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Shown from the shoulders up, a man with peachy skin looks off to our left as he holds the feathered end of an arrow up in a hand resting along the bottom edge of this vertical portrait painting. Shown against a marine-blue background, he looks into the distance with hazel eyes under bushy eyebrows. He has a long, bumped nose, and his full, pale pink lips are closed. His round cheeks are tinged with pink, and there is a hint of a five-o-clock shadow around his mouth and jawline. Chestnut-brown, curly hair hangs to the base of his neck, and wispy curls fall across his forehead from under his tall, chocolate-brown cap. The cap has a small gold pin high over the ear we can see. The man wears a garnet-red jacket with a black collar over a white collarless shirt decorated with five black, narrow bands below the neckline. The fingers of his right hand, to our left, rest with the fingertips braced along on the bottom edge of the painting, as if along a ledge. He pinches the shaft of an arrow with his index finger and thumb, so we see the sienna-brown feathers. He wears a gold ring embedded with a small blue gem near the first knuckle of his ring finger.
Margaret of Austria
This painting is a portrait of a man from the chest upwards, his body and head turned slightly to the left. The man has pale skin, blue eyes, high cheekbones, slightly furrowed brows, a straight nose, and pink lips in a neutral expression. He has shoulder-length wavy brown hair and wears a dark green jacket with a white-and-yellow fur collar and a floppy black hat with a brim that curves around his forehead. The background is plain black. A monogram is visible in the top left corner, and the date "1507" is inscribed in the top right corner.
Shown from the chest up, a clean shaven, young man with pale, rosy skin and curly, mahogany-red hair, looks at or toward us against a black background in this vertical portrait painting. His body is angled to our left, and he turns his face slightly to look our way with sienna-brown eyes under curved eyebrows. He has a long, prominent nose and small thin pink lips. His shoulder length hair curls tightly around his face and covers his ears. He wears a tomato-red shirt with a high collar trimmed with white.
The great Jewish bride
Shown from the waist up, a young woman with pale, peachy skin faces and looks directly at us in this vertical portrait painting. The subtly upturned corners of her mouth and the outer corners of her eyes are touched with shadows. Her delicate eyebrows are faintly painted over dark brown eyes. She has a long straight nose and an oval-shaped face framed by large teardrop pearl earrings. Her dark brown hair is parted down the middle and pulled back under a wide, gold-colored headdress, which creates a halo-like ring around her head. Precisely formed curls rest against her forehead over each temple. Her black dress has voluminous, puffy sleeves framing a sheer, butter-yellow panel covering her chest. White ruffles emerge at her neck and cuffs. A gold Maltese cross, which flares at the end of each arm, hangs from a thick gold chain that falls over her chest and down to her waist. She touches the chain with her left hand, on our right, and with the other she holds the body of a small furry brown animal with bared teeth. The background behind the woman is black down the center and a dark emerald-green curtain falls to either side.
Portrait de l'artiste tenant un chardon
A woman with pale white skin and her blond hair covered by a wide veil is shown from the waist up in this vertical portrait painting. Her folded hands rest on the lower edge of the panel, suggesting that she sits just on the other side, close to us. The transparent white veil covers her blond hair and falls in stiff, wide panes down in front of her shoulders. Her hair is pulled back behind a black ribbon over a high forehead. Her light brown eyes are downcast and she has a straight nose and full, pale pink lips. Her chest is covered by another veil and is tucked into the deep V-neck of her long-sleeved, black dress. A wide scarlet-red belt adorned with an ornately filigreed gold belt buckle encircles her narrow waist. Her skin, white veils, and red belt contrast sharply with her velvety black dress and the dark pine green of the background.
Shown from the waist up, a cleanshaven man with pale, peachy skin, wearing a black cap and a voluminous fur-lined, black cloak, is positioned behind a crimson-red ledge or tabletop in this vertical portrait painting. His head and torso nearly fills the composition. His body is angled to our left, and he looks off in that direction with dark brown eyes under faint eyebrows. His high cheeks are lightly flushed, and he has a pointed nose and a hint of a five o-clock shadow. His soft black cap has flaps that cover his ears. The wide, fur lapels of his black cloak nearly reach his shoulders. The sleeves of the garment beneath has a tan and black checked pattern, and a white undershirt peeks out at his neck and cuffs. A cross hanging from a heavy gold chain has black pearls in the cross of each arm and a teardrop-shaped black pearl hangs from the bottom. The cross has a hand on each short arm, two feet on the long leg, and a red circle at the center. The sitter’s left hand, on our right, rests on the red ledge holding a pair of gloves that are ivory white around the wrist and charcoal gray at the fingers. His right hand, father from us, rests in a loose fist near his other wrist. A folded piece of white paper with black writing lies to our left of the hands. It reads, “NVNQVID NON PAVCITAS DIERVM MEORVM FINIETVR BREVIS.” The background behind the man is mottled with rust brown and steel gray. Gold writing spans the background to either side of the man’s head, reading, “BRIANVS TVKS, MILES, ANO ETATIS EVAE LVII” along the top and “DROIT ET AVANT” below.
This vertical portrait shows the head, shoulders, and chest of a young man with smooth, pale skin and shoulder-length, dark blond hair positioned behind a narrow gray, stone ledge. Shown against a black background, the man tilts his head to our left and his eyes cut to our right. His left eyebrow, on our right, is slightly arched over brown eyes. He has a long, straight nose, pale pink lips, and his hair falls down the sides of his face from beneath a crimson-red, flat-topped cap. He wears a brown garment with white linen peeking through at the shoulder seams. The neck and seam down the front are lined with white, perhaps fur. He holds his right hand to his chest with his middle finger overlapping his ring finger.
The head, shoulders, and chest of a man wearing a deep rose-red garment fills this vertical portrait painting. His body is angled slightly to our left, and he looks directly at us from the corners of his eyes. His brown hair falls across his forehead, sweeps down over his ears, and curls gently at the nape of his neck. His eyebrows arch over brown eyes, and he has a long, angular nose. His upper lip is full, and his mouth is closed. He has high cheekbones and a cleft in his chin. The high collar is a black band over the voluminous red garment, which falls in pleats or folds down his chest. His right hand, on our left, lifts to clutch the fabric near his chest, in the lower left corner of the painting, and he wears a gold ring on his pinky finger. The background behind the man fades from dark aquamarine blue across the top to pale arctic blue at his shoulders, which span the width of the composition.
Shown from the chest up on the far side of a narrow ledge, a woman wearing an elaborate headdress and gown faces our left in profile in this vertical portrait painting. Her pale-peach skin is smooth with little shading around the features. The hazel eye we see is heavy-lidded under a thin, arched brow. The woman has a notably high forehead and a sloped nose. Her lips are closed over a knobby chin and fleshy jawline. Her hair is gathered up in a fine gold net under a twisted, ring-like headdress held in place with long gold pins. The fabric of the headdress alternates between twists of parchment brown or light brown patterned with red or darker brown leaf patterns. A network of muted blue dots encircled with gold does not quite line up with the headdress it overlays. The high collar of the woman’s peacock-blue dress flares up the back of her head over a white collar that curls away along either side of her chin. The garment is covered with flowers and stems outlined in gold. There are thick gold bands at her neck and around her waist. A chain made up of two strands of gold orbs like oversized beads hangs from the shoulder closer to us and then wraps around her body. A gold pendant near her neck may be two chain links or a thin letter B. Light glints off the ledge along the bottom of the painting, and the background is inky black.
The Adoration of the Magi
Shown from the chest up, a light-skinned man wearing a burgundy-red turban faces our left in profile against a dark background in this vertical portrait painting. He looks off to the left, and the eye we can see is light brown under a faint, possibly plucked eyebrow. He has a straight nose, and his full peach-colored lips are closed. There is the suggestion of a puffy area under the eye we can see, but the rest of his skin is smooth. His brown hair is mostly tucked under his turban, and a piece of fabric hangs down the back of his neck. A band of his white undergarment is visible at the high neck of his olive-brown shirt, which appears to be pleated or striped down the front. He also wears a black jacket, which covers his shoulder and most of his chest. A brown band across the bottom edge of the painting could be a wooden railing or ledge, behind which the man is shown. Cracks are visible across the painting, especially in the deep green background.
