German and Netherlandish Paintings and Sculptures

On View: West Building, Main Floor

93 artworks on view.

This painting features five people sitting or kneeling alongside a brown bird. In the center, a woman in a red gown holds an open book, looking downward. She wears a white head-covering and a dark green shawl. To her left, a man with a dark beard wears a red tunic and wide-brimmed red hat, while to her right, another bearded man in a bright green fur-lined cloak looks towards the woman, one hand flat on his chest. A child in white stands to the right of the woman in front of the man in the green cloak, his hand in the open book the woman holds, looking down into the pages. The woman and the two men appear to sit on a brown wooden bench. In the bottom left corner, on the green floor, another person sits on a small wooden block, holding another open book. This person has short brown hair and a pink robe. To the right of this person is a large brown bird, its wings raised upward. The bird, seated person, young child, and woman all have golden halos. All of the people have pale skin. The wall behind those on the bench is textured gold.

Saint Mary Salome and Her Family

Bernhard Strigel

c. 1520/1528

Oil on panel Accession ID 1961.9.89

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M35

Shown from the chest up, a cleanshaven man with peachy skin sits angled to our right in this vertical portrait painting. He has chin-length, curly, auburn-red hair. He gazes off to our right with hazel eyes under thick brows. He has a slightly humped nose, and his wide mouth is closed. Loose jowls line his jawline. A large, soft, scarlet-red cap covers the top of his head and hangs down over the far ear, to our right. The brim is upturned and the underside lined with brown ovals. He wears a salmon-pink tunic over an apricot-colored undergarment, which is striped with thin gray strokes. The loose neckline of the tunic is trimmed with black. A background is streaked with emerald green and tan.

Portrait of a Young Man

Hans Holbein the Younger

c. 1520/1530

Oil on panel Accession ID 1961.9.21

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M35

Shown from the waist up, a clean-shaven, pale-skinned man dressed in black gazes at us in this vertical portrait painting, which has an arched top. His body is angled to our right, but he glances back toward us with slightly drooping hazel-green eyes under slender brows. His face tapers to a narrow chin, and his pale pink lips are closed. His ear-length brown hair and bangs are mostly covered by a wide, black hat that sits cocked to our left. He wears a voluminous black coat with a wide fur collar over a black garment with a notched collar. A white shirt beneath is visible at the neck and cuffs. He pulls a bone-white glove onto one hand and wears a gold ring with a green gem on the index finger of his bare hand. The green background behind him glows around his shoulders and deepens to moss green around the arched top of the panel.

Joris Vezeleer

Joos van Cleve

probably 1518

Oil on panel Accession ID 1962.9.1

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M41

Three men and two women sit or stand along the far side of a long table, with more people looking on or gathered in other rooms behind them in this tall, vertical painting. All the people have pale skin. The long table stretches nearly the width of the painting. Near the left edge of the painting, a woman wearing a teal-blue robe over a white head scarf holds her hands together in front of her chest in prayer, and she looks down and to our right toward the tabletop. Next to her, a bearded man wearing a loose, eggplant-purple robe, Jesus, holds his right hand, to our left, up in front of his chest with his first two fingers raised, and the other hand rests on the table. His long, wavy brown hair hangs by his face, and he looks down toward the table with hooded eyes, his head tilted slightly to our left. Gold lines radiate out from the woman and Jesus’s heads. At his left shoulder, to our right, a man wearing a sky-blue cap and an emerald-green robe holds an oval-shaped bowl filled with a red liquid toward Jesus with one hand, and the other rests on the table. He looks to our left with light brown eyes under arched brows, and he has deep wrinkles across his forehead, at the corners of his eyes, along his chin line, and around his mouth. To our right and at the end of the table, a young, cleanshaven man sits next to a woman. Both have wavy blond hair, and they look down at the table. The man wears a crimson-red cap and a white fur-lined red cloak with a gold, jeweled clasp lined with teardrop pearls. His right hand, to our left, is lifted toward the woman sitting next to him. The woman wears a pearl-and-jewel headband around a white cloth that drapes down the back of her head. Her pine-green dress is patterned with shimmering gold, stylized leaf designs and has full, loose, white sleeves. She wears three gold rings on the hand resting on the table and two jeweled, gold bands on the other, which rests on her belly. Two younger people, both with brown, shoulder-length hair, stand on our side of the table, facing away from us as they look toward the woman to our right. The one to our left wears a brick-red tunic, and he holds a shallow, round bowl. The one to our right wears teal blue and holds a gold goblet on the table. With his other hand, he points down at six tall jugs on the geometrically patterned floor, and a brown dog stands at his feet. The table is covered with a white cloth, which is decorated with bands of stylized leaves and borders on the side facing us. Along the bottom of the cloth, above long fringe, a Latin inscription reads, “AVE GRACIA PLENA DOMINVS TECV BENEDICTATV INMVILEDIDVS ET BENEDICTVS.” Two gold plates, a few pieces of round, flat bread, and two knives are spaced along the tabletop. Behind the group at the table, one person stands to our left, another at the center, and a trio of men stand to our right. The far wall of the room is peirced with two tall, narrow arches of wood or dark stone to our left. At the top of the column separating the arches, there is white statue of a man holding up two round-topped tablets. The archway to our right opens onto a room with a bed covered with a ruby-red cover and a white pillow. Under the other arch, to our left, one woman and three men sit or stand around a round table in front of a tall fireplace mantle. One of the men holds a large, pewter-silver pitcher up to his lips, and the other three look on. The round table is covered with a white cloth and set with a few dishes. A door on the far wall of that room opens onto a street view lined with buildings.

