Provenance

Robinson, Fisher and Harding

British, active c. 1919

Explore Selected Works

American 19th Century, British 19th Century, American 20th Century, British 20th Century, Madame G, c. 1900, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Collection, 1963.10.64

Madame G

American 19th Century, British 19th Century, American 20th Century, British 20th Century · c. 1900 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1963.10.64

A nearly nude woman with pale, pink skin reclines along golden-yellow grass with a grove of trees behind her to our right and a landscape with rocky cliffs along a rippling shoreline to our left in this horizontal painting. Her legs extend to our left, and her body is tipped to face us, her hips stacked. Her left elbow, to our right, is propped on a swell in the ground to lift her torso. She looks off to our left with hazel-brown eyes under faint, curving brows. Her skin is smooth and shadows blur the corners of her eyes and mouth. She has a straight, long nose, and her rose-pink lips are closed. Her copper-brown hair is pulled back and up, and wraps around her head. A long, teardrop-shaped pearl hangs from the ear we can see. With both hands, she holds the ends of a translucent cloth that wraps around her hips, legs, and across her back, leaving her round, high breasts exposed. Ruby-red and white fabric lies in a heap near her feet, and a gold and pearl piece of jewelry, perhaps a necklace, drapes over the swell in the ground near her propped elbow. Small, finely detailed mauve-pink, white, or butter-yellow flowers grow in the grass around her. The land curves back along the right edge of the painting, to a grove of trees with sage and deep green leaves. An aquamarine-blue river separates her and the trees from the rocky outcroppings and towns beyond. An arched bridge spans the river and leads to a path that winds along the undulating shoreline. Buildings cluster on a rocky cliff near the bridge and a second grouping indicates another town farther along the shore. Topaz-blue clouds billow up over indigo-blue mountains in the deep distance, against a sky painted in the same jeweled blue tones.
Bernardino Luini, Venus, c. 1530, oil on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1939.1.120

Venus

Bernardino Luini · c. 1530 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1939.1.120

Shown from the waist up behind a stone ledge, a young woman nestles a nude baby against her chest in this vertical painting. Both have pale skin with a slight, rosy blush on their cheeks, and both have halos painted as delicate gold rings around their heads. The woman’s shoulders are angled to our left, and she looks down at the baby in that direction with hooded eyes. She has a slender face, a long, straight nose, smooth cheeks, and her pale pink lips are closed. The neckline and the cuffs of her garnet-red, gold-edged gown peek out from beneath a dark, spruce-blue mantle that covers her head and wraps around her body. She rests the baby along the stone ledge and holds him in the crook of her right elbow, to our left. In her other hand, she holds a small object, perhaps an apple. The baby also touches the fruit as he lies back along her arm. He has curly, ash-blond hair, a petite nose, and chubby cheeks. He looks up at the woman or beyond her with parted, downturned lips. The pair are warmly lit from the upper left and set against a fern and olive-green landscape. Near the left edge of the painting, a church and steeple are silhouetted along the horizon, which comes just under halfway up the composition. In the sky above, a clear, pale blue horizon gives way first to puffy, cream-white clouds and then swirling clouds in tones of pine green and slate gray along the top of the picture. An inscription appears on the lower center of the ledge, “IDEM Z.B.”
Giovanni Bellini, Madonna and Child in a Landscape, c. 1480/1485, oil on panel, Ralph and Mary Booth Collection, 1946.19.1

Madonna and Child in a Landscape

Giovanni Bellini · c. 1480/1485 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1946.19.1

Francesco Benaglio, Saint Jerome, c. 1470/1475, tempera on spruce panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952.5.51

Saint Jerome

Francesco Benaglio · c. 1470/1475 · tempera on spruce panel ·  Accession ID  1952.5.51