Shown from the thighs up against a dark background, a man with light skin, wearing a black satin jerkin with puffed breeches, stands with his hand on the neck of a dog by his side in this vertical portrait painting. The man stands with his body angled to our right but looks at us from the corners of his dark eyes. His brows are subtly raised, and his cheeks are slightly sunken under high cheekbones. His red hair is cut short, and his red mustache and beard are trimmed. The high collar of his black jacket is lined with a white ruffle along his chin line. Light from our left glints off the long sleeves of his tight-fitting jacket, creating the impression that it is made of heavy silk. Two thick gold chains hang down his chest, and a sword hangs from a belt around his waist, the hilt on the hip farther from us. His pants puff out and gather on the mid-thigh over stockings. He hooks the thumb of his right hand, on our left, around his hip and he rests his other hand on the neck of the dog standing by his left side, to our right. The dark brown dog has a white stripe down its nose. It faces our left in profile but its brown eyes look toward us. On the collar, ornate metal bosses alternate with low spikes, set in a wide black band. A ring hangs from the front of the collar. Barely legible, the painting is signed and dated in the upper left corner with dark paint: “Antonius mor pingebat a. 1569.”
Louis XIV (1638-1715), roi de France
The great Jewish bride
Shown from the waist up, a light-skinned man sits sideways in a wooden chair so the arm closer to us rests along the chair’s back in this vertical portrait painting. Brushstrokes are visible throughout, especially in the clothing and hair. The man’s right arm, to our left, drapes across the back of the chair. His face turns slightly to our right, and he looks at us with gray eyes under black, curving brows. He has an oval face with high cheekbones and a snub nose. His coral-pink lips are closed and framed by a mustache and pointed patch of hair under his lower lip. He is lit from our left so the far side of his face is in shadow. His loose, curly brown hair cascades over his shoulders. He wears a tall black hat with a stiff, wide brim with a black rosette or pompom on the brim to our right side. The hat is tipped slightly to one side so it angles away from us. A flat, stiff, white collar extends from his chin down to his shoulders, and two tassels hang at this throat. The voluminous sleeve along the back of the chair has a gold pattern picked out in loosely painted, swirling, feathered, and flaring lines against a black background. The jacket is unbuttoned along the forearm to reveal a stark white undershirt that is gathered with a narrow ruffle at the wrist. The chair has a crimson-red center framed by wooden rails to each side and along the top. The background is earth brown to our right of the man, and deepens to dark shadows along the left. A coat of arms, the size of the man’s palm, hangs from the back wall. Three black cow heads create an inverted triangle on a gold field. Under the coat of arms the artist inscribed, “AETA SVAE.22 1645.”
Shown from the waist up, a young woman embraces a baby in this vertical painting. They both have peachy skin, reddish-blond hair, and round faces. The woman is angled to our left and almost takes up the height of the painting. She looks down with gray eyes through lowered lids, under slender, arched brows. She has a straight nose and her pale pink lips are closed. Barely visible, a thin dotted white line spans her brow. A few loose, copper-colored tendrils frame her face under an azure-blue mantle that drapes over her head, shoulders, and arms. Under the mantle she wears a brick-red robe with a stylized, plant-like pattern in gold on the upper bodice and the cuff we can see. Her left elbow, on our right, rests on a sage-green ledge that runs along the bottom edge of the composition, and that hand dangles over the child’s leg. Her other hand curves around the baby’s back. The child is turned to our right to face the woman. He is wrapped in a cloak the same red as the woman's robe, and it has a thin gold border. He sits on a kelly-green cushion resting along the left side of the ledge. His head is turned to gaze off to our right with large hazel eyes under thin brows. He has a button nose and a rosy flush around his small pink mouth, which is slightly open. His right hand dips into the woman’s neckline while the other arm embraces her neck. His right leg stretches out toward her so one pudgy foot peeks out from under the red cloth. The horizon of the landscape behind them comes halfway up the painting. Sloping fields are dotted with trees. Low hills are ice blue in the hazy distance along the horizon, and the sky above is nearly white near the mountains, deepening to pale blue along the top edge.
Shown under an ornately carved stone arch, a young woman holds a baby on her lap as she sits on a curving gold chair flanked by two kneeling angels in this vertical painting. All of the people have pale skin. The woman has long blond hair, a straight nose, and a small pink mouth. Her body faces us but she gazes down. She wears a gold-trimmed, deep blue robe under a crimson-red mantle that covers her shoulders and drapes over her lap and to the floor. She holds an open book with her left hand, on our right, and supports the sitting baby’s body with her other hand. The baby is nude except for a piece of white fabric across one thigh. The baby touches the open book with one hand and reaches toward a small, round piece of fruit the angel on our left offers. That angel has blond hair and sapphire-blue wings, and wears a pale blue garment under a red and gold patterned robe. The angel holds out the fruit with the right hand and in the other, holds an instrument like a violin and bow. The angel to our right has similar hair and facial features, and has blue wings and a sky-blue robe. Both hands strum a harp as the angel gazes to our left almost in profile. Behind the chair, a cloth patterned in pine green and gold hangs vertically from a curving red overhang between tall, narrow archways that open onto a landscape. In the distance, people move through green fields and along a river winding toward a castle to our left beneath a clear blue sky. The angels' wings overlap with the stone archway that frames the scene. It is carved along the inner edge of the arch with vines, lizards, and snails. Two columns flank the arch and atop each is a bearded man, as if carved from the same cream-colored stone of the arch. The man to our left holds a harp and the one to our right holds a saw. Winged, nude, child-like people, putti, hold orbs aloft in the upper corners.
Shown from the chest up, an older, pale-skinned man dressed in scarlet red faces us in this vertical portrait painting. His slender body is turned slightly to our right, but his head turns back to our left so he gazes at a point just over our left shoulder. His large, deep-set dark blue eyes are lined with crow’s feet over high, angular cheekbones. His dark brown beard is shot through with silvery gray, and he has brown, chin-length hair and bangs across his lined forehead. His red garment has a high neck, and the opening down the front is lined with white, perhaps fur. A black sash drapes over his left shoulder, to our right. He is illuminated with warm light from the upper left and set against a dark brown background. A portion of an inscribed plaque is visible just over his right shoulder. It reads, “…TIS …OIX.”
La Femme au miroir
Copy of The Night Watch
Shown from about the waist up, a light-skinned man with sagging jowls and a double chin wears a fur garment and hat, a large teardrop pearl earring, and gold chains in this vertical painting. In front of a cracked gray stone wall, the man's body is angled to our right but he turns his face to look at us with brown eyes under a furrowed brow. He has a bulbous nose, and his lips are slightly parted under a wide, wispy mustache. His brown hair is mostly hidden under the tall dark brown fur hat, which is wrapped with a gold chain with a gold medallion at the front. The chestnut-brown fur coat looks especially fuzzy along the neckline, which is also encircled with a thick gold chain. A gold, crown-shaped pendant with a black brush hangs over his right shoulder, closer to us. He holds a gold-tipped cane with his right hand, his thumb extended along the cane. The artist signed and dated the work in the upper right corner, "Rembrandt f: 1637."
Shown from the chest up, a clean-shaven young man with pale, peachy skin looks off to our left against a cloudy sky in this vertical portrait painting. His body is angled to our left, and he gazes in that direction with dark eyes under thick, arched brows. He has a long nose, smooth cheeks, and a hint of a five-o-clock shadow around his closed, peach-colored lips. Chestnut-brown hair is covered by a black headdress with two long tails. One end drapes over the front of his right shoulder, farther from us, and the other end hangs down his back. He wears a brick-red garment that falls in vertical pleats from a high collar. A white undergarment peeks out from the top of the neckline, and the collar is fastened with a small clasp at the throat. Behind him, tan-colored clouds float across a blue sky.
