Provenance

Rudolf J. Heinemann

Heinemann-Fleischmann
Pinakos, Inc.

American, died 1975

Explore selected works

See all 31 works of art
From high above the earth, we look down onto a view with a densely wooded area to the right, buildings clustered along a rocky ridge at the center, and a river winding back into the far distance to our left in this horizontal landscape painting. The color palette is dominated by pine and deep, emerald greens for the forest, tawny brown for tree trunks and the earth along the foreground, and slate gray and pale blue for the rocks, river, sky, and distant hazy landscape. Closer inspection reveals surprising and surreal details along the riverbanks and in the sky, beginning with a nightmarish hybrid of creatures and goblins in the lower right corner, at the outskirts of the forest. One creature has the body of a person with the head of a white bird, and another resembles a head walking around on two legs without a body. Tucked under a lean-to in the lower right, a man with a long white beard wearing a black hooded robe sits near goblin-like critters. In the foreground on our left, a group of people with peach-colored skin gathers around an oversized fish washed up onshore, which is covered with a black cloth marked with a large white X. A hooded and cloaked person sits atop the fish, holding a bell. Groups of fantastical creatures move in clusters or individually toward or around the buildings clustered on the rocky ridge. Dark brown plumes of smoke billow from a high steeple, probably a church and bell tower, and a bright light, possibly fire, illuminates the structure from behind. To our left, what first looks like a conical structure turns out to have a pink nose and eyes peeking out from what may be an overturned teacup being worn like a hat. More crowds and creatures line the shore of the river that winds away from us, around a peninsula, and into the distant horizon, which comes about halfway up this painting. The surface of the water has a pearly, opalescent sheen. White clouds swirl across a bright blue sky, as if they were waves in the sea. Incongruously, a group of spindly, insect-like creatures gathers in the sky riding fish or boats.
Anonymous Artist, The Temptation of Saint Anthony, c. 1550/1575, oil on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952.2.19

The Temptation of Saint Anthony

Anonymous Artist · c. 1550/1575 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1952.2.19

A young woman and older man accompanied by two winged angels kneel to gaze at a tiny infant lying on an overturned basket in this vertical painting. They and the five men standing or kneeling to each side all have pale skin. The woman, Mary, is on our left and leans forward with her hands stretched out toward the infant. Her long, honey-blond hair is covered with a pleated white cloth, and she wears a marine-blue gown over a garment with garnet-red sleeves. The older man, Joseph, kneels opposite her. He has a gray beard and hair and wears a charcoal-gray cloak over a scarlet-red robe. The nude infant, Jesus, lies on the basket between them next to a bundle of wheat. The angels are about half the size of Mary and Joseph and kneel just beyond Jesus. They both have blond hair and wings striped in shades of carnation pink, canary yellow, and celestial blue. The angel on our left wears an olive-green robe, and the other wears a white robe shaded with arctic blue. Mary, Joseph, Jesus, and the angels gather on a worn, tiled stone floor outside the ruins of a building with an exposed interior. Ornamented bronze and rose-pink panels are set into pillars and over openings. Ivy grows along the upper edges of the partially ruined walls, and small tree branches sprout on the roof. An owl and another bird perch on the remains of a wood roof tucked behind the first structure. An ox and a donkey are tucked into a back corner of the building below. Three men dressed in burgundy and black enter the ruins from the left. One wears a soft black hat and holds a musical instrument to his lips. Two more men kneel beyond Joseph on the right, and one wears pea green with a rose-pink cape. The background beyond the building and people is filled with a green and blue landscape scattered with buildings and tiny people walking and dancing around a fire.
Adriaen Isenbrant, The Adoration of the Shepherds, probably 1520/1540, oil on panel, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, 1978.46.1

The Adoration of the Shepherds

Adriaen Isenbrant · probably 1520/1540 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1978.46.1