The Marriage at Cana

Master of the Catholic Kings

c. 1495/1497

Oil on panel Accession ID 1952.5.42

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M38

A woman with smooth, pale skin, wearing an ivory-white headdress and a peacock-blue dress, is shown from the hips up in this vertical portrait painting, which has an arched top. The woman’s body and face are angled to our left, and she looks off in that direction with gray eyes. Her smooth cheeks are lightly blushed in her heart-shaped face. She has a high forehead, faint brows, and her full, pale pink lips are closed. Narrow panels of her headdress come down the sides of her face, emphasizing the heart shape. The fabric covers her head and falls in a veil down her back. Her dress comes up high across the back of her neck and then flares out to nearly her armpits across a low, straight neckline. Sheer fabric covers her chest, and the inner part of her neckline has a band of black to each side. The blue dress is lined with gray fur along the neckline, down the front, and on the undersides of voluminous sleeves, which are turned back at her wrists. Black cuffs peek out from under the folds. In her right hand, to our left, she holds a single pink carnation in front of her abdomen with her thumb and first two fingers. She wears a gold ring on the pointer finger of her other hand, in which she holds a string of coral-red beads. A hint of a gold belt is just visible between and behind her hands. The green background behind her glows around her shoulders and deepens to moss green around the arched top of the panel.

Margaretha Boghe

Joos van Cleve

probably 1518

Oil on panel Accession ID 1962.9.2

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M41

The Crucifixion with the Converted Centurion

Lucas Cranach the Elder

1536

Oil on panel Accession ID 1961.9.69

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M35

A gold chalice holding a thin, green serpent sits in an arched niche in this vertical painting. Light falls across the chalice from our right so it casts a shadow in the shallow gray stone niche. The chalice has a flaring, six-lobed foot, and a knob on the stem is set with red and green, diamond-shaped stones. The slender green snake drapes inside the cup’s round bowl. The serpent’s mouth is open and tongue flicks out to our right, and the tail hangs out of the chalice to our left.

Chalice of Saint John the Evangelist [reverse]

Hans Memling

c. 1470/1475

Oil on panel Accession ID 1952.5.46.b

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M39

Shown from the lap up, a pale-skinned woman looks off to the left in front of a vivid green background in this vertical portrait painting. The woman’s whole body angles to the left as she gazes in that direction with gray eyes under faint brows. Her nose is indented on the long side, and her thin pink lips are closed in a line. Her strawberry-blond hair is pulled back over her left ear, to our right, and is otherwise hidden under a wide, floppy black cap. A glint of gold at the top of the hat could be her hair or a brooch or decoration. Her tightly fitting black bodice has a high collar. Her arms rest by her sides, and the sleeves are wine red. A belt around her narrow waist is laced with black on an orange band at the front, and a section below has a crosshatched pattern painted with delicate black lines on golden yellow. The woman is lit from our left and casts a darker green shadow on the lime-green background. The top and left edges of the panel are also lined with darker green.