A woman and winged angel, both with pale, peach skin, are situated in a church interior in this tall, narrow painting. To our left, the angel has long, blond, curly hair, smooth skin, and is smiling. The wings are outlined in royal blue, and they blend from blue to green to yellow to crimson. The angel holds one hand, closer to us, up at chest height with the index finger subtly pointing upward. Holding a long scepter in the other hand, the angel angles their body toward the woman to our right. The angel wears a gold jewel and pearl-encrusted crown and a jeweled long, voluminous robe in scarlet-red and shimmering gold brocade. The neck and along the opening down the front are lined with pearls and jewels. The angel looks toward the woman, who wears a royal-blue dress tied with a red belt at the high waist. Her long brown hair is tied back but one tendril falls over her left shoulder, to our right. She kneels facing us with her raised hands facing outward. Her head is tipped a bit to our left, and she looks up and into the distance to our right with lips slightly parted. She kneels behind a book lying open on a low table. A vase of white lilies and a red cushion lies on the floor in front of the table, close to us. The floor is decorated with people and scenes outlined in black and set into square panels, as if inlaid with wood. The church behind and above the people has a row of tall, narrow arches with bull’s-eye glass windows. A walkway lined with columns runs above the arches, and sunlight comes in through arched windows under the flat wood ceiling. A white dove flies toward the woman on gold lines from a window at the upper left of the painting. Latin words painted in gold capital letters are exchanged between the people. The angel says, “AVE GRA PLENA.” The letters of the woman’s response are painted upside down and backward: “ECCE ANCILLA DNI.”
The Night Watch Militia Company of District II under the Command of Captain Frans Banninck Cocq
Shown from the knees up, a pale-skinned woman wearing a black dress with white cuffs and a wide, starched collar sits in a wooden chair against a dark brown background in this vertical portrait painting. Her body faces us and she looks off to our left with brown eyes. She has slight jowls at her chin and her eyes, mouth, and forehead are lined. Her hair is pulled back under a close-fitting black cap. Extending straight from around her neck, her white collar is pleated into narrow figure-eights and nearly reaches her shoulders. She wears a brown stole over her velvety black dress, and both nearly blend with the dark background. She holds a pair of pince-nez spectacles in her right hand, which rests on a thick book in her lap. The spine faces her right, and the opposite edge is fastened with metal clasps. A braided cord affixed to the narrow end of the book near us creates a loop.
This vertical portrait painting shows the head, shoulders, and chest of a pale-skinned young man in front a cream-white, stone window that opens onto blue sky. The man’s body is angled slightly to our left and he looks directly at us with wide-set, pale blue eyes. He has smooth skin, a rounded nose, a wide jawline, and full, light pink lips. He wears a brimless crimson-red cap over brown hair that curls over his ears and down to the nape of his neck. His slate-blue jacket is lined with brown, perhaps fur, around the high neck and down the front. The jacket has puffy sleeves and vertical pleats over the chest. He is positioned in front of the stone opening, the edges of which run parallel to top and sides of the composition. Vivid blue sky fills the opening behind the young man.
Shown from the waist up, an older man with pale, peachy skin looks out at us with deep-set, gray eyes under a furrowed brow, in front of a sable-brown background in this vertical portrait painting. His body is angled to our left, and his face turns to us. He has a faintly pink, bulbous nose, and his slightly sunken cheeks are shaded with gray. His peach-colored lips are framed with a wispy, gray mustache and goatee. Bronze-orange lines are incised within the battleship gray of his hair to create soft curls under his brown beret, which has gold trim around the base. The dark collar of his fawn-brown coat is turned up so his neck is covered. He is lit from the upper left, so his body and the right side of the painting are deeply shadowed. On our left, the canvas is painted with blended strokes of tawny and dark brown. His dark coat blends into the background, and his folded hands are in shadow in the lower left corner. The brushstrokes are visible in some areas, especially in the man’s face. The painting is signed and dated next to his shoulder, to our left, “Rembrandt f. 1659.”
A light-skinned man wearing a voluminous, ocean-blue, hooded robe sits at a cloth-draped writing table and looks up, fingers splayed over an open book and a pen held in his other hand, in this vertical painting. The man and desk take up most of the composition, which has an arched top. The man’s shoulders and body are angled to our right, and he looks off in that direction in profile. His balding head is rimmed with white hair curving over the large ear we can see, and he has a trimmed white and gray beard and mustache. His prominent nose is pointed, and his lips are closed. Light glints off the robe he wears so it shimmers in shades of topaz, aquamarine, and midnight blue. Voluminous white sleeves emerge under the mantle and are edged with narrow lace cuffs. His left hand, to our right, rests on an open book, which is propped against one or two other tomes. Near the edge of the table, two quills stand in the corners of a lidded inkwell, and a round, silver blotter, shaped like an upside-down chalice, and a lidded silver box sit nearby. The man’s chair has a tall post next to his shoulder to our left with a teardrop-shaped, gold finial. A second post, near his wrist, is lower and topped with a gold orb. The chair is draped in the same deep, raspberry-pink of the square table at which he sits. The tablecloth is edged with a wide band of gold along the bottom, and filigree-like gold decorations line the seams or folds at the corners. Brushstrokes are visible in many areas, especially in the colorfully charged blue and pink fabric. Beyond the man, to our right, a statuette of a person wearing a long, white robe over a white dress holds a baby. The clothing is edged with gold, and she wears a sphere-like gold crown. The baby also wears white and holds up one hand. The statuette stands on a platform supported by S-shaped corbels, and could have a projecting, squared awning over the top. This area is more loosely painted so some details are difficult to make out. In the background to our left, a wooden door stands open next to a dark space just behind the man’s head, so his profile is picked out against the shadow. The floor beneath is earth brown.
Close to us, a bearded, balding man leads a donkey carrying a woman and child to our right against a hilly landscape in this horizontal painting. All three people have pale, peachy skin and halos. The man has a gray beard and hair, and wears a royal-blue tunic under a ruby-red robe. He leans on a walking stick and looks back at the donkey. The woman riding the donkey wears a blue and gold brocade-like cloak covering her head and body. She has a straight nose, small pink lips, and she looks toward the infant she holds close to her body. The baby wears a white garment and reaches for the woman’s face with one hand as he turns to look over his shoulder toward us. The path they walk on is lined with grass and detailed plants. A river runs parallel to the path a short distance away. The horizon line comes about two-thirds of the way up the painting is lined with green trees, blue mountains, and a few buildings to our left. Wispy white clouds sweep across an azure-blue sky streaked with peach near the horizon.
Against a deep, hilly landscape, a young woman sits facing us on a rocky ledge with a small child in her lap in this square painting. The woman and child, Mary and Jesus, both have pale skin and blond hair. Mary wears a cobalt-blue gown over a coral-pink undergarment that peeks out from under the bottom hem and at her cuffs. A paler blue mantle is draped over the back of her head and falls to cover her shoulders and body. A sheer white veil covers her hair and forehead. Jesus wears a sheer white, loose, long-sleeved tunic. Both gaze downward to the bunch of green grapes Mary holds delicately in her left hand, to our right. Jesus reaches forward with both hands to pluck some fruit as Mary supports his body with her other hand. An oval shaped, woven basket with a lid sits on the ground next to Mary’s feet. The gray, rocky outcropping on which they sit is blanketed with straw-colored moss or other growth. A small clearing behind the pair is framed by trees on either side. The trees have tall, slender trunks speckled with light gray patches and canopies of olive and celery-green leaves. To our left and beyond the outcropping, a gray donkey stands behind a tree, nibbling on some grasses at the edge of the outcropping. To our right, in the middle distance, a pale-skinned, bearded man stands and arches back with a long stick raised overhead, as if about to strike the tree in front of him. Beyond him and about two-thirds of the way up the panel, a row of dark green shrubbery separates the clearing from rolling blue hills in the distance.
