Provenance

Trotti et Cie

active early 20th century

Explore Selected Works

See all 12 works of art
A light-skinned man with short, auburn-brown hair and a long beard is shown from the hips up, his chest and sloping shoulders covered by a muted cobalt-blue cape in this vertical portrait painting. His body is angled to our left and he looks at us from the corners of his brown eyes under curving, low brows. His head, torso, aquiline nose, and hands are slightly elongated. He holds a black hat in his right hand, on our left, close to his body. His left hand emerges from a white sleeve painted with swirling brushstrokes, as he presses a small book to his chest, holding it open with one page caught between thumb and index finger. The lower edge of his cape drapes over that arm, revealing rose-pink lining. He stands with his back to a grayish-green wall that does not span the width of the composition. Slivers of other spaces, possibly rooms, are suggested by tall, narrow views of windows and arched openings along the sides of the painting.
Pontormo, Monsignor della Casa, probably 1541/1544, oil on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1961.9.83

Monsignor della Casa

Pontormo · probably 1541/1544 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1961.9.83

A pale-skinned woman is shown from the waist up within an oval opening in this vertical portrait painting. The woman’s body is angled to our right, but she turns her face to look off to our left with gray eyes. She has a thin, oval-shaped face, a long nose, and her dark pink lips are closed. Her ash-brown hair is swept up and back from her forehead, and some curls hang down the back of her neck. A sheer veil drapes over her hair and down around her sloping shoulders. The bodice of her ivory-yellow gown is cut low and lined with lace. Pearls ornament the front of the dress and part of the sleeve closer to us, and an aquamarine-blue cloth with gold touches is tied around her waist. The corners around the oval opening are painted to look like wood in shades of warm brown. The background behind the woman is nearly black to our left and it lightens to earthy brown to the right. The portrait is loosely painted, especially in the hair, clothing, and background.
Thomas Gainsborough, Mrs. John Taylor, c. 1778, oil on canvas, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.100

Mrs. John Taylor

Thomas Gainsborough · c. 1778 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1937.1.100

More than two dozen rowboats and sailboats bustle around a waterway in this horizontal landscape painting. Beige-colored water gently ripples across the bottom of the composition and extends into the deep distance, where buildings, windmills, and a church line the low horizon. Clouds with warm white tops and cool gray bottoms tower across a pale blue sky, which takes up the top three-quarters of the composition. A few reeds poke out of the water close to us, near the lower right corner of the painting. The row- and sailboats just beyond are packed with people. Two flags fly from the masts of the largest ship, which is to our left of center. One flag has red stripes flanking a white stripe, and the other is striped with red, white, and blue. Two rowboats have pulled up to the grassy shore of a spit of land to our left. A ladder leans against the steep hill rising from the water’s edge, and a cluster of spindly trees lean toward the water from the hillock. The people all wear clothing and hats in tones of brick red, ochre yellow, sable brown, and black. More boats move through the water back to the town and waterways to either side.
Jan van Goyen, View of Dordrecht from the North, early 1650s, oil on canvas, Corcoran Collection (William A. Clark Collection), 2014.136.34

View of Dordrecht from the North

Jan van Goyen · early 1650s · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  2014.136.34

""

María Luisa of Spain Wearing a Mantilla

Spanish 18th Century · c. 1799/1800 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1937.1.87

A light-skinned man with dark hair and a russet-orange beard stands wearing a long, voluminous, fur-lined coat next to a small dog near the corner of a room in this vertical portrait painting. His body is angled to our right but he turns his head to look at us with light brown eyes under faint, ginger brows. He has a straight nose, his cheeks are lightly flushed, and his light peach lips are closed. His ginger beard and mustache are closely trimmed. His wavy, brown hair reaches his ears, and short bangs skim across the top of his forehead. His knee-length, taupe-brown tunic is tied at the waist and has a high neck that encircles layers of black and white collars underneath. The floor-length, flint-gray coat, worn over the tunic, has puffed sleeves that gather at the elbows, and is lined with a broad band of black fur around the neck and down the front. With his right hand, to our left, he grips the fur lining with his index finger extended. His other hand is held in front of his waist with the palm facing up and fingers loosely curled. He wears black pants or stockings over black shoes. The small, long-haired dog sitting to our right near the man’s feet has caramel-brown spots along its back, around its eyes, and over its furry ears. It looks at us with dark eyes, and its mouth curves up. It comes about halfway up the man’s shin and wears a red collar with silver bells. The floor is patterned with fern-green squares in a white grid. The wall behind the man is pale blue. Marble molding along the top is white veined with gray, and a red curtain is bunched up in the upper right corner of the painting, presumably tied against the wall there.
Giovanni Battista Moroni, Gian Federico Madruzzo, c. 1560, oil on canvas, Timken Collection, 1960.6.27

Gian Federico Madruzzo

Giovanni Battista Moroni · c. 1560 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1960.6.27

Spanish 18th Century, Charles IV of Spain as Huntsman, c. 1799/1800, oil on canvas, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.86

Charles IV of Spain as Huntsman

Spanish 18th Century · c. 1799/1800 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1937.1.86