Portrait of a Woman

Lucas Cranach the Elder

1522

Oil on panel Accession ID 1959.9.2

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M35

A kneeling pregnant woman, an older, white-bearded man, a winged angel, and two people smaller in scale are angled to our left in this vertical panel, which has an arched top. All the people have pale skin. The pregnant woman, Mary, takes up most of the composition. She has an oval face with small features, a slight double chin, and pale pink lips. She has long, wavy blond hair under a gold headband, and a ring of Latin text creates a halo farther out from her head. Her midnight blue, almost black, cloak is lined with spring green and edged with gold. She grips the edge of her cloak with her right hand, farther from us, and holds her other hand over her belly. Smaller in scale, the winged angel is behind her and near her right shoulder. The angel holds one of Mary’s fingers and looks back at her face from the corner of light brown eyes. The angel wears a petal-pink robe under gold bands, has blond hair, and wings striped with canary yellow, dark blue, mauve pink, grass green, and pearl white. The man, Joseph, is the same scale as Mary. He is shown from the waist up behind a gold-brocaded red curtain, which is hung across the bottom of the composition behind Mary and the angel. Joseph’s gray hair is covered by a white cloth, and he has a brown and black hood over a raspberry-red robe. He clutches the end of a crutch and a green book in his hands at his chest. The final two people, smaller in scale than the angel, stand or kneel behind Mary. These two women wear gowns that are white down the front with scarlet-red sleeves and skirts. Where it falls down the back of the full dress, the red fabric is also lined with grass green. The gowns are edged with gold and have gold bands down the fronts. The woman closer to us stands with her hand clasped down in front of her, and the other rests one hand on her own belly and the other arm is wrapped around the first woman’s shoulders. Both have blond hair and look up at Mary. Tiny white and blue flowers, including violets, grow on green grass in the bottom quarter of the painting. The background above the curtain is gold, and two winged angels hold a tall crown in a bank of dark blue clouds in the curve of the arch. These angels are painted entirely in shades of crimson red.

The Expectant Madonna with Saint Joseph

French 15th Century

c. 1425/1450

Tempera on european walnut Accession ID 1952.5.32

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M39

This painting depicts a rocky pass with a man, woman, and child moving up a hill towards us. In the background is a rugged rock formation rising towards the top left, leading down to a horizon with green fields and distant blue hills. In the center of the painting, a woman in a red gown and blue cloak holds a child wrapped in a white cloth. The woman rides a donkey, and a man walking left next to her on the left holds the reins. The man wears a gray garment under an orange cloak, and he walks with a crutch in one hand. Both the man and woman have halos around their heads. The hill they are on is covered in lush green grass, and green trees fill the areas between the rock formations. Far away, small white buildings are visible below. The sky above the scene is white along the horizon but blue at the top of the painting, with a few faint clouds drifting by.

The Flight into Egypt

Anonymous Artist

c. 1550/1575

Oil on panel Accession ID 1961.9.81

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M41

Shown from the waist up, a clean-shaven man with pale, peachy skin is dressed in black and burgundy red in this vertical portrait painting. His shoulders are as wide as the composition and his hat nearly touches the top edge, so he almost fills the painting. His body and face are angled to our right, and he looks off in that direction with hooded brown eyes under slightly raised brows. He has a long, bumped nose, high cheekbones, the hint of a five-o-clock shadow, and his pale pink lips are closed. His hair is cut straight across at ear length, and fuzzy sideburns come down to his jawline. A wide, soft black cap curves down either side of his head to ear level. He wears a white shirt with a delicate black pattern on the neckline, which is tied with a thin black ribbon. A voluminous dark red shawl or wrap has two black bands along the bottom hem, and it engulfs his sloping shoulders. In the lower corners of the painting, we see long black sleeves under the wrap. The sleeves have slashes to allow the white undergarment to show through. He is set against a lime-green background and illuminated by bright light from the upper right, which creates a darker green shadow behind him, to our left. The artist signed the painting with a symbol on a small, light brown panel, which appears to be affixed to the back wall in the upper left corner of the painting. The date, “1522,” appears over a winged serpent holding a ring in its mouth.

Portrait of a Man

Lucas Cranach the Elder

1522

Oil on panel Accession ID 1959.9.1

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M35

This is a painting of a scene depicting a ceremonial event with architectural features in the background. The painting shows a gathering of people in elaborate and colorful garments. The central woman, clad in a long blue dress with a golden crown over her long blonde hair, is holding hands with a man on the right in a red-pink robe. An ornate building with arched and intricate elements serves as a backdrop. The architectural design includes columns and intricate stonework under a bright blue sky. On either side are more people dressed in a mix of robes, all looking at the central couple.

The Marriage of the Virgin

Bernard van Orley

c. 1513

Oil on panel Accession ID 1952.5.48

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M41