Isaac and Rebecca, Known as ‘The Jewish Bride’
A woman wearing a cobalt-blue robe and a white veil sits with her hands raised, palms out, as she looks toward a slender, bearded man who stands to our left in this vertical painting. Both have light skin and delicate features, and they sit in a room with stone walls and arched windows. There are faint circles under the woman’s light brown eyes. She has a long slender nose, and her pink lips are pursed. One knee is bent, and she is low to the ground, suggesting she sits on a stool. A book lies open on a wooden stand in front of her to our right, below her left elbow. The ruffled edges of her multi-layered, white veil sweep over her forehead and down to her shoulders. Her loose, long-sleeved blue garment is edged with gold and falls in angular folds to pool at her feet. She holds her long-fingered, slender hands up at her chest, palms facing the man to our left. He stands with his body angled toward her as he looks down, his head tipped slightly forward. His brown hair falls over his shoulders. His voluminous, gold-edged, red cloak is fastened at his throat with a gold, jeweled brooch, and it drapes over his shoulders and around his lower torso, leaving his arms, chest, and a gash over his right ribs exposed. He holds a tall, gold staff topped with a jeweled cross in his left hand, to our right. A moss-green pennant flutters back from the base of the cross, as if lifted in a breeze. The man holds up his other hand so the palm faces the woman with the first two fingers raised. Round, puncture wounds with red blood mark the palm of that hand and tops of both bare feet. The floor is patterned with gray, brown, blue, and green tiles. The wall behind the woman has honey-brown paneling along the bottom half and the top half is slate gray. Gray columns are spaced along that wall, supporting a curving, vaulted ceiling. Two arched windows pierce the wall behind the woman, and both have stained glass designs within the curving tops. The window closer to us opens onto a narrow view of a landscape with a rose-pink arch over a bridge, and a path winding through green fields. An open door over the shoulder of the man, to our left, shows the stepped roofline of a pink building under a blue sky. The entire scene is framed with a flattened arch supported by gleaming columns of polished, veined brown stone, creating the impression that we look onto the people and room through the arch. The columns have leafy capitals and white bases. The tan-colored arch is carved with a row of stylized rosettes along the opening that spans the top of the painting.
Dozens of people form a line starting from an opening in a city wall or building in the background to a rustic shed-like structure close to us, to kneel before a seated woman holding a baby on her lap in this vertical painting. All of the people have pale skin tinged faintly with green. The top edge of the panel is shaped so it has two rounded sections like shoulders leading to a stepped, crown-like form with an inward curving triangle at the top. A nickel-gray, crenelated stone wall of a distant city is nestled into the top, stepped section, with a glimmering gold sky above filling the uppermost triangle. Tile-roofed and domed buildings and a few towers appear densely packed beyond the wall. People on foot and horseback create a line from an arched opening in the wall toward us and to our right. Three of the people on horseback in the distance wear long robes and have gold halos. The line of people winds behind a tall, narrow hill to our right and it continues close to us. Two horses, two camels, and several people wait to the right but our attention is drawn to the trio in the foreground, Mary, Jesus, and Joseph, and the three men near the infant, the Magi. Mary wears a lapis-blue mantle covering her head and shoulders over a petal-pink dress, and she sits on a wooden or stone chest in the center of the painting. Her body faces us but she turns her face to look with pale blue eyes off to our right. In one hand she holds a hexagonal gold vessel that tapers to a flame-like finial. With the other hand, on our left, she supports the blond infant sitting in her lap. He is covered only with a white cloth around his waist, and he looks toward the vessel as he holds up the index and middle fingers of his right hand. To our left and slightly behind Mary, a balding man with white hair and beard and wearing a blue garment under a red robe sits with his head propped in his hand, looking down. His other hand rests on what might be the handle of a crutch or staff. The man, woman, and child have gold halos with what appears to be writing. The three Magi also have gold halos and they all wear scarlet-red shoes. The oldest kneels before Mary and kisses Jesus's feet. He has a long, light gray beard and is balding. He wears a brocade-like gold robe over pale brick-red sleeves. A cleanshaven man with dark brown hair and wrinkles around his mouth kneels to our left as he raises a jewel-encrusted gold crown from his head. He wears a gold and red floral-patterned garment and holds a rounded vessel, also with a flame-like finial. A younger, cleanshaven man with smooth features and shoulder-length, curling blond hair to our right also wears a gold crown. A dagger hangs from the waist of his sky-blue tunic, and his leggings are pale plum purple. Both arms are bent to his hands are held up, and in his right hand, he holds another tabernacle-like gold vessel. The structure to our left houses a donkey and bull munching hay. A gold sunburst floats above the roof, which seems to be built up against the stone wall of a building. The hills and trees beyond the people is painted with pine and moss greens and brown.
This painting depicts a man with light skin, white hair, and a white beard wearing an orange cloth draped over a dark-blue garment with gold embroidery around the shoulder and neckline. He holds two large red keys in his left hand, and a thin, red, cross-topped rod in his right hand. There is a faint outline of a halo around the man's head, which is slightly turned to the right. The background is gold, enclosed within a red, white, and black patterned border.
Shown from the thighs up, a pale-skinned woman looks down and off to our left as she holds the pointed end of a dagger toward her chest in this vertical painting. Her lips are slightly parted, and her arms are spread wide as holds the hilt of the dagger in her right hand, to our left. Her hooded, dark brown eyes are rimmed with red. Her head tilts to our left, her pale lips parted. There are gray shadows at the corners of her mouth and along her jawline. Her brown hair is pulled back under a cloth covering painted with white flecks to suggest shiny thread or possibly jewels. She wears a long, tawny-brown gown with diaphanous sleeves. The bodice is laced up over a cream-white undergarment with a deep V neck and voluminous sleeves with unfastened cuffs near her wrists. She wears a large, teardrop-shaped pearl in the ear we can see and two necklaces. One necklace is a strand of pearls, and the other is a gold and possibly jeweled pendant with another teardrop pearl hanging from a cord. A gold belt drapes around her hips over a narrow waist. She is warmly lit from the upper left and set against an earth-brown background. The artist signed and dated the center left, “Rembrandt 1664.”
Shown from the chest up on the far side of a ledge, a pale-skinned, clean-shaven young man faces our right in profile in this vertical portrait painting. He looks steadily forward. The eye we can see is brown under a thin, curving brow. His nose is bumped near the bridge, and he has a slight underbite. His pale pink lips are closed, and he has a delicate jawline. Short brown hair brushes the side of his face under a coral-red turban, the ends of which fall down his back. A high-collared dark brown garment is edged with white around the neck, and a cranberry-red robe or jacket falls open over his chest. He is shown against a dark, teal-blue background. The ledge along the bottom of the painting is black with edged with gold. Gold lettering reads, “MATHEVS OLIVIERI D NI IOANNI FILI.”
Shown from the waist up in front of a black background, a young woman with pale white skin and curly brown hair looks directly out at us over her shoulder with her body angled to our left in this vertical portrait. She has dark brown eyes, a straight nose, smooth skin, and her pink lips are closed. Curls fall across her forehead but the rest of her hair is pulled up under a white lace scarf, called a mantilla. The mantilla is tucked under the wide orange and black shawl wrapped around her shoulders. She clasps her hands at her waist, and her hands and forearms are covered with long white gloves that disappear under the shawl.
The Holy Family with Saint John the Baptist and Saint Margaret
Shown from about the hips up, a young, pale-skinned man with curly brown hair stands facing and looking at us, wearing a plum-purple coat under a golden yellow cape in this vertical portrait painting. The man’s oval face is angled a little to our left so he looks out from the corners of his gray eyes. His left eyebrow, on our right, is slightly arched. His skin is smooth and his cheeks lightly flushed. He has a long, straight nose, his pink lips are closed, and there is a faintly painted suggestion of a goatee. Wavy bangs fall across his forehead, and he has curly, chin-length hair. He stands with his right hand, on our left, on his hip, and in his other arm, he holds a wooden staff with a pewter-gray, metal, scoop-like hook at the top. White lace trims the high neck of his garment and the cuffs of his sleeves. Light reflecting off the plum-purple coat suggests a soft material, possibly velvet. Crisp reflections on the deep, butter-yellow cape fastened over one shoulder suggest satin. An emerald-green cloth hanging from the top right corner of the painting falls behind the man’s shoulder. Behind the cloth and to our left, a craggy, rocky outcropping opens to a view of a landscape with a green valley and topaz-blue mountains in the distance. Bands of golden light illuminate the cloudy sky above. The work is inscribed with yellow lettering in the lower right corner to read, “Philip Lord Wharton 1632 about ye age of 19.” The artist’s name is painted in the lower left: “P. Sr Ant: vandike.”
