his white tie are speckled with red blood. More blood seeps on the peanut-brown floor near the man’s left shoulder, closest to us. The man wears a gold ring on the pinky ring of his left hand, which lies along the ground and rests on or near the pale pink flag, which continues off the bottom left corner of the painting. The brown ground is lighter along the bottom of the painting and deepens to peat brown farther back, along the top edge. Brushstrokes are visible in some areas, especially in the white parts of the costume and the flag. The artist signed the painting in the lower right, “Manet.”
Edouard Manet, The Dead Toreador, probably 1864, oil on canvas, Widener Collection, 1942.9.40

The Dead Toreador

Edouard Manet · probably 1864 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1942.9.40

The sculpture is a small, ornately decorated object with a cylindrical shape and an intricately designed surface. It appears to be a type of decorative vessel or container. The sculpture features a terracotta-orange hue with cream and white detailing. Its structure is composed of vertical panels adorned with patterns, bordered with carved pillars at the corners. The top portion is encircled by a band with a similar pattern. The base includes small feet adorned with green embellishments and decorative elements resembling heads or masks. Crafted from ceramic, the sculpture conveys a sense of delicate craftsmanship amidst a plain background.
French 16th Century, Salt, c. 1540/1560, lead-glazed fine earthenware, Widener Collection, 1942.9.353

Salt

French 16th Century · c. 1540/1560 · lead-glazed fine earthenware ·  Accession ID  1942.9.353

Bibliography

1915

  • "P.A.B. Widener, Capitalist, Dies." The New York Times (7 November 1915): 5:1.

1932

  • "The Widener House." Fortune VI, no. 3 (September 1932): 62.

1940

  • Widener, P.A.B. Without Drums. New York, 1940.

1973

  • Finley, David. A Standard of Excellence. Washington, 1973.

1974

  • Walker, John. Self-Portrait with Donors. Boston, 1974.

1993

  • Lewis, Michael J."'He was not a Connoisseur': Peter Widener and his House." Nineteenth Century 12, no. 3 and 4 (1993): 27-36.

2002

  • Quodbach, Esmé. "'The last of the American Versailles': the Widener Collection at Lynnewood Hall." Simiolus 29, no. 1/2 (2002): 42-96.

2003

  • Minty, Nancy T. Dutch and Flemish Seventeeth-Century Art in America, 1800-1940: Collections, Connoisseurship and Perceptions. Ph.D. diss, New York University, 2003:172-194, 444-494