Seven men, women, and children with pale, peachy skin flank a woman surrounded by a halo of light, sitting on a throne and holding a nearly nude baby boy in her lap in this long, horizontal painting. The wide throne sits on a low platform and reaches off the top edge of the canvas. The body of the woman sitting there, Mary, faces us and she turns her head to look down to our left with her lips closed. She wears a loose, dusky rose-pink dress under an aquamarine-blue cloak. A translucent white veil covers her chestnut-brown hair and shoulders, and is tucked into the neckline of her dress. Her right hand, to our left, is raised with the palm down, and she supports the hip and thigh of the baby, Jesus, with her other hand. With his hips facing us, Jesus leans to our right as he twists to hold both hands, palm out, in that direction. He has curly blond hair, and he turns his head back over his shoulder to look down at the people to our left. He has brown eyes under delicately arched brows, flushed cheeks, and his pink lips curve up in a slight smile. Though he appears to be nude at first glance, closer inspection shows he wears a sheer white, short-sleeved, knee-length tunic. Golden rays radiate from Mary and Jesus's bodies and mostly obscure the throne behind them. Two men are shown to our left of the throne and two men and a woman are shown to our right. Mary and Jesus look to our left at an older man with a long, gray beard. He kneels with his body angled to our right with both hands lifted palms down at waist height. He looks at us from the corners of his dark eyes under arched brows. He wears a voluminous, honey-brown robe lined with black spotted, white fur and covered over the shoulders and arms with a white fur cape. His matching brown cap has a pattern around the edge, perhaps beading. Standing behind the kneeling man to our left is a bareheaded man with a long, pointed gray beard and short-cropped, gray hair. He also looks out at us with brown eyes, which are lined at the corners with wrinkles. His robe is burgundy red and also lined with black and white fur down the front and around long, drooping sleeves. To our right of the throne, a woman with blond hair in tight curls kneels with her hands together in prayer at her chest. She looks at us with gray eyes set in a round face. Her full robe is patterned with sage-green vines and leaves against an amber-brown background, and is lined along the sleeves and down the front with maroon red. Behind her and to our right stand two young men with short brown hair, wearing dark brown robes with high, white collars. The man to our left has a thin mustache and the other is cleanshaven, and they both look off to our left. Two winged angels sit on the platform to either side of Mary’s feet, which is strewn with roses. The wings of both angels are painted with golden yellow and rust red. To our left, the child-like angel has short, brown hair and wears a teal-blue jacket with a white ruffle at the neck. Coral-red drapery covers the legs over bare feet, and the angel plays a violin. The angel to our right of Mary’s feet is a little taller, and has curly brown hair. Wearing butter yellow and moss green, that angel strums a lute and looks out at us with dark eyes. To either side of the throne, the room is lined with a balustrade and columns, framing a landscape with rolling green hills and ice-blue mountains. White clouds are streaked across the vivid blue sky.
Jacopo Tintoretto, Doge Alvise Mocenigo and Family before the Madonna and Child, c. 1575, oil on canvas, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1961.9.44

Doge Alvise Mocenigo and Family before the Madonna and Child

Jacopo Tintoretto · c. 1575 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1961.9.44

A man and woman greet each other at the center of a group of about a dozen people set within a landscape in this horizontal painting. All the people have pale, peachy skin. In the middle of the crowd, a woman, Abigail, kneels to our left while a man to our right, David, reaches out to her. Abigail’s blond hair is tied back under a white veil that drapes over her shoulders, and she wears a slate-blue dress and a string of pearls around her neck. She holds her left hand, on our right, to her chest and her other hand gestures down to a basket of bread held by a man in the lower left corner of the painting. David stands and bends toward Abigail as he cups her bent elbow with his left hand. His other hand rests on a walking stick near her head, and his index finger is extended as if to brush her cheek. He has short, curly blond hair and beard, and he wears a thigh-length tunic under a breastplate. Crimson-red fabric drapes around his shoulders and over his armor, and a dagger or short sword hangs at his hip. Three women, three men, and a donkey gather to our left, behind Abigail. Two of the men hold large baskets of bread, and they all look toward Abigail and David. Six armored men, two younger people, and two horses make up the group to the right. Trees line a hill behind the people to our left and dark gray and amber-colored clouds fill the sky.
Sir Peter Paul Rubens, The Meeting of David and Abigail, c. 1630, oil on panel, Bequest of Lore Heinemann in memory of her husband, Dr. Rudolf J. Heinemann, 1997.57.8

The Meeting of David and Abigail

Sir Peter Paul Rubens · c. 1630 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1997.57.8