Portret van Dirk III, graaf van Holland
Shown from the hips up, a young man with pale skin and wearing black clothing sits with his body angled to our right as he turns to look at us in this vertical portrait painting. He looks out with green eyes under hooded lids. Light falls across his face from the upper left so his bumped nose casts a shadow on his high cheekbone. He has a wispy mustache over full, pink lips, which are slightly parted. His hair falls to his shoulders in auburn-brown curls, framing his slender face. Two silvery tassels hang on cords from a tall, wide, flat, bright white collar, which contrasts with the velvety black of his voluminous, long-sleeved jacket. His left hand, farther from us, rests on his knee and the other hand is curled so the back of his knuckles press against his right hip, closer to us. A patch of crimson red near that hand could be a pillow on his chair. His hat rests, presumably on a table, just beyond his legs. The hat has a tall, tapering, conical crown with a flat top. The shadowy wall behind him is mottled with slate gray and caramel brown, with a slightly darker panel to suggest a shallow niche.
Graven en gravinnen van Holland
Margaret Fuller
Textile Fragment
Shown from the chest up, a young man with a plump, pale-skinned face hooks one elbow over the back of a wooden chair and looks at us in this vertical portrait painting. The man’s body faces our right as he turns his head over his right shoulder, closer to us, to gaze out with brown eyes under lifted brows. His nose ends with a round bump, and his round cheeks are flushed. He has a wispy mustache over full pink lips, which are parted. He wears a tall-crowned, brimmed black hat over a cloud of wavy, shoulder-length black hair. A lace-edged white collar spreads over an ink-black, satin coat. His right elbow is planted across the back of the chair, which has carved finials to either side. That hand is closed in a fist, which may hold something. The man’s hat casts a shadow on the right side of the taupe-gray wall behind him, where the artist has signed the painting with two monograms of his initials, “HF.” The brushwork is loose throughout, especially so in the man’s clothing.
The great Jewish bride
A winged angel with arms crossed kneels across from a young woman sitting and holding a book, both under an archway in a paneled room in this vertical painting. They both have pale, yellow-toned skin, blond hair, and flat, gold halos. They also have golden brown eyes, long, straight noses, smooth cheeks, and their pale, pink lips are closed. To our right, the woman sits in a throne-like chair with her body facing our left. Her head tilts down, and she looks toward the angel under lowered lids. Her hair is pulled back under the neck of the lapis-blue cloak she wears over a crimson-red dress. The dress and cloak are trimmed with gold, and a there is a gold starburst on the cloak over her left shoulder, closer to us. She holds her other hand up near that shoulder with her fingertips brushing her chest. With her other hand, she holds open the pages of a small book in her lap, so her fingers overlap some of the words. The entire Latin inscription would read, “virgo concipiet et pariet filium et vocabitur nomen eius emmanuel butirum et mel come dit ut fiat reprobare.” A slender, bone-white column separates her from the angel across from her, along the left edge of the painting. The angel has curly, shoulder-length hair and wears a robe with a gold, floral pattern against a burgundy-red background. Long, golden wings emerge from the shoulder blades and extend off the side of the composition. An open archway just beyond the angel is filled with streaks of flax yellow and burnt orange, possibly representing flames. Some of the walls in the room around the pair are pale olive green and other areas are darker spruce green. There are bands of coral-pink molding and inset panels of patterned mosaics. The flat ceiling of the space immediately over the pair is decorated with checkerboard panels in navy blue, hunter green, brown, and brick red. Gold lines create a ray coming from the ceiling toward the woman. At the back of the space, beyond the column separating the woman and angel, the room extends into an alcove with an arched hallway painted with gold stars against a midnight-blue background. Double doors open at the back of the alcove onto a room with a pale-yellow curtain with a mesh-like trim. We see the pair as if through a stone archway that lines the top and sides of the composition. The upper corners are filled with leafy decorations, as if carved into the stone.
A young, pale-skinned woman with reddish-blond hair sits with a nearly nude, chubby toddler standing in her lap in this vertical painting. She looks down at him, her body and face angled to our left. Thin lines creating a gold halo fan out from the back of her head. An ivory-white scarf wraps around her head and trails down the back of her neck where it is tucked into a dark, teal-blue cloak covering her shoulders and draping across her lap. Under the robe, she wears a loose, cherry-red gown with vertical pleats over her chest. The baby, also with pale skin, reddish blond hair, and a delicate gold halo, looks up at her face with light brown eyes. He stands on the woman’s right thigh, to our left. One of the woman's hands wraps around his body and supports his legs, while she props up his chest with her other. A length of pale gray fabric wraps over one shoulder and around his stomach. The two are situated in front of a column and pillar supporting a horizontal lintel overhead. The view beyond is of a blue sky over a golden field with dark green conical cypress trees in the distance.
Shown from the waist up, a pale-skinned, round-cheeked young boy wears a brocade red and gold garment and hat in this vertical portrait painting. The boy’s body is angled to our left, but he turns his face toward us as he looks slightly down with gray eyes. He has a square face with a high forehead, faint brows, a small, rounded nose, bow-shaped pink lips, and a pointed chin. A fringe of pale blond hair lines the top of his head under a gold cap that ties under his chin. A white feather drops off the edge of a red disk around the top of the hat. His brilliant red garment is lined with gold bands, and the sleeves split over voluminous gold sleeves, which are lined with white ruffles at the wrists. The boy is behind a ledge draped with a crinkled, emerald-green cloth. He rests one hand on the ledge and holds a gold orb on a stick in that hand. His other hand hovers over the ledge with the palm facing out. The background is late gray. A strip of paper affixed to the front face of the ledge has eight lines of Latin text in all caps. It reads, “PARVVLE PATRISSA, PATRIÆ VIRTVTIS ET HÆRES ESTO, NIHIL MAIVS MAXIMVS ORBIS HABET. GNATVM VIX POSSVNT COELVM ET NATVRA DEDISSE, HVIVS QVEM PATRIS, VICTVS HONORET HONOS. ÆQVATO TANTVM, TANTI TV FACTA PARENTIS, VOTA HOMINVM, VIX QVO PROGREDIANTVR, HABENT VINCITO, VICISTI. QVOT REGES PRISCVS ADORAT ORBIS, NEC TE QVI VINCERE POSSIT, ERIT. Ricard: Morysini. Car:”
Shown from the hips up, a man with peachy skin and long, brown curly hair and goatee stands in front of a window opening onto a moonlit sky in this vertical portrait painting. His body faces our right and his right fist, closer to us, rests on his hip so his elbow juts toward us. Wearing a dark, wide brimmed hat, he turns his head to look over his right shoulder directly at us. His eyebrows are slightly raised over brown eyes, and he has a bumpy nose, a slight double chin, and pale pink lips that curve in the suggestion of a smile. He wears a golden yellow jacket with buttons along the sleeve we can see. The wrist of the jacket is trimmed with a wide, lace-edged cuff and a similarly wide, lace-trimmed collar lies over the armor breastplate that covers his chest. A marigold-orange sash is tied around the breastplate as well near the waist, and the goldenrod-yellow jacket drapes from a portly belly over his hips. He stands in front of a gray wall pierced with a rectangular window. The view has a veil of dark gray clouds over the moonlit sky.
Shown from the hips up, a boy with pale, peachy skin and copper-brown hair stands in front of a rocky outcropping with a narrow view into a distant landscape to our left in this vertical portrait painting. His body faces our left almost in profile, and he turns his face to look at us with dark brown eyes under faint brows. He has a long, straight nose, a pointed chin, flushed cheeks, and his full, rose-pink lips are slightly parted. His dark hair falls in waves to the wide, flat, white collar at his neck. He wears a golden yellow doublet brocaded with shimmering threads, possibly silver and gold. The sleeves split along the inner arm to reveal a white shirt with voluminous, puffy sleeves that end with wide, transparent cuffs like floppy saucers around each wrist. Over the jacket, he wears a gleaming, pewter-colored breastplate with a topaz-blue sash crossing his chest. His peanut-brown pants are also sewn or woven with metallic thread in stripes down the side of the leg. The boy rests his right hand, farther from us, on a staff or walking stick propped in front of him. His other hand rests around the gold hilt of a rapier, a thin sword at his left hip, closer to us. Behind the boy, the view is almost entirely taken up with a slate-gray boulder, or it could be the entrance of a cave. A view onto the landscape along the left edge of the composition has a few treetops beneath pale yellow clouds against an ice-blue sky.
