Provenance

Louisine Waldron Havemeyer

American, 1855 - 1929

Explore Selected Works

See all 14 works of art
German 16th Century, Portrait of a Lady, 1532, tempera on panel, Chester Dale Collection, 1942.16.3

Portrait of a Lady

German 16th Century · 1532 · tempera on panel ·  Accession ID  1942.16.3

Tall, oval forms slowly emerge against a field of softly painted white, pale sky blue, shell pink, light lilac purple, and faint yellow to become trees in a hazy, foggy field in this nearly square landscape painting. The paint is swept on in short, visible strokes. The tallest tree, reaching almost to the top of the canvas, stands to our left of center. Three shorter, bushier trees, about a quarter the height, flank the tall tree with one to our left and two closer to the right edge. Two narrow trees stand between the tallest one and the bushier pair to our right. The artist signed the work in orange paint in the lower left corner: “Claude Monet.”
Claude Monet, Morning Haze, 1888, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Collection, 1958.12.1

Morning Haze

Claude Monet · 1888 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1958.12.1

Shown from the knees up against a dark gray background, a young woman with peachy skin stands with her body angled to our left and she looks at us with brown eyes in this vertical portrait painting. She has dark, arched brows, a straight nose, and her full, coral-pink lips are closed. Her dark brown, curly hair is covered by a mantilla, an ivory-white, lacy scarf highlighted with pale gold and subtle, russet-red highlights. She holds the two long ends of the mantilla with her right hand, farther from us, below her bust. The ends of the scarf fall to mid-thigh over her long, ink-black dress. The bust of her dress is also white and shimmers, like the mantilla. Long, tight-fitting, off-white gloves nearly reach the short, puffed, cap sleeves of the dress. The back of the glove on her left arm, closer to her, is tied at the top with a bow, and she holds a silvery-white, closed fan in that hand. A brownish-coral colored necklace is painted as a squiggle of paint around her neck. Barely visible, the painter signed the painting in the lower left: “Goya.”
Francisco Goya, Young Lady Wearing a Mantilla and Basquina, c. 1800/1805, oil on canvas, Gift of Mrs. P.H.B. Frelinghuysen, 1963.4.2

Young Lady Wearing a Mantilla and Basquina

Francisco Goya · c. 1800/1805 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1963.4.2

Dense canopies enclose a forested interior along a stream in this horizontal landscape painting. Only a couple small patches of ultramarine-blue sky peek through the canopies, which are painted with dabs and strokes of pine, olive, and spring green. Dark trunks stand straight or curve up through the foliage. The stream begins in the lower right corner of the canvas and moves into the distance along the right half of the composition. Rippling water is painted with shades of muted green, ice blue, and very pale pink. Grassy patches line the dirt ground to the left. The artist signed and dated the painting in the lower left corner, “G. Courbet ’55.”
Gustave Courbet, The Stream (Le Ruisseau du Puits-Noir; vallée de la Loue), 1855, oil on canvas, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. P.H.B. Frelinghuysen in memory of her father and mother, Mr. and Mrs. H.O. Havemeyer, 1943.15.2

The Stream (Le Ruisseau du Puits-Noir; vallée de la Loue)

Gustave Courbet · 1855 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1943.15.2

Four people wearing earthy brown gather near a stream that runs through a lush forest carpeted and filled with moss, pine, and sage green trees and undergrowth, interlaced with thin, willowy tree trunks in this horizontal landscape painting. The forest fills the composition and the scene is dominated with tones of green, even in the reflections in the water. The stream runs from the lower right corner into the distance near the right side of the canvas. The trees and undergrowth are painted with blended brushstrokes, giving the scene a soft and hazy glow. Near the lower left corner, a woman kneels and helps a baby take a step toward a young girl, who approaches the pair with something gathered and held up in her apron. A boy climbs a tree nearby. A fifth person appears after close inspection, standing in and bending over the stream in the distance to our right. The scene is diffusely lit, with only a few bright spots in the canopy of the trees to suggest sunlight and sky beyond.
Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, The Eel Gatherers, 1860/1865, oil on canvas, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. P.H.B. Frelinghuysen in memory of her father and mother, Mr. and Mrs. H.O. Havemeyer, 1943.15.1

The Eel Gatherers

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot · 1860/1865 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1943.15.1

Shown from the knees up, a cleanshaven, young man with pale, peachy skin leans on his right elbow, to our left, against a ledge and holds a black top hat in that hand in this vertical portrait painting. His body faces us and he looks slightly off to our left, as if just over our left shoulder, with dark eyes. He has a wide nose, his pale pink lips are closed, and he has the hint of a five o’clock shadow on his square jaw and cleft chin. Sideburns come down past his ears, and straight brown hair falls in long bangs over his forehead and around his eyes and ears. White cloth wraps around his neck and is tied in a knot at the base of his throat. His white vest is striped faintly with light blue. Over that, his gray jacket has a black collar at the back and wide, gray lapels that reach his shoulders. The jacket is fitted to his waist, where it is buttoned, and then flares out into the shadows at his knees. Silver buttons gleam in the light from our left, down that side of the jacket. His left fist, on our right, rests against his hip as he leans on his other elbow, presumably on a ledge or high table. He holds the black top hat in that hand so we see the crimson-red lining within. The dark background behind him is subtly streaked with brick and coffee brown.
Francisco Goya, Bartolomé Sureda y Miserol, c. 1803/1804, oil on canvas, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. P.H.B. Frelinghuysen in memory of her father and mother, Mr. and Mrs. H.O. Havemeyer, 1941.10.1