A pale-skinned woman stands holding a cross in front of a deep landscape in this vertical painting. The woman’s body faces us but she tips her head to our right and looks off in that direction with light brown, wide-set, large eyes. She has a long, straight nose, pale pink lips, and a square jawline. Her thick blond hair is pulled back and curls fall alongside her face and fall down to her shoulders. She wears a gold crown and gold breastplate ornamented with pearls and gems. Her lapis-blue gown is slit along the long sleeves and puffs of white linen are pulled through the openings. A carnation-red robe drapes over one shoulder and across her hips. She is barefoot, and both hands brace the tall cross to her right, our left. A tall, spindly tree with only a few leaves in its sparce canopy stands just behind her to our right. She stands on a grassy hill, and a path leads back to a town. More grassy, tree-lined hills behind her rise to another town outlined against the pale blue sky. A few clouds trundle across the sky and more are streaked across the pink horizon, which comes about halfway up this composition.
Cima da Conegliano, Saint Helena, c. 1495, oil on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1961.9.12

Saint Helena

Cima da Conegliano · c. 1495 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1961.9.12

A mostly nude man hangs by his outstretched hands from a wooden cross, and is flanked by two pairs of people in this vertical painting. The cross and four people at its foot fill the composition. All the people have pale skin, and the scene is set in front of a shiny gold background. Blood trickles from a ring of thorns around the man’s head, over chestnut-brown hair. Eyes closed, his face tips to his right, our left, to rest on his shoulder, and his body faces us. His hips are wrapped in a translucent white cloth. Blood drips from the nails piercing his hands and overlapping feet on the T-shaped cross, and from a wound over his right ribs. His head is encircled with a flat, gold, disk-like halo. A plaque at the top of the cross, over his head, reads “INRI.” At the foot of the cross, to our left, a balding man with a long, white beard, wearing a gold brocade tunic under a red cape, kneels with his head tipped back and eyelids lowered. Behind him and to our left, a woman wearing a long lapis-blue robe that covers her head and body stands facing us with her hands crossed across her chest. She holds a piece of white cloth and has tears on her cheeks. She also has a gold halo. Another man kneels to our right of the cross. He wears a white robe and his hair is cut into a ring that encircles his head. He looks up at the cross. Along the right edge of the panel, a person with long blond hair surrounded by a halo stands with fingers interlaced in prayer, looking toward the cross. This person’s robe is rose pink lined with olive green, and it falls over a coral-pink garment beneath. Five tiny angels wearing royal-blue garments flit about, each catching the blood from the man’s hands, side, and feet in golden chalices. The fifth angel flits to our right, mirroring the angel catching blood from the gash on the opposite side. The angels’ wings were punched into the gold background, but are difficult to make out now. The surface of the panel is covered with a network of fine cracks, and some of the red layer under the gold shows through.
Master of Saint Veronica, The Crucifixion, c. 1400/1410, tempera on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1961.9.29

The Crucifixion

Master of Saint Veronica · c. 1400/1410 · tempera on panel ·  Accession ID  1961.9.29

A bearded, pale-skinned man with shoulder-length, dark brown hair is shown from the hips up against a dark, emerald-green curtain in this vertical portrait painting. The man’s body is angled slightly to our left, while his head turns to look directly at us with dark, shadowed eyes. His chin-length hair is parted down the middle and tucked behind his ears. He wears a dark robe over a white shirt with a high collar. In his left hand, to our right, he holds a folded piece of yellowish paper or cloth, and his other hand rests just below it with fingers pointing downward. He is lit from our right so the far side of his face is thrown into shadow. At his shoulder and to our left, a shelf or table covered with green holds a globe, an open book with pages filled with text, a stack of closed books, and a quill resting in an inkwell. Some of the text in the open book is visible but not clearly legible. Most of the background is filled with the jewel-toned green curtain, but a sliver to the left, behind the objects, is black.
Sebastiano del Piombo, Portrait of a Humanist, c. 1520, oil on panel transferred to hardboard, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1961.9.38

Portrait of a Humanist

Sebastiano del Piombo · c. 1520 · oil on panel transferred to hardboard ·  Accession ID  1961.9.38

