German and Netherlandish Paintings and Sculptures

On View: West Building, Main Floor

93 artworks on view.

Shown from the waist up, a young boy with blond hair faces us, wearing an embroidered garment and heavy cloak in this vertical portrait painting. His body angles slightly to our right, but he looks just off to our left with pale blue, faintly bulbous eyes. He has pale skin, flushed cheeks, a delicate nose, a pointed chin, and his pink lips are closed. His wavy hair curls around his shoulders, and a fringe of bangs spans his forehead. A crown of black pearls, gold, and green stones is set at an angle on his head. His high-necked light brown shirt is edged with gold and embroidered with white and gold. The long sleeves are brocaded with a ruby-red floral pattern against darker garnet red. He holds the edge of a caramel-brown, sleeveless overcoat with one pale hand, and the other is cupped with fingers pointing upward just below. He is shown against a black background.

A Prince of Saxony

Lucas Cranach the Elder

c. 1517

Oil on panel Accession ID 1947.6.1

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M35

Shown from about the waist up behind a forest-green desktop, a man with smooth, pale pink skin writes in an open book with a quill pen as he looks at us, surrounded closely by papers, pens and ink, and other objects in this vertical portrait painting. His body is angled a little to our left but he tips his head slightly back and looks at us from the corners of his dark brown eyes under arched brows. He has a short, round nose, high cheekbones, and his pale pink lips are slightly pursed. His short, chestnut-brown hair curls over his ears, and bangs sweep across his forehead. His black beret is adorned over his right eyebrow, on our left, with a metallic badge with an intertwined "I A S." He wears a crimson-red jacket with puffy red sleeves decorated with black bands. Black lapels open onto a dark garment that has a pewter-gray panel over the upper chest and gray sleeves. The white garment beneath peeks out along the neckline and cuffs at his wrists. His left hand, on our right, rests with fingers extended on a page with writing in the open book, and he wears a gold ring incised with “IS” on his forefinger and a gold band with a ruby-red gem on his pinkie. He writes the beginning of a word with his other hand. In front of him, on the ledge, is a talc shaker pierced with tiny holes in the top, a magnifying glass, a black inkpot, and a small pair of scissors. Near one elbow, to our right, is a pile of coins, a pair of scales with weights, a small leather-bound book, and a receptacle for rolled-up paper and quills. A thick sheaf of curling, crinkled papers hangs to either side of his head. The stack to the left is marked “Alrehande Misseven” and the stack to our right is labeled “Alrehande Minuten.” A black dagger, a tassel, and a set of at least four orbs about the size of ping pong balls hangs between the sheafs, against the dark background.

Portrait of a Man, possibly Jan Snoeck

Jan Gossaert

c. 1530

Oil on panel Accession ID 1967.4.1

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M41

Two women and a baby, all with pale skin, sit together on a gray, stone throne with patterned fabric hanging behind them and a patterned rug below in this narrow, vertical painting. The woman sitting on the throne, Saint Anne, is the largest. A second woman, Mary, is smaller in scale, and she sits on Saint Anne’s lap. Mary, in turn, holds a nude baby boy on her lap. Both women have light brown eyes under faint, arched brows, smooth skin, long straight noses, and their shell-pink lips are closed. Saint Anne sits with her body facing us and she looks down with her head slightly tilted to our left. Her white head covering drapes over her shoulders and hangs down from her chin to cover her neck. She wears a marine-blue dress cinched at her waist with a black and gold belt, and a crimson-red robe that falls to and puddles around her feet. Her right arm, on our left, wraps around and holds Mary’s hip, and she supports a book with gold-edged pages with her other hand. Mary sits on Saint Anne’s right thigh, to our left, and leans toward the baby, who sits on her left knee, to our right. Her long, wavy, brown hair falls over her shoulders, and she wears a cobalt-blue robe over a lilac-purple dress. The baby has short, curly blond hair and reaches to turn the pages of the book. He has rounded cheeks and a pudgy torso. The stone throne is ornamented on the arms and at the top corners with ivory-white, nude children that are presumably also carved out of stone. The cloth hanging behind Saint Anne is decorated with glimmering gold, ornamental leaf designs against a pine-green background. The rug beneath her feet is a geometric pattern of red, tan, black, and white.

The Saint Anne Altarpiece: Saint Anne with the Virgin and Child [middle panel]

Gerard David, Netherlandish 15th/16th Century

c. 1500/1520

Oil on panel Accession ID 1942.9.17.b

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M41

A pale-skinned man wearing a gray monk’s robe stands holding a wooden cross in one hand and a book and a baby in the other in this tall, narrow, vertical painting. The man is under a rounded arch in front of a deep landscape. His body faces us but he looks down and to our left with brown eyes under curved brows. He is clean-shaven, and his dark hair is cut into a ring around his head. The dark gray robe falls to his bare feet and is tied with a rope around his middle. The book he holds in his left hand, to our right, is open, the gold edges of the pages shiny against the vivid red binding. A small nude baby sits upright on the open book, hands together in prayer. The child has blond hair and thin limbs. The man stands on a pink and blue tiled floor near a gray step. Just beyond the dark gray stone arch is a cluster of royal blue iris. A grassy lawn extends to a body of water, a white tower tucked among trees, and distant blue hills under a pale blue sky.

