German and Netherlandish Paintings and Sculptures

On View: West Building, Main Floor

93 artworks on view.

This painting shows the upper half of a woman and a standing infant. The woman stands behind a table while the infant stands on one leg on top of it. She holds the child steady with one arm. The woman has fair skin, long brown hair, and a serene expression as she looks down at the child. She wears a colorful dress with wide sleeves in shades of bright red, teal, and orange. With her other hand, she holds a bunch of green grapes towards the child. The unclothed infant has light skin and light hair, and it stands comfortably with one foot on the ground and the other resting on its knee, holding an apple in one hand and lifting a grape to its mouth in the other. The background is dark, and on the gray table at the bottom of the painting there is a glass of yellow liquid and another apple.

Madonna and Child

Lucas Cranach the Elder

probably c. 1535 or after

Oil on panel Accession ID 1953.3.1

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M35

Shown from the chest up, a pale-skinned man wearing a ruffled collar and ornately decorated doublet looks at us from the corners of his eyes in this vertical portrait painting. His shoulders and face angle to our left, but he gazes steadily our way with bright blue eyes under low, thin brows. He has a straight nose with a rounded tip, and his coral-pink lips are closed under a faint suggestion of a mustache and perhaps a beard. His short brown hair is brushed back from his high forehead, and his white collar curls in figure eights high along his chin and up the back of his neck. His doublet is brown patterned with gold horizontal stripes lined with silver zig-zags. Flower-shaped buttons lead down the front of his doublet from a high collar, and a long gold chain falls out of view below the bottom edge of the painting. His ivory-white sleeves have slashes in rows of alternating diagonals separated by gold embroidery. The background is dark ash brown.

Portrait of a Nobleman

French 16th Century

c. 1570

Oil on fir or pine Accession ID 1942.16.1

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M35

Pietà

South Netherlandish 15th Century

1450/1475

Alabaster with traces of polychromy Accession ID 1990.13.1

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M39

Saint Barbara [left wing exterior]

Master of the Starck Triptych

c. 1480/1490

Oil on panel Accession ID 1997.100.1.c

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M35

This painting displays a woman standing upright, turned towards the left. The woman holds a sword vertically, with one hand on the hilt, the long blade pointed downward. She has long blonde hair that falls past her shoulders under an intricate crown. She has fair skin, pale, arched eyebrows, round eyes, and small red lips, and her facial expression is neutral. She wears a red robe over a red dress with a black belt at the waist and a faint pattern of flowers and vines. By her feet appears to be a broken piece of curved wood with thin spokes pointing upward, similar to a broken piece of a wheel. The background is black, and the ground is gray.

Saint Catherine [right wing exterior]

Master of the Starck Triptych

c. 1480/1490

Oil on panel Accession ID 1997.100.1.b

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M35

The image shows a man's upper body from the chest up. He is slightly turned to the side with his hands clasped together, holding a folded cloth. The man has a serious expression with prominent cheekbones, a furrowed brow, light facial hair, including a mustache, short brown hair mostly covered by a dark cap, and is dressed in a dark garment with a high, white ruffled collar. A ring is on his left ring finger. The background is muted green.

A Member of the de Hondecoeter Family [obverse]

Antwerp 16th Century

1543

Oil on panel Accession ID 1953.3.3.a

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M41

Wife of a Member of the de Hondecoeter Family

Antwerp 16th Century

1543

Oil on panel Accession ID 1953.3.4

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M41

This is a painting depicting a heraldic coat of arms. The image features a detailed coat of arms with a central shield, adorned with black and gold sections, and additional decorative elements above it. There is a figure resembling a unicorn emerging from the crest. The background is a deep red hue. The artwork is displayed within a wooden frame with crossbars. This style is associated with displaying family crests and lineage.

Hans Roth [reverse]

Bernhard Strigel

1527

Oil on panel Accession ID 1947.6.4.b

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M35

The image depicts a man from the waist up, positioned in a three-quarter view as he looks to his left. He has a fair complexion, a reddish-brown close-cropped beard, and medium brown hair cut at ear length. He wears a black flat cap, a white undershirt, a deep blue or black coat, and a burgundy overcoat draped over his shoulders. He is holding an object in his hands. The background is a muted olive green color.

Portrait of a Man

Bartholomaeus Bruyn the Elder

c. 1530/1540

Oil on panel Accession ID 1953.3.5

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M41

The image shows a pattern of vertical and horizontal wooden bars forming a grid-like design. In the center, there is a rectangular panel with a decorative emblem against a red background. The emblem features swirling shapes. The structured wooden grid and ornate emblem suggest a vintage heraldic shield or coat of arms.

Margarethe Vöhlin [reverse]

Bernhard Strigel

1527

Oil on panel Accession ID 1947.6.5.b

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M35

A young woman and older man accompanied by two winged angels kneel to gaze at a tiny infant lying on an overturned basket in this vertical painting. They and the five men standing or kneeling to each side all have pale skin. The woman, Mary, is on our left and leans forward with her hands stretched out toward the infant. Her long, honey-blond hair is covered with a pleated white cloth, and she wears a marine-blue gown over a garment with garnet-red sleeves. The older man, Joseph, kneels opposite her. He has a gray beard and hair and wears a charcoal-gray cloak over a scarlet-red robe. The nude infant, Jesus, lies on the basket between them next to a bundle of wheat. The angels are about half the size of Mary and Joseph and kneel just beyond Jesus. They both have blond hair and wings striped in shades of carnation pink, canary yellow, and celestial blue. The angel on our left wears an olive-green robe, and the other wears a white robe shaded with arctic blue. Mary, Joseph, Jesus, and the angels gather on a worn, tiled stone floor outside the ruins of a building with an exposed interior. Ornamented bronze and rose-pink panels are set into pillars and over openings. Ivy grows along the upper edges of the partially ruined walls, and small tree branches sprout on the roof. An owl and another bird perch on the remains of a wood roof tucked behind the first structure. An ox and a donkey are tucked into a back corner of the building below. Three men dressed in burgundy and black enter the ruins from the left. One wears a soft black hat and holds a musical instrument to his lips. Two more men kneel beyond Joseph on the right, and one wears pea green with a rose-pink cape. The background beyond the building and people is filled with a green and blue landscape scattered with buildings and tiny people walking and dancing around a fire.

The Adoration of the Shepherds

Adriaen Isenbrant

probably 1520/1540

Oil on panel Accession ID 1978.46.1

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M41

This painting depicts three people seated side-by-side outdoors. The central person is a young, nude child with curly, reddish hair and a red beaded necklace, sitting on a red cushion. Their head is turned to the right. The woman on the left wears a white head covering, a sheer veil around her neck, a green dress, and a red cloak with floral designs. She holds the torso of the child and drapes a white cloth around its legs. The woman on the right has long, flowing reddish hair and wears a white dress or robe with gold detailing down the front, on the neckline, and on the wrists. She holds an open red book, and the child is turning one of the thin pages. All three people have pale skin. Above them, in the cloudy blue sky, there is a white dove with its wings outstretched, gold lines radiating from it. Above the dove, there is an image of a crowned bearded man with pale skin, wearing red robes and holding an orb. He is against a golden background with red dots that breaks through the pale clouds. The background shows a landscape with green trees, hills, and pale blue buildings.

Saint Anne with the Virgin and the Christ Child

Master of Frankfurt

c. 1511/1515

Oil on panel Accession ID 1976.67.1

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M39