Shown from the chest up, this pale-skinned woman wears a transparent veil and a green gown laced up the bodice in this vertical portrait painting. Her shoulders and face angle to our left, and she looks at us from the corners of her brown eyes with her head tipped slightly away from us. She has faint, arched brows, a long, delicate nose, and a rounded jaw. Shallow dimples to either side of her pale pink lips suggest a faint smile over a cleft chin. Her blond hair is pulled back under a diaphanous veil, which is held in place with a band around the crown of her head. The veil falls in gossamer folds over her shoulders. The bodice and sleeves of her gown are asparagus green. The front is laced over a white shirt, and the white fabric has been pulled through at her shoulders where the sleeves would be tied to the bodice. The gold dress and the white chemise are edged with bands of floral, geometric patterns in gold, and a gold belt wraps around her waist. The pendant hanging from her pearl necklace has red and blue gems set in gold, with three more pearls hanging from the bottom. Another necklace looks like a chain of small, star-like forms, and it is tucked into her bodice. She holds her right hand, to our left, cupped near her chest, and her other arm hangs by her side, off the bottom edge of the composition. The background is black, and the edge of the panel is decorated with a band of gold, geometric, knot-like patterns. The gold border disappears behind the woman’s shoulders, which span the width of the painting.
Girolamo di Benvenuto, Portrait of a Young Woman, c. 1508, oil on poplar panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1939.1.353

Portrait of a Young Woman

Girolamo di Benvenuto · c. 1508 · oil on poplar panel ·  Accession ID  1939.1.353

A young boy with pale skin, wearing a black suit with densely pattered gold trim and decoration, stands holding an open book in front of a brown background in this vertical portrait painting. His body is angled slightly to our right, but he looks at us with large, slate-blue eyes. He has a round face, a wide nose, and his full, peach-colored lips are barely parted. Short blond hair falls in tousled bangs across his forehead. A tall, oyster-white collar flares up in a wide V along the sides of his neck. His hip-length, long-sleeved black jacket has gold trim and decoration down the open front, along the bottom hem, and at the cuffs. His pants have a high waist, meeting the buttons of the white shirt at his chest. There are two gold buttons on his pants near the waist, framed by his open jacket. Gold trim continues down the sides of his long pants and around the leg openings. He wears black, loafer-style shoes with gray or white stockings or socks. He is lit from our left so casts a shadow to our right, in the dark brown room in which he stands.
Francisco Goya, Victor Guye, 1810, oil on canvas, Gift of William Nelson Cromwell, 1956.11.1

Victor Guye

Francisco Goya · 1810 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1956.11.1

A tall woman with pale white skin and a shorter man with brown skin stand on a terrace in this vertical, full-length portrait. At the center, the woman wears a voluminous, long-sleeved, black dress with a row of gold buttons down the bodice. She has a wide, gray ruffled collar at her neck and red ruffled cuffs at her wrists. Her brown hair is pulled back under a cap ornamented with rows of white pearls. She looks at us close-lipped down the bridge of her straight nose. She holds a sprig of orange blossoms in her right hand, on our left. The second person leans into the space from our right as he reaches to hold a crimson-red parasol over and behind the woman’s head. He is cleanshaven with short, dark hair and brown eyes. He wears an amber-yellow garment over a white shirt. Fluted columns rise along the right edge of the composition, and the terrace is enclosed with a low balustrade. Plants surround the woman's feet, and a distant landscape below a blue sky is visible to our left.
Sir Anthony van Dyck, Marchesa Elena Grimaldi Cattaneo, 1623, oil on canvas, Widener Collection, 1942.9.92

Marchesa Elena Grimaldi Cattaneo

Sir Anthony van Dyck · 1623 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1942.9.92

Four light-skinned ballerinas with russet-orange hair tied back in buns adjust the straps of their bodices as they gather close together, their bodies and wide, knee-length tutus taking up the left half of this horizontal painting. The background or backdrop beyond them shows a grove of deep green trees to our left and a sunset view of meadows leading back to trees to our right. Three of the dancers stand in a row that extends from the lower left corner to our right and away from us. All three wear rust-orange bodices over tutus that are painted loosely with flecks of pale celery green and buttercup yellow against a muted royal-blue background. Their bodices and upper bodies are outlined with black. The woman closest to us stands with her body angled to our right. Her face turns away as she looks to her left and adjusts that shoulder strap. The two dancers farther from us stand with their backs to us, their bodies angled away from us to our left. The middle dancer looks back over her right shoulder as she lifts the other elbow to adjust that strap. The third dancer in the row holds both hands to her right strap as she looks off into the distance, to our left. The fourth ballerina, to our far left beyond this trio, stands with the arm we can see, her left, lifted with her hand held high as she looks off to our right. Her bodice is a brighter carrot orange, and is more loosely painted. The green foliage behind the dancers extends off the top edge of the painting. The pale sage-green field to the right stretches before puffy, rounded trees daubed with mauve-pink highlights. The coral-pink and golden yellow sky is streaked with lavender-gray clouds. The artist signed his name in red paint with tiny, almost illegible letters in the lower right corner, “Degas.”
Edgar Degas, Four Dancers, c. 1899, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Collection, 1963.10.122

Four Dancers

Edgar Degas · c. 1899 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1963.10.122