The Saint Anne Altarpiece: Saint Anthony of Padua [right panel]

Gerard David, Netherlandish 15th/16th Century

c. 1500/1520

Oil on panel Accession ID 1942.9.17.c

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M41

The Adoration of the Magi

Juan de Flandes

c. 1508/1519

Oil on panel Accession ID 1961.9.24

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M40

Shown from the lap up, a young girl with pale, peachy skin and long, light brown hair wears a crimson-red dress with slashed, puffed sleeves and three large, gold-colored necklaces covering much of her chest in this vertical portrait painting. She sits with her body angled slightly to our left and, with her head tipped slightly forward, she looks off in that direction with slate-blue eyes under faint brows. Her long, wavy, golden-brown hair falls from her high forehead and lies loose around her shoulders. Her dress has bands of a floral pattern outlined in a lighter red against a ruby-red background, and the bodice ties with red laces down the front over a white undershirt. The tight-fitting, long sleeves are slashed around the elbows so the white linen shirt can be pulled through to create puffs. Her high-necked chemise has a jeweled band at the neck. The three strings of the distinctive necklace seem to be made of gold-colored strips of fabric or leather made into twisting loops, which are then linked together like a paper chain. Each strip is painted or decorated with a fine, dense lattice pattern and edged in gold. The girl sits with her wrists crossed in her lap against a black background.

A Princess of Saxony

Lucas Cranach the Elder

c. 1517

Oil on panel Accession ID 1947.6.2

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M35

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.

Lot and His Daughters [reverse]

Albrecht Dürer

c. 1496/1499

Oil on panel Accession ID 1952.2.16.b

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M35

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.

The Crucifixion

Master of Saint Veronica

c. 1400/1410

Tempera on panel Accession ID 1961.9.29

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M39

The Temptation of Christ

Juan de Flandes

c. 1500/1504

Oil on panel Accession ID 1967.7.1

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M39

A bearded man kneels before a bishop in front of a crowd gathered outside a church in this vertical painting. The people all have pale skin. The bishop is to our left, though he stands angled to our right on the church steps. His face is lined and his eyebrows furrowed as he looks into the distance to our right. He holds up one hand with the thumb and first two fingers extended. His tall, pointed white mitre hat is widely edged with gold and jewels. A saucer-sized gold medallion fastens the two sides of his long, gold brocade robe. Under that, he wears a brick-red garment over a white shirt visible at his neck and wrists. Four clean-shaven clergymen stand behind him. The one closest to us wears white and his blond hair is cut into a ring around his head. He holds a hooked staff, a crozier, and his body blocks the others. The kneeling man, to our right, presses his hands together in prayer as he looks up at the bishop. The kneeling man wears an off-white cloth tied around his head and plum-purple, gold, and pine-green robes. A black, oval object, perhaps a cap, lies on the church step next to his knee. About fifteen men, women, and children line up beyond the kneeling man, forming a loose backward C-curve through the center of the scene. They are dressed in rose-pink, lemon or mustard-yellow, avocado-green, blue, or orange garments. At the back of the queue and seen in the near distance between the kneeling man and bishop, two men reach out to support a third man lying on the ground. The prone man looks with wild eyes and a gaping mouth at a green demon hovering overhead. The group occupies a plaza flanked by the beige stone church on the left and a large tan building with arched windows on the right. Statues and carvings fill the arched portals of the church beyond the bishop. The space is enclosed with more buildings set farther back from the two closer structures. A few wispy clouds float against the azure-blue sky overhead.

Episodes from the Life of a Bishop Saint

Master of Saint Giles, Anonymous Artist

c. 1500

Oil on panel Accession ID 1952.2.14

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M41

The sculpture depicts a man wearing ornate ecclesiastical attire. He is shown with his right hand bent and two fingers extended upward, while his left hand clutches what appears to be a folded cloth. He is wearing draping robes with a high collar, and on his head is a tall hat embellished with swirling patterns. He has a long nose, high cheekbones, and slightly downturned lips. The sculpture is a pale, off-white color with some light brown areas.

A Bishop Saint (Burchard of Würzburg?)

Tilman Riemenschneider

c. 1515/1520

Linden wood with traces of polychromy Accession ID 1961.1.1

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M35

In the stone ruins of a building, a woman, Mary, kneels with her hands in prayer over a thin-limbed baby lying in front of her in this vertical painting. There is a man behind Mary, to our left, two more in a field to our right, and a winged angel in the upper right corner. They all have pale skin. Mary’s unbound blond hair falls over her shoulders. She wears a celestial-blue dress, and her teal-blue cloak is edged with gold. Her body is angled to our right, and she looks down her straight nose at the baby near her knees. The nude baby has blond curls and a chubby tummy and cheeks. An ox and an ass look down at the baby from behind a stone trough to our right. The man behind Mary wears a forest-green cap and scarf over a tomato-red robe. One hand rests on a staff, and he looks up at the angel in the top right corner. An owl looks down at the man from atop the stone ruins, near the top left corner. Two men recline and about a dozen white sheep lie on low hills in the near distance to our right. One of those men sleeps and the other holds up both hands as he looks into the sky. The angel in the top right corner emerges from a petal-pink and pale yellow halo against a star-strewn blue sky. The angel wears rose pink and has dark pink wings. A scroll held across both arms reads, “GLO” and “INECELSIS DEO.”

The Nativity

Juan de Flandes

c. 1508/1519

Oil on panel Accession ID 1961.9.23

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M40