Medieval and Renaissance Sculptures and Decorative Arts

A clean-shaven, young man, David, stands with his feet to either side of a severed head in this free-standing marble sculpture. In this view, David’s body angles to our left but he turns his oval face to us as he looks into the distance with wide eyes. He has a straight nose, closed lips, and a round chin. Short hair curls on his forehead and to the nape of his neck. The strap of a satchel is slung over one shoulder and across his torso over a thigh-length toga. He stands with his weight on his right foot, to our left, and the other knee bent so the foot rests at an angle along the jawline of the severed head. David holds the strap of a long slingshot down by his right side, to our left, so the pocket end of the slingshot rests on the ground at that foot. The other hand is braced, palm out, on the slightly bent thigh. The severed head is larger in scale than David’s head, and it lies on one ear. The head has a beard, curly hair, and the eyes are closed. A column of marble behind the pair help support the stone’s weight. The surface of the marble has deepened to parchment white in some areas and is a darker tan on David’s face. The sculpture has an oval base carved from the same stone, and it rests on a pedestal against a pale pink stone wall.

The David of the Casa Martelli

Bernardo Rossellino, Antonio Rossellino

c. 1461/1479

Marble Accession ID 1942.9.115

On View: West Building Ground Floor, Gallery G19

A cup carved from stone is mounted in gold fittings to create a jeweled chalice with handles that curl up each side and a tall, flaring foot below. The stone of the cup is swirled with shell pink and rust brown, and carved to create vertical ridges. The gold rim around the lip flares outward and is set with a band of alternating pairs of small, white pearls and mostly garnet-red stones, though one stone to our right is a muted blue. In this photograph, the handles curve up each side from the base of the stone cup to the gold lip, where the handle divides into two scrolling tendrils on either side of a teardrop shaped center, like curling petals. The base and foot are as tall as the stone cup and gold lip. A knob-like form just below the stone cup is set with deep red and jade green stones around its center, and rows of small pearls around the narrow top and bottom of the knob. The knob is chased to create a pattern of scrolling vines, like tracery. The flaring foot below is also chased with the same pattern, surrounding gold, oval medallions set at regular intervals in the foot. In our view, the medallion to the left shows a bunch of grapes and the center is a portrait of a bearded man with a halo, holding his right hand up with his first two fingers raised. The details on the medallion to our right are difficult to make out but it could be a sheaf of wheat. Small, round jewels are set above and below each medallion, and between each one.

Chalice of the Abbot Suger of Saint-Denis

French 12th Century, Alexandrian 2nd Century B.C., Alexandrian 1st Century B.C.

2nd/1st century B.C. (cup); 1137-1140 (mounting)

Sardonyx cup with heavily gilded silver mounting, adorned with filigrees set with stones, pearls, glass insets, and opaque white glass pearls Accession ID 1942.9.277

On View: West Building Ground Floor, Gallery G18

A young woman sits wearing a voluminous, long, royal-blue dress to our right and a winged angel wearing a white robe stands looking at her with one arm raised to our left in this vertical painting. The people nearly fill this composition and both have pale, ivory-white skin. In the lower right quadrant of the painting, the woman’s body faces us, and she looks up and to our left with dark eyes. She has an oval-shaped face with a long, delicate nose and her small, pink lips are closed. Her wavy, light brown hair falls over her shoulders and down nearly to her waist. Her blue garment is edged with gold. Her cloak is fastened at the neck with a gold chain, from which hangs an amethyst-purple stone set into a pendant with pearls. The cuffs of her blue robe are lined with fur over crimson-red sleeves beneath. The blue robe puddles on the floor around her and the corners of two pillows—one gold and one scarlet red, each with a fat tassel—behind her suggest she sits on the cushions. She holds a thick book with red and black text and gold edges open in her lap, resting on a silvery blue cloth with tassels at the front corners. A white dove hovers with wings outstretched over her head, and is surrounded by a white halo deepening in several concentric rings to aquamarine blue. Along the left edge of the painting, the angel’s body is angled to our right and the head tips toward the woman. The angel’s right hand, on our left, is raised high overhead. In the other hand is a long gold staff, almost as tall as the angel. The angel’s blond hair falls in ringlets to the shoulders, and the nose and mouth are delicate. The flowing white robe is cinched at the waist, and it has a wide collar like lapels, with a round purple stone fastened like a brooch at the throat. A jeweled head piece has a dark stone set in gold at the center flanked by a row of alternating white and pink flowers to either side. The wings are rose pink along the top edge, pale turquoise along the center, and icy blue along the bottom. A bright emerald-green cloth hangs on the cream-white wall behind the angel, and brick shows through what appears to be lost plaster over the woman’s head to our right. The door of a cabinet behind the woman is ajar and a rounded urn holding tall, white lilies sits on the surface above.