Gian Lodovico Madruzzo
A man, woman, and four winged angels gather and kneel around a nude infant lying on the ground under a stone arched opening set in front of a landscape in this vertical painting. All of the people have pale white or lightly tanned skin. To our left, the woman wears gold-edged, royal-blue robes and has long, curly brown hair. The baby lies on the hem of her robe, his body facing her. An older, balding and bearded man kneels to the right, leaning on a walking stick. He wears a red garment under a green robe, and he holds a hat in his hands as he gazes at the baby. About a third the size of the man and woman, two of the angels kneel between the man and woman and another pair kneel to our left of the woman, seeming close to us. The angels wear colorful gold, pink, red, or yellow robes and all have long wavy blond hair. Their hands touch in prayer and all look down toward the baby. The people are sheltered in front of a crumbling stone wall under a wooden structure. To our left, a cow and donkey are penned in a stable. Two pairs of men stand near or lean on the other side of the rock wall that encloses the scene. A landscape with green rolling hills and a distant town with towers and buildings fills the background beneath a clear blue sky. A triangular structure made of wood beams is framed within the carved archway, which seems to separate us from the space of the painting. The face of the arch looks like it is carved with a nude man atop a column to the left and a similar woman to the right, and with miniature scenes stacked on tiny platforms curving upward to the apex of the arch.
Shown from the waist up, a woman with pale skin and brown hair, wearing a dark corset and white fabric over her shoulders, looks down at needlework in her hands in this vertical painting. Her cheeks are rosy and her dark hair is pulled back, though it seems looser down the sides of her face. A small, coral-red, crescent shape at the back of her head could be covering her hair or holding it in place. White, nearly translucent fabric lies loosely across her shoulders over a dark, moss-brown, long-sleeved dress. Her breasts swell over the squared, lace-trimmed neckline. She holds white fabric and perhaps a needle in her hands, which rest on a tan cushion on her lap. The scene is loosely painted throughout so some of the details are difficult to make out. A darker spot along her right index finger could be a thimble. The background is the same olive-tan of the cushion.
The Triumph of Fame
Edward L. Davenport
A partially nude woman with pale, peachy skin sits to our left looking into a mirror held up by a nearly nude, winged child to our right in this vertical painting. The woman’s body is angled to our left but she looks across her body to our right. She holds her left hand to her chest, and her right hand grips the fur-lined edge of the scarlet-red, velvet fabric that drapes over that upper arm and around her hips. Her blond hair is coiled up in rows of pearls, and she has dark eyes, a straight nose, and her pale pink lips turn up in a subtle smile. A teardrop pearl earring hangs from the ear we can see, and she wears rings and gold bracelets. The child-like figure to the right stands on a gold-striped cushion facing away from us as he holds up the rectangular, black-framed mirror. He has small silver wings and a sash of golden yellow hangs from one shoulder around the opposite hip. A second child reaches from behind the mirror to hold up a ring of laurel leaves. A forest-green curtain is gathered in the upper left corner and the beige wall beyond falls into shadow to our right.
Shown from the elbows up, a young person with pale skin and brown hair wearing a wide, scarlet-red hat sits in front of a tapestry in this vertical portrait painting. She sits with her body facing our right in profile but she turns her face to look at or toward us with dark eyes. She has a rounded nose, rather flat cheeks, and a sliver of teeth is visible through parted coral-pink lips. The wide brim of the red hat seems to be made of a soft, almost feathery material, and it casts a shadow across her face. She wears a high-collared white garment that catches the light, a royal-blue, possibly velvet, robe or overcoat, and large, teardrop pearl earrings. Her arm runs along the bottom edge of the panel in front of two carved, wooden lion finials that could be the arm or back of the chair. The tapestry behind her is painted in tones of pale caramel brown and pine green. The painting has a soft, hazy look, and light glints with bright white specks off the pearl earrings, the tip of her nose, her lips, and the lion finials.
A man bows to a woman as another man looks on from the shadowy background, while a woman sitting at a table plays a lute in this vertical painting. All the people have pale skin. The bowing man enters from an open door to our left. He faces our right in profile and has a bumped nose, a dark mustache, and his brown hair falls loosely over his shoulders. He wears a voluminous, black jacket that has a wide white collar and flat, plate-like, starched white cuffs. He bends forward with one foot stretched in front of him, as he gazes at the woman to our right. His hands are spread wide. His left forefinger and thumb touch to make an O shape, and he holds a wide-brimmed, black hat in his right hand, closer to us. At the center of the composition, the woman wears a dress with a coral-pink bodice and a cream-white satin skirt trimmed with gold down the front and around the hem. She faces our left in profile and looks at the man, her cheeks flushed. Her eyebrows are slightly raised over dark eyes, and she has a straight nose and the hint of a double chin. Her blond hair is pulled back under a lace covering, and curls frame her face. A black ribbon is tied into a bow at the shoulder closer to us. A brown and white dog, about knee-high, stands between the man and woman. To our right, a young woman sits at the far side of a table playing a lute. She wears a sapphire-blue dress and looks down at her instrument. One elbow is propped on the patterned rug that covers the table. A second instrument, perhaps a cello, lies on the table, and a wooden chair with a pine-green upholstered seat has been pulled up to our side of the table. Almost lost in the shadows at the back of the room between the two women, a man with a goatee and wearing a brown jacket and trousers stands with his body angled to our right as he looks over his shoulder at the couple at the door. He stands in front of a fireplace with an opening so large that the mantle is supported by columns as tall as the man.
About three dozen people gather in a grassy field to either side of a crumbling structure to kneel and pray before a woman and baby in the center of this horizontal painting. The woman, Mary, and baby, Jesus, have smooth, pale skin while the others have light or tanned skin. The structure has sand-colored stone pillars, a wooden triangular, pitched roof, and a straw floor. Mary, who has an elongated torso, sits facing us with her knees apart. She wears an azure-blue robe over a rose-pink dress. A shell-pink veil covers her head and body. Jesus sits on her left knee, his pudgy body angled to our left. He is nude except for a transparent cloth wrapped over one shoulder and the opposite hip. Mary’s left hand braces his torso. On Mary’s right, our left, Joseph, an older man, stands facing us. He clasps his hands at his chest and leans on a long stick. He has wrinkled skin, long, gray curly hair, and a full beard. Both Mary and Joseph tilt their heads to their right, our left, as they look down at Jesus. Joseph wears a golden yellow robe over a blue tunic. Joseph, Mary, and Jesus have faint gold halos. Behind them, a brown cow and gray donkey rest on the straw. People closest to Mary and Jesus kneel and bow their heads while the people to the left and right sides mostly stand. Three men kneeling closest to Mary and Jesus offer gifts, including a bronze vessel and a gold jar. One man has long dark brown hair and a beard, and wears a gold crown. Another man is bald with long gray hair and beard, while the third is cleanshaven with shoulder-length brown hair. These men wear robes in powder blue, carnation pink, or celery green with delicate silver and gold embelishments. Others in the crowd range in age from young and cleanshaven to older and bearded. They wear robes and tunics in shades of raspberry pink, butterscotch yellow, lapis blue, plum purple, or forest green. Several horses, their coats white or cinnamon brown, stand among the crowd, a few with riders. To our right, one horse rears its head and two others stand facing each other. Beyond the crowd, grassy green meadows and hills dotted with trees lead back to the horizon. A pale blue sky fills the top third of the composition.
