American Paintings 1750–1900

On View: West Building, Main Floor

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166 artworks on view.

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Near a verdant riverbank against soaring, hazy cliffs, a nude, chubby baby sits in a golden boat on a bed of pink and white flowers in this horizontal painting. A winged angel wearing a white robe with a glowing starburst hovering overhead stands behind the child with one hand resting on the tiller of the boat. The angel and child both have pale skin and blond hair. The baby holds up handfuls of flowers and looks forward. The bow of the boat is angled to our right as it glides along the glassy surface of the river. The boat seems to be made of or carved to look like a mass of gold, winged angels clustered to make the vessel. They reach toward a single angel thrust forward from the bow, like a masthead, who holds up an hourglass. The boat has just emerged from a dark cave at the base of rocky, rose-pink cliffs that reach off the top left edge of the canvas. The jagged peaks become pale pink as they march into the distance. A spit of the lush riverbank fills the lower left corner of the composition; it and the far bank are dotted with white waterlilies and a profusion of yellow, blue, pink, purple, and red flowers. Celery and moss-green growth carpets the boulders on either side the cave mouth and the ground stretching beyond the riverbank. The growth becomes mauve-purple as it recedes to the horizon, which comes a third of the way up the composition and is lit by a golden glow. Petal-pink and gray clouds float among the cliff-tops against an otherwise pale blue sky. The artist dated and signed the lower left, “1842 T. Cole Rome.”

The Voyage of Life: Childhood

Thomas Cole

1842

Oil on canvas  Accession ID  1971.16.1

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M60
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A young man sets out in a golden boat on a river that winds from the bottom right corner of this horizontal painting across a lush landscape and into the distance before disappearing beyond two rocky outcroppings far off to our right. Hazy in the distance, the jagged peaks of a barren red mountain rise into an almost cloudless blue sky. To our left, a semi-transparent, white palace looms above and beyond the mountain, filling most of the upper left quadrant of the composition. Hills and valleys leading from the mountain and palace are dotted with trees and carpeted with grass. A winged and haloed angel wearing a white robe stands on the bank of the river under a towering palm tree in the foreground, in the bottom right corner of the canvas. The angel has pale skin and long golden hair. One hand is lifted toward the palace or a young man in a boat in the river nearby. The small boat is angled away from the riverbank to our left and toward the palace. The boat is ornately decorated and at its bow, a winged, golden figure holds an hourglass aloft above her head. The young man has pale skin, shoulder-length brown hair, and he wears a red and gold tunic. A profusion of flowers and trees line the riverbank.

The Voyage of Life: Youth

Thomas Cole

1842

Oil on canvas  Accession ID  1971.16.2

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M60
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Two pale-skinned women sit facing each other on a long sofa centered on the wall across from us in a room warmly lit from the right in this horizontal painting. The scene is loosely painted so some details are indistinct. The woman on our left wears a white, full-length dress belted at the waist and trimmed with a ruffled hem. The puffy sleeves narrow below the elbow and are tucked into long, fawn-brown gloves. She wears a brimmed hat topped with dabs of white and lapis-blue paint, presumably flowers, with a sheer veil covering her face and chin. Glints of gold at her wrists might be bracelets. Her lower body faces us but her head and torso turn to her left, our right, to face her companion. She leans forward, with her left hand slightly extended, and she rests her fingertips on the cushion between them. Her other hand, closest to us, holds the curving handle of a closed, shell-pink parasol trimmed with white. To our right, the second woman sits with her knees angled to our left as she turns her head in profile, looking at her companion. She wears a floor-length, butter-yellow dress with white, vertical stripes. The dress has a high black collar, and a black ribbon wraps around her waist and falls down the front of the dress. Her sleeves billow at the shoulder and narrow below the elbow. Her dark brown hair is gathered at the top of her head. She holds a flat object in the same butter yellow in her lap that may be a matching hat. The sofa spans almost the entire width of the center of the painting. Its seat is draped in spruce-green fabric, and emerald-green, mauve, rose-pink, black, and gold throw pillows are scattered along its length. The lower half of the wall behind the women is tawny brown while the upper half is divided into four sections. A coral-red and off-white wall hanging fills the wall to our left of the woman in white. A framed artwork and mustard-yellow fabric with daubs of white, ash gray, and black hang on it. Moving right, a column of three framed artworks hang on the wall between the women. Next is a large mirror with a gold frame that hangs behind the woman in yellow. At the far right is another column of three framed artworks. The room behind us is reflected in the large mirror, showing an amber-colored wall with large windows and more framed artworks. Steps leading up to another sunlit room are also visible. A wicker chair with a pink and white pillow sits in the lower right, facing the women at an angle. The floor in front of them fills the lower third of the composition and is covered with a vanilla-yellow carpet streaked with areas of smoke gray and brick red. Two small throw pillows with tassels lie at the feet of the woman in white. The tip of the parasol points to a small sage-green pillow with tomato-red tassels lying on the floor between the women. To our left of the woman in white is a cream-white pillow with marigold-orange tassels. The artist signed and dated the painting in the lower left, “Wm. M. Chase. Copyright 1895.”