The Annunciation

Juan de Flandes

c. 1508/1519

Oil on panel Accession ID 1961.9.22

On View: West Building Ground Floor, Gallery G19

A young, bearded man wearing only a white loincloth stands facing us in a pale blue river with a man to one side and a winged angel to the other in this vertical painting. They all have pale or tanned skin and tawny-brown hair. The man at the center, Jesus, stands knee-deep in the placid water with his hands together in prayer. He looks off to our left, his hollow eyes set above a drooping mouth. To our left, a man kneels on the rocky riverbank and trickles water from his hand onto Jesus’s head. That man wears a fawn-brown robe under a raspberry-red cloak. He is bearded with curly brown hair, and he has dark circles under his eyes and a downturned mouth. The winged angel stands to our right on a flat stone, closer to us. Gold and pink wings rise vertically along the right edge of the composition. The angel wears voluminous white robes and holds a marine-blue garment in both hands. A white dove hovering over Jesus’s head is surrounded by a halo edged with teal, pea-green, and pink rings. A bearded man wearing a tiered, jeweled crown looks down from a round opening in the ice-blue sky above the dove. He holds one hand up in blessing and holds an orb topped by a cross in the other. About ten fish nibble at the rocks near Jesus’s feet in the river, which winds through a pale green field to a town of turrets and towers in the distance.

The Baptism of Christ

Juan de Flandes

c. 1508/1519

Oil on panel Accession ID 1961.9.25

On View: West Building Ground Floor, Gallery G19

This round sculpture contains several ornate designs and figures. In the center is a man with pale skin, long golden hair, and a golden beard, wearing red robes over a white garment. His hands are raised by his chest, and in them he holds a large cross with a smaller man attached to it. This man has his arms stretched out to each side, and his hands and feet have been nailed to the cross. He is shirtless, with a red cut on one side of his chest, white cloth wrapped around his waist, and a leafy crown on his head. He has pale skin with some areas of gold and long gold hair. At the top of the cross seems to be the shape of a white bird, its wings stretched to either side. Surrounding these two men are angelic figures with large brown wings, white skin, and golden hair. Circling them is a ring of thorns, and beyond that is a wreath of leaves with several large pearls in it. At the edge of the sculpture is an ornate golden frame. The piece is richly colored with gold, white, red, blue, and green tones.

Morse with the Trinity

French 15th Century, European 19th Century

c. 1400/1410 (Trinity and Angels); 1884/1897 (setting)

Gold, enamel, and pearls Accession ID 1942.9.287

On View: West Building Ground Floor, Gallery G18

Lodovico Sforza, Duke of Bari

Benedetto Briosco

early 1490s

Marble Accession ID 1937.1.120

On View: West Building Ground Floor, Gallery G19

Helmet (burgonet) in the Form of a Dolphin Mask

Giovanni Paolo Negroli

1540/1545

Iron or steel, repoussé, embossed, and chiseled Accession ID 1942.9.355

On View: West Building Ground Floor, Gallery G19

Leonello d'Este, 1407-1450, Marquess of Ferrara 1441 [obverse]

Pisanello

1444

Bronze Accession ID 1957.14.602.a

On View: West Building Ground Floor, Gallery G16

Mehmed II, 1430-1481, Sultan of the Turks 1451 [obverse]

Costanzo da Ferrara

c. 1477/1480

Bronze Accession ID 1957.14.695.a

On View: West Building Ground Floor, Gallery G16

An Episode from the Life of Publius Cornelius Scipio

Giovanni Bellini

after 1506

Oil on canvas Accession ID 1952.2.7

On View: West Building Ground Floor, Gallery G16

This free-standing, white marble bust shows the head, shoulders, and upper chest of a young boy. In this photograph, the sculpture is angled to our right. The boy has full cheeks, a slightly upturned nose, and short, wavy hair. He stares straight ahead, his faint eyebrows slighty lifted. His loose garment drapes from his right shoulder, on our left, down and across his chest to just below his left shoulder.

A Little Boy

Desiderio da Settignano

1455/1460

Marble Accession ID 1937.1.113

On View: West Building Ground Floor, Gallery G19

Shown from the knees up, a pale-skinned, bearded man dressed in black gazes at us in this vertical portrait painting. His body is angled to our left, and he looks at us from the corners of his hazel eyes under thick brows. He has close-cut, dark brown hair, a short nose, a trimmed beard, and a bushy moustache over pale pink lips, which are closed. He wears a voluminous velvet-black cloak trimmed with sable-brown fur, and his far arm rests on a stone ledge under a window. The face of the ledge is carved in relief with leaves. The man’s other arm hangs by his side, and he holds a brown glove in that hand. A celery-green drapery behind him fills the right half of the background. A short span of wall leads to a window to the left, through which a deep landscape is painted in tones of tan, gold, and bronze brown. Hills, a fence, stairs, what might be aqueducts, and a castle-like complex are nestled against tall hills under a white sky shaded with light tan clouds.

Portrait of a Man with a Landscape View

Jacopo Tintoretto, Maarten de Vos

1552/1556

Oil on canvas Accession ID 1943.7.10

On View: West Building Ground Floor, Gallery G16