In front of a crumbling stone building, an older man kneels in front of a second man, smaller in scale, hanging from a tall, wooden cross, with a city in the background in this vertical painting. Both men have pale skin. At the lower center of the composition, the kneeling man, Saint Jerome, pulls his navy-blue robe to one side to expose his muscular but slender bare chest with a bloody mark at its center. With his other hand, he holds a rounded, gray stone touched with pink, also suggesting blood, by his side. He has long, silvery-gray hair and a long, pointed beard. His pink lips are parted, and we see his teeth. He raises gray eyes to look up at the man on the slender cross, which rises along the left edge of the composition. The man on the cross brown hair, a plate-like gold halo, and a white loincloth is draped across his hips. The shell-pink ground is littered with rocks. A red hat with a shallow brim and a tasseled chin cord sits near Saint Jerome’s sandaled feet. A miniature lion lies between Saint Jerome and the arched opening of the crumbling, terracotta-red structure along the right edge of the painting. Ivy grows up one side of the arch, and an hourglass and book with a red cover and gold-edged pages sit on a white cloth under the opening. An owl perches on a branch of an oak tree growing from the front face of the structure, and a hawk sits on a branch of the fruit tree growing from the stone courtyard, between Saint Jerome and the crucifix. A shrub with dark green leaves and clusters of three olive-green fruits fills in most of the space beneath the canopy of the fruit tree. To our right and in the distance, a man with a pointed black hat, a black jacket, and white pants rides away from us on a gray horse. To our left, the courtyard gives way to an amphitheater-like space. There, next to a donkey, a man with a long white beard hands a bundle of wood or planks to another man whose brown hair is cut into a ring encircling his head. Both men wear rose-pink garments over navy-blue togas. A town with white and pale pink stone buildings rises up a hill into the distance. The sky above deepens from honeydew green along the horizon to pale then peacock blue along the top edge of the composition. A few ice-blue, white, and light gray clouds float across the sky.
Portrait of Isabella Brant
The Sampling Officials of the Amsterdam Drapers’ Guild, Known as ‘The Syndics’
George Washington
This painting shows a man standing upright, his body slightly turned to the right. He has pale skin and curled white hair under a large black hat, and he wears a long brown jacket over a yellow vest with a white ruffled neck and a wide blue-and-white striped sash over his torso. His pants are black, and he wears tall black boots with brown tops. His hands are covered by yellow gloves, and he is holding a tall, thin rifle on the left, its bottom on the ground. Next to him on the right is a white dog with brown spots and large brown ears. The dog is sitting, looking up at the man. The background features an outdoor setting, with a landscape of hazy hills in shades of pale green and blue below a white and gray sky. There is a tall, dark green tree behind the man, and the ground he stands on is brown.
Shown from about the hips up, a man with peachy skin, wearing an ink-black hat and coat with a bright white collar, looks out at us against a dark background in this vertical portrait painting. He stands with his body angled to our right and his face turned to look at us with dark gray eyes. His slim face is framed in long, brown curls under his tall, brimmed hat, which is cocked a little to our right, away from us. He has a straight, prominent nose, lightly flushed cheeks, and a wispy, light brown mustache above a small, pointed goatee under his lower lip. His neck is encased in a broad, starched, white linen collar, its wings lying along his collarbones. His velvety black coat has a row of tightly spaced buttons down the front. A cummerbund or sash wraps around his waist and hips. He rests his right hand, on our left, against his hip near his lower back, palm facing out. He wears a light, dove-gray glove on his opposite hand, and holds a second glove in that hand. The background is earth brown. The portrait is painted loosely, with broader brushstrokes in some areas, such as the hand at his hip and in the folds of the black garments.
Le Tricheur à l’as de carreau
A young girl stands next to and holds the hand of an elegantly dressed woman sitting in a wooden armchair near stone columns, in front of a crimson-red curtain pulled up to reveal a distant landscape view in this vertical portrait painting. The child and woman have smooth, light skin, and the fabric of their dresses has a silken sheen. To our right, the woman sits with her knees angled slightly to our left, and she looks at us with dark blue eyes under faint brows. Her brown hair is pulled back from her high forehead under a hair covering set with pearls. Her pointed chin is slightly pulled back, and her pale pink lips are closed. A teardrop-shaped pearl hangs from the ear we can see, and she wears two strands of pearls like a choker, above a thick, pleated lace ruff. The fabric of the long-sleeved bodice has a gold-on-gold pattern, and is lined with a row of buttons down the front. Filmy lace cuffs extend back over her forearms from her wrists. Her full, floor-length skirt is scarlet red with a gold, brocade-like pattern, and has silvery-gray stripes down the front and around the lower hem. The cloak she wears over the dress has a black-on-black floral pattern. Three thick gold chains hang across her bodice, and she wears a square-cut, gray stone set in a gold ring on the third finger of her left hand. To our left, the young girl stands next to the wooden arm of the chair and holds the woman’s hands with both of hers. The child looks at us with gray eyes, and her pale pink lips are parted in a slight smile. Her light brown hair is pulled back under a gray band, perhaps of fur, around her head, over an apricot-colored head covering that matches her dress. The tight-fitting, long-sleeved bodice is striped with bands of alternating gold and pink geometric designs against the apricot-peach background. A lace-edged collar lies across her shoulders. A red, oval pendant hangs from her three-standed pearl necklace, and she wears three pearl bracelets on one wrist. A thick gold chain falls across her chest and around one hip. The floor-length, full skirt has buttercup-yellow and shell-pink highlights on the coral-colored background. Behind the pair, the red curtain has been pulled up so it seems to flutter behind the woman’s head, in front of stone columns that frame a distant landscape view with trees. A blocky structure, presumably a building, sits on the far distant, hazy horizon. Light pours down in streaks from steel-gray clouds against a pale blue sky.
Philip Key
A woman holding a baby, who stands on her lap, is flanked by two men in a deep landscape in this horizontal painting. At the center of the composition, the woman sits behind a stone ledge. Her pale-skinned, oval face tips to our left, and she looks down and to our right with brown eyes. She has a long, straight nose, round cheeks, a slight double chin, and her pale lips are closed. A white cloth drapes over a translucent veil that covers her forehead. Her indigo-colored dress is edged with gold writing and ornamental designs against a red and black background. A parchment-brown cloth is tied as a belt under her bust. The nude child with notably pale skin stands on one of her knees, and she holds his other foot with one hand. Her other hand braces his chest, and he holds onto that thumb. His other hand is held up with the thumb and first two fingers raised toward the man to our left, at whom he looks. A halo, drawn as a thin gold line, encircles his blond curls. He has chubby cheeks and thighs but looks seriously at the man to our left. Both men have tanned skin, and they face inward, almost in profile. They are shown from about the hips up on the far side of the stone ledge. The man to our left is balding with a long, white beard. Wrinkles line his forehead and cheeks. He looks off to our right with shadowed eyes, and he has a hooked nose. He wears a tan garment under an ultramarine-blue cloak, which drops from one shoulder and wraps around his hips. He holds one hand to his chest and the other palm up. To our right, the second man looks to our left with deep-set eyes. He has high cheekbones, a straight nose, and his lips are parted. Copper-brown hair falls in shaggy curls to his shoulders, and he has a full, red beard. His hands are together in prayer in front of his chest, and a tall thin stick with a narrow crossbeam to make a cross is tucked into one elbow. His voluminous, carnation-pink robe almost covers a brown, shaggy garment beneath. Beyond the group, rocky cliffs lead back to a castle-like structure to our left and grassy, tree-dotted hills roll into the distance to our right. Pale gray and white clouds drift across a violet-purple and blue-streaked sky across the top quarter of the composition. The artist signed the work as if he had carved into the stone ledge in front of Mary: “IOANNES BAPTISTA PINXIT.”