A Friendly Call

William Merritt Chase

1895

Oil on canvas  Accession ID  1943.1.2

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M70
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A man looks up as he kneels with his hands clasped in prayer in a small golden boat on a river that rushes toward craggy rocks in this horizontal landscape painting. The man has pale skin, dark brown hair and beard, and he wears a crimson-red tunic. A winged figurehead at the front of the gold boat holds up an hourglass. The boat sails to our right, away from calm waters to the left toward whitewater rapids along the right edge of the composition. A ridge of tall, jagged, moss-covered rock lines the water’s edge to our left and another channels the water on the opposite side of the river. Closest to us, a barren, blasted tree twists up from the lower right corner. The river passes off the right edge of the canvas, and calm waters beyond extend into the distance. The horizon line comes just under halfway up the composition. Bands of golden yellow break through the deep mauve-pink sky near the horizon line to our right. Diagonal plum-purple streaks suggest falling rain in the distance. A white glow in the upper left corner emanates around a person with long, reddish-blond hair and pale skin, who looks down at the man in the boat. That person wears a white garment and a golden star shines at the forehead. Smudges of fog blue in the sky above the man first read as clouds but upon closer inspection, the cloud-like forms contain the faces of three bearded men.

The Voyage of Life: Manhood

Thomas Cole

1842

Oil on canvas  Accession ID  1971.16.3

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M60
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A balding, older man sits in a golden boat guided by a winged angel away from craggy rocks to calm waters, toward a shaft of light piercing a billowing bank of clouds in this horizontal landscape painting. The man and angel both have light skin. The man wears a crimson-red tunic and has a fringe of white curls and a long, white beard. He holds his hands up, palms facing out, as he looks toward the light in the upper left corner of the canvas. His golden boat is made up of wings and human bodies facing inward, the rudder and figurehead at the bow broken off. The man glides from low, jagged rocks in the lower right corner onto placid waters. Floating above the man and slightly to our left, the angel has long golden hair, a flowing white tunic, lilac-purple wings, and a bright starburst at the forehead. The angel gestures up to the shaft of light, where another angel has swept down into the cloud bank. Dozens of touches of white paint farther up in the clouds, closer to the light in the top left, suggest more angels descending toward the scene below. Concentric rings of clouds darken from butter yellow in the upper left to pale mauve and muted plum purple across the landscape. The artist signed the painting as if he had inscribed his name and date on a rock near the lower left, “T. Cole 1842.” A second inscription, to the right of center along the lower edge on another rock, reads “Rome.”