Bartolomé Sureda y Miserol

Francisco Goya · c. 1803/1804 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1941.10.1

Shown from the knees up, a pale-skinned woman wearing a muted, sapphire-blue gown sits ramrod straight in a chair and looks at us in this vertical portrait painting. The chair and the woman’s body face our left in profile, but she turns her round face to look at us with large, light brown eyes. She has slightly flushed cheeks, a straight nose, a full lower lip, and her mouth is closed. Her left forearm, closer to us, rests on the front corner of the wooden arm of the chair. Her other hand lies across that forearm. Her blue dress has a high collar and wraps closed across her chest. The full skirt bunches around the back of the seat and around the arm of the chair. The corners of a white collar lie open at the woman’s throat, nestled into the dress's lapels. The dress is painted rather loosely with shades of slate and royal blue and shaded with mauve pink, giving it a hint of a sheen. The back and seat of the wood chair is upholstered in gold-colored fabric, which is also loosely painted with the suggestion of a brocade pattern. The background is dark brown, nearly black.
Francisco Goya, Thérèse Louise de Sureda, c. 1803/1804, oil on canvas, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. P.H.B. Frelinghuysen in memory of her father and mother, Mr. and Mrs. H.O. Havemeyer, 1942.3.1

Thérèse Louise de Sureda

Francisco Goya · c. 1803/1804 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1942.3.1

Spanish 18th/19th Century, The Duke of Wellington, c. 1812, oil on canvas, Gift of Mrs. P.H.B. Frelinghuysen, 1963.4.1

The Duke of Wellington

Spanish 18th/19th Century · c. 1812 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1963.4.1

We look slightly down onto a woman dressed in golden yellows, sitting in a pale green chair, with a nude child sitting in her lap as they both gaze into a mirror in this vertical portrait painting. Both the people have pale, peachy skin. The chair is angled to our left so the woman’s knees and child cant down toward the lower left corner of the composition, and the woman leans onto the arm closer to us. The chair is painted mint green and the rose-pink upholstery is visible on the seat and a corner behind the woman’s shoulder. To our right, the woman’s vibrant, copper-colored hair is pulled loosely to the back of her head. She has a rounded nose, flushed cheeks, and her full, coral-pink lips are closed. Her long dress has a low, U-shaped neckline. The fabric shimmers from pale, cucumber green to light sunshine yellow. The sleeves of the dress split over the shoulder and a second long, goldenrod-yellow sleeve falls from her elbow off the bottom edge of the canvas. An oversized sunflower, larger than the woman’s face, is affixed to her dress near her left shoulder, closer to us. She looks with dark eyes down toward the small, gold-rimmed mirror she holds in her right hand, farther from us. The child also holds the handle of the mirror with both hands, and in the reflection, the child looks back at us with dark eyes, a button nose, and pink lips. The child’s hair in the reflection is the same copper color as the woman’s, but the child on her lap has blond, shoulder-length hair. The woman rests one hand on the child’s left shoulder, closer to us. The child has a rounded belly and smooth, rosy limbs. The woman and child are reflected in a second mirror hanging on the wall alongside them, opposite us. Their reflections are very loosely painted. The wall behind the pair is sage green across the top and it shifts to fawn brown across the bottom. Brushstrokes are visible throughout, especially in the woman’s dress and hair, and are more blended in the bodies and faces. The artist signed the painting in the lower right corner, “Mary Cassatt.”
Mary Cassatt, Woman with a Sunflower, c. 1905, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Collection, 1963.10.98

Woman with a Sunflower

Mary Cassatt · c. 1905 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1963.10.98

A blue and white porcelain bowl, fruit, wine glasses, and a woven rug are gathered on a tabletop in front of a black background in this vertical still life painting. Light strongly illuminates the objects, creating a stark contrast to the dark background. At the center of the composition, the porcelain bowl is tipped so its wide brim rests on the rug bunched on the tabletop to our left. The rug is painted with a pattern in earthy beige and chocolate brown, denim blue, bronze, and cream white. A piece of roughly textured orange fruit resembling a tiny pumpkin has a stem with a small white blossom growing from its top. The fruit sits in the bowl alongside a vivid yellow lemon that has been partially peeled. The top has been cut from the lemon to form a long strip that curls onto the table, and the pulp glistens in the light. Two peaches sitting in front of the bowl are painted with tones of silvery ivory and burnt orange. The handle of a utensil juts out from between the peaches and lemon peel. Two glasses and a slender carafe are arranged in a row behind the fruit and bowl. The glass to the left has a round bowl over a thick, columnar stem, and the tall, gently flaring glass carafe behind the orange fruit are both half-filled with pale gold liquid. A drinking glass with a wide, shallow, scalloped-edged cup is mostly hidden behind the porcelain bowl, to our right.
Willem Kalf, Still Life, c. 1660, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Collection, 1943.7.8

Still Life

Willem Kalf · c. 1660 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1943.7.8

Bibliography

1961

  • Havemeyer, Louisine W. Sixteen to Sixty: Memoirs of a Collector. New York, 1961.

1965

  • Sutton, Denys. "The Discerning Eye of Louisine Havemeyer." Apollo 82 (September 1965): 231-235.

1971

  • James, Edward T., ed. Notable American Women 1607-1950: A Biographical Dictionary. 3 vols. Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1971: 2:156-157.

1986

  • Weitzenhoffer, Frances. The Havemeyers: Impressionism Comes to America. New York, 1986.

1989

  • Distel, Anne. Les collectionneurs des impressionists: Amateurs et marchands. Paris, 1989:237-242