Sir Giles Edward Sebright, 13th Bt.

British, 1896 - 1954

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A balding man with a long gray beard kneels on the edge of a stream, next to a lion, while two young boys stand in a rocky alcove in the landscape background of this vertical painting. The man and boys all have pale skin. The man, Saint Jerome, kneels with his body angled to our right as he looks up with dark eyes. His wispy hair and full beard are streaked with silver and honey gold. The faint gold line of his halo nearly disappears in the background. His nose and high cheekbones are flushed, his mouth slightly open. His long-sleeved ivory-white robe puddles under his knees. The robe is open to create a deep V that reaches to the forest-green sash tied around his waist. He holds a rock in his right hand, to our left, by his side, and holds the palm of his other hand up. The lion lies with its head lifted, looking at or toward us, on the far side of Saint Jerome. The silvery water of the river curves around gray boulders in the lower right corner of the painting and winds into the distance. The riverbank is covered in olive-green grass with some small white flowers. Behind Saint Jerome, the land rises to a cave-like outcropping. The two boys stand facing each other in the shadowy entrance. Both have blond hair, faint gold halos, and are barefoot. They wear gold-colored tunics, and each touches the chest of the other. The boy to our left wears a wine-red cloak and holds a long staff topped with a small cross. The other boy wears a white cloak. Plants and trees grow over the rocks above. The river curves through a flat field lined with trees, leading back to a town with towers and spires painted in tones of sky blue. Pale blue mountains rise along the water’s edge beyond the town. The sky deepens from light yellow along the horizon to icy blue above, where a few puffy clouds float along the top edge of the composition.
Anonymous Artist, Saint Jerome in the Wilderness, c. 1490/1500, tempera on poplar panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1939.1.280

Saint Jerome in the Wilderness

Anonymous Artist · c. 1490/1500 · tempera on poplar panel ·  Accession ID  1939.1.280

Rosso Fiorentino, Portrait of a Man, early 1520s, oil on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1961.9.59

Portrait of a Man

Rosso Fiorentino · early 1520s · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1961.9.59

A woman and two small children, all with pale skin, sit on a rocky ledge in front of a hilly landscape in this vertical painting. The woman, to our right, holds one child on her lap and that child reaches to embrace the second child kneeling next to the woman, to our left. The woman, Mary, sits with her knees angled slightly to our right. She turns her face toward the child in her lap, to our left, but looks with shadowed eyes down in front of her. She has a long, delicate nose, rose-blushed cheeks, and her pale lips curl gently in a smile. Golden brown hair is parted down the middle over a high forehead, which is covered with a transparent veil that comes nearly to her faint eyebrows. A maroon-red hood covers her head and drapes across her shoulders under a slate-blue robe. Near one arm, the hem of the robe is turned back to reveal scarlet-red lining. She holds her left hand, to our right, slightly up with her palm facing us. Her other arm wraps around the nude child in her lap and rests against his hip. This child, Jesus, has a snub nose, rounded cheeks, and a pudgy body. He reaches to our left so his body is angled in that direction, but he turns his head back to look into the distance with pale brown eyes. To our left, the second child, Saint John, kneels and touches Jesus’s chest with one hand as he looks up and smiles at Mary. Saint John wears a ruby-red tunic tied at his right shoulder and a striped, wine-red sash around his waist is tied at his back. Both boys have reddish-blond curly hair, rosy cheeks, and are barefoot. Plants and flowers grow on the rocky ledge where they sit. To our left, beyond the trio, golden hills lead up to a ghostly gray castle on the highest peak. Closer to us but tiny in scale in the background, a person runs toward a man sitting on a rock and drinking out of a jug. A shallow waterfall emerges from the rocky base of the hill closest to us, just over John’s shoulder. The hills descend sharply to a river winding into the distance to our right, over Mary’s shoulder. Two white birds swim in the river near an arched bridge spanning the waterway. The river winds back to pale blue mountains along the horizon, which comes about two-thirds of the way up this painting. A few more people walk along paths and cross the bridge in the background. A few thin, white clouds float across the pale blue sky above.
Fernando Yáñez de la Almedina, Madonna and Child with the Infant Saint John, c. 1505, oil and tempera on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1939.1.305

Madonna and Child with the Infant Saint John

Fernando Yáñez de la Almedina · c. 1505 · oil and tempera on panel ·  Accession ID  1939.1.305