Shown from the hips up in a room on the far side of a ledge, a young woman props up a naked baby so he stands on a cushion in this vertical painting. The woman’s left hand, to our right, supports the baby’s neck, and her other hand holds him upright. Both have pale skin tinged with pink and shaded with cool gray, and they face us at the center of the composition. The woman wears a royal-blue hooded garment that comes low over her forehead. Light blond curls catch the light under her hood, near her left cheek, to our right. She looks into the distance, as if over our right shoulder, with unfocused, pale brown eyes. She has a straight yet soft nose, flushed cheeks, closed pink lips, and a slight double chin. The nude baby has blond hair and blue eyes. His torso and limbs have the rolls and dimples of a toddler, and the woman’s hands press gently into the flesh. One of his elbows hooks up over the woman’s shoulder, next to his head. He points at the woman with his middle finger near her high neckline. The other arm, to our right, hangs by his side and he holds a piece of green and red fruit, possibly an apple. The child stands on one foot on the green cushion, which has red tassels. The pine-green pillow has sea glass-green highlights, suggesting a sheen or texture. His other foot rests against that standing calf, toes splayed. The wall behind the pair is marbled with green or red against tan, and a bright, scarlet-red cloth hangs behind the woman. A window on the back wall opens onto a landscape to our left. There, a plain of green grass is interrupted by a winding pathway, which leads to a walled fortification and gate. Beyond the gate are trees and mountains, hazy green and blue in the deep distance. Thick white clouds drift across the bright blue sky above. A sliver of a window in the upper right corner next to the baby has round, bull’s eye glass. In the lower corners of the painting are two heraldic coats of arms. The shield-shaped symbol to our left is of a knight’s helmet with red and white scrolls and vines. In the lower right corner a miniature man kneels behind a shield and holds a long cylindrical object.
Albrecht Dürer, Madonna and Child [obverse], c. 1496/1499, oil on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952.2.16.a

Madonna and Child [obverse]

Albrecht Dürer · c. 1496/1499 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1952.2.16.a

A man and two women walk on a dirt path through a verdant landscape, carrying packs, walking sticks, and other provisions, while in the distance fiery explosions spew flames and plumes of smoke sky-high in this horizontal painting. The people all have pale skin, and the women’s blond hair is bound up. Close to us and at the bottom center of the composition, the man and women walk to our right with their eyes cast down. The man walks at the front of the line, holding a stick with a canteen dangling from a cord over his right shoulder. In other left hand, he carries a basket filled with shiny silver disks. The man has wrinkled skin and a long gray beard. He wears a royal-blue coat lined with white fur over a brown tunic, black tights, and gray shoes. His head is wrapped in a turban with yellow coils beneath a purple and green split crown. The two women walk side-by-side behind the man. The woman farther from us holds two sticks in her left hand. A sack is looped over one stick that rests back across her shoulder. The other staff is vertical and is topped a skein of yarn with a spool. She holds a small saffron-orange chest with a silver handle and lock by her side with her right hand. She wears a long, voluminous, amethyst-purple dress bunched up in front to show a forest-green skirt underneath and three silver keys hanging at her knees. The second woman balances a lapis-blue, bulbous pack on her head with one hand. She wears a red dress with a high, white collar. She lifts the red skirt with her other hand to show a royal-blue skirt underneath. The path is lined with plants and a few rocks to each side. The land rises to steep, rocky outcroppings lined with trees. The shadowy form of a person walks away from us on the path where it winds back to the cliffs. The land dips down to a body of water in the near distance beyond the path. Lemon-yellow and crimson-red flames rise out of a town along the water’s edge in the distance. Streaks of black, rose-pink, and slate-blue smoke billow into the air. Another town burns along the horizon, which comes two-thirds of the way up the composition. The artist signed the work with his initials as if he had painted a rock face next to the path to our left, “AD” in a monogram.
Albrecht Dürer, Lot and His Daughters [reverse], c. 1496/1499, oil on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952.2.16.b

Lot and His Daughters [reverse]

Albrecht Dürer · c. 1496/1499 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1952.2.16.b

This painting shows a seated woman with closed eyes, seen from the waist up. She is on the left side of the painting, her body turned to the right and her head facing us. She has pale skin, a white cloth covering their hair, and a black cloak over a black dress with long sleeves. She appears to be sleeping, her eyes closed and her expression neutral. In the bottom left corner, a small black-and-white dog looks up at her, its paws resting on her back. In the background on the right is a white cross with a white male figure hanging from it. He has a cloth wrapped around his waist and a crown of thorns on his head. Behind the cross is a blue sky with white and gray clouds. The top, bottom, and right edges of the painting have reddish-brown borders that blend into the sky.
Giovanni Battista Piazzetta, Saint Margaret of Cortona, 1737, oil on canvas, Bequest of Lore Heinemann in memory of her husband, Dr. Rudolf J. Heinemann, 1997.57.9

Saint Margaret of Cortona

Giovanni Battista Piazzetta · 1737 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1997.57.9

Bibliography

1975

  • "Rudolf J. Heinemann, 73, Dies; Was an International Art Dealer." The New York Times (9 February 1975): 48:7.