The Voyage of Life: Old Age

Thomas Cole

1842

Oil on canvas  Accession ID  1971.16.4

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M60
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From a rocky ledge, we look down into a valley between two humped mountains that run into the distance ahead of us in this horizontal landscape painting. The area closest to us has golden yellow and sage-green grasses on a ledge of ash-gray stone. The land drops away beyond the ledge, into a valley, which is also deep in shadow. The conical tops of a few evergreen trees poke up on the far side of the stone ledge. The flat, grassy area between the mountains is moss and olive green. The mountain to our left curves down as it moves away from us, and the long side facing us is sheer, cinnamon-brown stone. The ridge continues into the distance and comes to an end in an emerald-green meadow, which runs parallel to a band of pale blue water. The mountain to our right is entirely in shadow, but the bristly ridge suggests trees. The water meets the ice-blue sky about two-thirds of the way up the composition.

The Last Valley - Paradise Rocks

John La Farge

1867-1868

Oil on canvas  Accession ID  2000.144.1

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M67
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Shown from the lap up, a woman with pale skin wearing a white satin dress and tall white bonnet sits sewing with her body facing our left in this vertical portrait painting. She turns her head to look directly at us from under slightly raised eyebrows with heavy-lidded, almond-shaped, dark brown eyes. She has a long, sharp nose and her high cheekbones are lightly flushed. Her thin lips are pressed together with the corners pulled back, and her mouth is framed by vertical wrinkles along her chin. A bonnet of sheer white fabric is secured around her head by a white silk ribbon tied into a four-loop bow above her forehead. The bonnet is pleated to create ruffles that frame her face. The woman pinches threaded sewing needle between her right thumb and index finger, farther from us, while holding the thread taunt with her outstretched pinky. Light catches a pearl-like object near her thumb, but on closer inspection it might be a thimble she wears on her middle finger. The remainder of the thread is secured by her left index finger and thumb, which also holds the fabric she stitches. A gold ring glistens on the third finger of her left hand. The crisp fabric of her dress looks white in the light and the shadows are a silvery, pale gray. The long sleeves fit closely along her arms and more fabric, perhaps of the skirt, billows up beside her over the arm of the chair. A piece of gauzy white cloth drapes over the woman's neck and over her shoulders, and may be tied around her torso. She sits in a dusky rose-pink upholstered chair lined with brass nail heads. The background behind her is taupe near her torso and it darkens to nearly black in the upper corners.

Catherine Brass Yates (Mrs. Richard Yates)

Gilbert Stuart

1793/1794

Oil on canvas  Accession ID  1940.1.4

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M60
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A young man shown from the waist up behind a tabletop takes up the left half of this vertical portrait, and a geranium in a terracotta pot takes up the right half of the painting. The man has pale, peachy skin and dark brown hair. He wears a pair of glasses with small oval lenses, a white neckcloth, and a brown coat. He looks down and to our left. He holds a second pair of silver-rimmed glasses in his right hand on the table, and his left hand, on our right, rests on the edge of the terracotta pot. The tall, leggy geranium nearly reaches the upper edge of the canvas and has two clusters of small red flowers near its top. The young man and plant are shown against a fawn-brown background. The artist signed and dated the painting in white letters in the lower right corner: “Rem Peale 1801.”

Rubens Peale with a Geranium

Rembrandt Peale

1801

Oil on canvas  Accession ID  1985.59.1

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M60
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A flatboat with eight light-skinned men floats toward us down a wide river in this horizontal painting. The boat nearly spans the width of the composition and has low sides and a shallowly arched, low cabin upon which the men gather. At the center, a man with dark hair and wearing light blue trousers and a pink shirt dances with one foot and both arms raised. To our right a seated musician plays a fiddle, and to our left a smiling man holds up a metal pot and strikes the flat bottom with the back of his fingers. The remaining men sit or recline around the musicians and dancing man, some looking toward the dancer and two looking out at us. Bedrolls and animal skins are stored in the cabin below. The olive-green surface of the river is streaked with pale blue. The horizon line comes about a third of the way up the composition. The trees and riverbanks in the distance are hazy beneath a watery blue sky.

The Jolly Flatboatmen

George Caleb Bingham

1846

Oil on canvas  Accession ID  2015.18.1

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M65
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In a camp, two soldiers wearing blue uniforms are lost in thought as they listen to a military band playing music in the background in this vertical painting. Their uniforms consist of midnight-blue jackets, stone-blue pants, and flat-topped, brimmed hats. Brass buttons line the open fronts of their jackets, and a gold-colored emblem is affixed to the tops of their caps. One soldier, at the center of the painting, stands facing our left in profile with one hand on his hip. Another, to our right, sits in front of a tent, also looking to our left. The seated soldier’s knees are spread wide. One hand rests on at least two pieces of paper on his thigh, and he rests his chin in the other hand, also propped on his thigh. A low, triangular tent, about waist-high, is pitched to the left of the standing solider. The inside is dark but closer inspection reveals the bottom of one boot, presumably belonging to a solider lying down inside. At the lower left of the painting, gray smoke drifts up from a pot on a campfire. A knapsack and a pewter plate holding waffle-like hardtack are laid near the tent. A few branches cover the dirt ground to our right. A tan cloth draped over an arbor-like structure of sticks forms a partition between the two soldiers and the rest of the camp, dividing the composition. Rows of tents extend into the distance. A band of soldiers plays music in the distance, light glinting off their gold horn instruments. A row of tents is visible in the deep distance, perhaps across a body of water. The horizon line comes about two-thirds of the way up the composition, and puffy white clouds drift across the pale blue sky above.

Home, Sweet Home

Winslow Homer

c. 1863

Oil on canvas  Accession ID  1997.72.1

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M68
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A thin, narrow-shouldered woman holding a black shawl close to her body walks toward us down an alleyway past a pair of men wearing all black in this horizontal painting. One of the men’s faces is in shadow but all three people seem to have light skin. The woman’s shawl wraps around her shoulders and the bottom hem, edged with fringe, kicks around her shins over a long, cream-white skirt. A stroke of magenta pink at her neck, perhaps her shirt, is echoed in the deep pink of her closed, full lips. Her gaze seems to be downcast, and her features, like much of the rest of the scene, are loosely painted. A touch of coral red on her head could be a flower or decoration in her brown hair, which seems to be pulled back. Behind her and to our right, two men stand, presumably talking, near a building. Both wear black hats and the collars of their black coats seem to be lined with fur. One man leans against the building and looks toward the woman. The other man looks at his companion, his face in shadow. In the distance, a man and woman sit at a small table on the far side of the alley. Buildings rising along the walkway to our left and right fill the composition and extend off the top edge. At least two buildings close off our view across the far end of the alley. A higher structure behind one of them seems to catch sunlight with a touch of bright, cream white, but the scene in the alley is softly lit, in diffused shadow. The faces of all the buildings are ivory or pale peach, and most have forest-green shutters. On the buildings, the paint is applied in rough layers to mimic stucco or plaster. Throughout the work, loose brushstrokes are visible. The artist signed the work in dark paint in the lower right corner: “John S. Sargent.”

Street in Venice

John Singer Sargent

1882

Oil on wood  Accession ID  1962.4.1

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M70
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We look through a tropical forest lining a hazy, wide, placid river in this horizontal landscape painting. Densely packed trees, bushes, and plants create shadowed, thickly forested banks along both sides of the river. The trees are covered with climbing vines, and they have gnarled, sprawling branches. Light catches the flat leaves of a palm-like plant close to us to our left, and once we take a closer look, we find two minuscule black birds with cherry-red chests perched on a long curving stem. The vegetation is reflected in the water’s surface into the distance, where it becomes pale mauve-pink and blends imperceptibly with the sky and clouds. A flock of white birds create a long line low over the water to our right. The sun is a small disk of white low in the humid sky amid pale lavender-purple clouds. The sun reflects in the calm surface of the water below, and it brings our attention to a person rowing a canoe, barely visible on the river in the deep, misty distance.

El Rio de Luz (The River of Light)

Frederic Edwin Church

1877

Oil on canvas  Accession ID  1965.14.1

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M67
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