Three men with crowns and wearing gold-trimmed robes stand and kneel before a woman sitting on a wooden, box-like seat holding a baby to our right, in front of a rocky cave and landscape, in this horizontal painting. A balding man with a gray beard and hair, Joseph, and two younger people with blond hair stand around the woman, Mary, to our right, while a group of five young men or boys and three horses gather near the left edge. All the people have pale skin. Mary, the baby Jesus, Joseph, and the three men closest to them all have shimmering gold halos. One balding man with a long white beard kneels and kisses the baby’s feet. He wears a gold and crimson-red brocade-like robe over a burgundy-red garment, and he holds a pointed gold crown in his right hand, which rests on the ground. Behind him and to our left, a younger man with curly blond hair and goatee, wearing a wine-red tunic belted with gold and a gold crown on his head, holds his hands in prayer as he kneels down on one knee. The third stands to our left, cleanshaven with long blond hair. He wears a fur-lined, thigh-length scarlet-red robe and a gold crown, and he holds up a gold vessel in one hand. To our right, Mary wears a lapis-blue robe that covers her head and falls to her feet. The baby is covered only by a white cloth across his hips, and he has short blond hair. He touches the kneeling man’s head with one hand. His body is pudgy but his face has more adult-like, delicate features. Joseph stands at the woman’s far shoulder, wearing a butter-yellow robe over a rose-pink garment. His hands are gathered on a walking stick in front of his chest and his brows are furrowed with deep lines. One of the two younger people behind Mary, to our right, holds a lidded gold vessel. The group of five attendants to our left gather around cream-white, gray, or chestnut-brown horses. These blond people wear garments of dark olive-green, coral-red, royal-blue, or rose-pink tunics over black stockings. The rocky, brown cave behind Mary and Jesus, to our right of center, is occupied by a donkey and an ox behind a wooden trough. The landscape beyond is segmented into quilt-like squares of stylized crops. The horizon line comes almost to the top edge of the panel beneath a narrow strip of vivid, cobalt-blue sky. A gold star like a sunburst with rays of light hovers over the woman and child.
Cabinet
A pale-skinned young girl leaning over a low fence and holding a broom gazes in our direction in this vertical painting. Her red hair is pulled back from her round face, and she has large hazel eyes under thin brows, a petite nose, and her coral-red mouth is slightly open. She is shown from the chest up, behind a wooden partition that spans the width of the painting. She wears a loose, ivory-white shirt under a garment with pumpkin-orange straps on the shoulders and chest. She leans forward with her elbows hooked over the partition as she holds a long-handled broom to her chest. A wooden pail with a bronze handle is overturned to the right of the broom. A blocky brown object to our left is difficult to make out. A dark brown semicircular object close to us in the center of the composition resembles the mouth of a well. Soft light from the upper left illuminates the girl and the left side of the caramel-brown wall behind her and throws the right side into shadow. A signature near the lower left looks like it had been painted on the inner edge of the well. It reads, “Rembrandt f. 1651.”
Ensemble
The Birth and Naming of John the Baptist
Sir Anthony Mildmay, Knight of Apethorpe, Northamptonshire
Grafmonument met alliantiewapen en vier kwartierwapens
A woman with pale, peachy skin wearing elegant gold and ink-black garments sits in front of a stone portico in this vertical portrait painting. Her red armchair is angled to our right, but the woman turns to look at us under cocked brows. She has high, rosy cheekbones and a long straight nose. Her pink lips curve up in a smile framed by the faint suggestion of dimples. Her brown hair is pulled back under a gold band or net, and a gold earring hangs from the ear we see. Her gold dress has a fitted bodice with a line of buttons down the front and puffy, brocaded sleeves. She wears the bodice over a white chemise, which comes nearly to the double strand of pearls worn like a choker around her neck. Frothy white lace surges up to encircle the back of her neck, and more lace stretches back along her forearms from the cuffs of her gold dress. The black cloak she wears over the dress splits over the sleeves and flares up behind the neck, echoing the lace. A long gold chain weaves back and forth across the open front of the black cloak, which is patterned with black on black. The woman wears a ring on her right hand, which rests in her lap and holds a white flower. The cloak stops at the woman’s knees to reveal a gold and red striped skirt. The woman’s other hand, farther from us, rests along the arm of the chair and holds an ostrich' feather fan with a silver handle. A scarlet-red curtain in the upper left corner above the chair gives way to a view into a courtyard lined with a portico along the right side. The portico has three openings separated by wide, horizontally ribbed columns. Ornamental shells, creatures, and people are carved into the face of the portico, and bright green trees are just visible through the openings. Gray and white clouds sweep across a vivid blue sky around the woman’s head.
Buddhist Priest's Ceremonial Robe
François Tronchin
This altarpiece is made up of three panels, with a single man standing in each of the narrow wings to the left and right and a wider panel at the center, which shows a woman holding a baby as twenty-two people look on. The background behind all the people is gold, and the top of each panel comes to a rounded, pointed arch under a second taller, sharper point. Spiraling columns frame the left and right sides, and rows of semicircular shapes, like inverted scallops, run inside the curving arches. In the central panel, the woman, child, and people around them all have pale skin and blond hair except for two elderly men with gray hair and beards. They all have plate-like gold halos that overlap, sometimes obscuring the face of another person. The woman and child, Mary and Jesus, sit on an unseen chair on two wide steps. They gaze at each other while Mary gently touches Jesus’s chin. Her lapis-blue mantle covers her hair and wraps around her body. The robe is edged with gold and has gold starbursts on one shoulder and on the crown of her head. Jesus’s garment is patterned with blue and gold against a dark orange background, and it wraps around his lower body. He holds a bird in one hand, touches Mary’s robe with the other, and a piece of coral hangs from a cord around his neck. Most of the people on each side wear azure-blue, pale peach, or brick-red garments decorated with gold. There are three inscriptions in this central panel. Mary’s halo is inscribed with “SCA MARIA MATER DEI” and Jesus’s halo reads, “IIS XRO M.” A third inscription across the bottom of the panel is partially damaged, but some of it reads, “LIIII QUESTA TA ATTA FRE FRATE GIOVANNI DA.” In the wing to our left, a balding, bearded man wearing a brown cloak over a black robe stands facing our right almost in profile. His pale skin has a dark, ash-gray cast. The hood of the black robe lies across his shoulders. He holds a wooden crutch with a curved top in the hand closer to us, and holds up his other hand with his palm facing us, fingers slightly curled in. A halo around his head is incised into the gold background and is filled with letters reading, “SaS ANTONIVS O VIENA.” Nearly lost against his dark robes, a black boar or pig stands near his feet. The floor here and in the right panel have a brocade-like pattern with three-lobed, gold designs against a field of brick red. The right wing is filled by a blond, cleanshaven young man standing facing our left as he looks toward Mary and Jesus in the center. He wears a long orange tunic decorated with blue flowers, and has a peacock-blue cloak and matching boots. Flags patterned with gold against black or red backgrounds flutter from a staff he holds with his right hand, farther from us. His other hand rests on the gold belt at his waist. His inscribed halo reads, “SCS. VENANCIVS MRTIRI.” The three panels are separated by spiraling gold columns and topped with triangular gables. The gables are filled with stylized leaves and animals in muted shades of brown against a black background. Near the pointed tops of the panels, the side wings have three-lobed shapes filled with a winged angel on the left and a person with a halo holding a hand to the chest on the right. The central gable has a four-lobed shape showing a man hanging on a cross.
This altarpiece is made up of three panels, with a single man standing in each of the narrow wings to the left and right and a wider panel at the center, which shows a woman holding a baby as twenty-two people look on. The background behind all the people is gold, and the top of each panel comes to a rounded, pointed arch under a second taller, sharper point. Spiraling columns frame the left and right sides, and rows of semicircular shapes, like inverted scallops, run inside the curving arches. In the central panel, the woman, child, and people around them all have pale skin and blond hair except for two elderly men with gray hair and beards. They all have plate-like gold halos that overlap, sometimes obscuring the face of another person. The woman and child, Mary and Jesus, sit on an unseen chair on two wide steps. They gaze at each other while Mary gently touches Jesus’s chin. Her lapis-blue mantle covers her hair and wraps around her body. The robe is edged with gold and has gold starbursts on one shoulder and on the crown of her head. Jesus’s garment is patterned with blue and gold against a dark orange background, and it wraps around his lower body. He holds a bird in one hand, touches Mary’s robe with the other, and a piece of coral hangs from a cord around his neck. Most of the people on each side wear azure-blue, pale peach, or brick-red garments decorated with gold. There are three inscriptions in this central panel. Mary’s halo is inscribed with “SCA MARIA MATER DEI” and Jesus’s halo reads, “IIS XRO M.” A third inscription across the bottom of the panel is partially damaged, but some of it reads, “LIIII QUESTA TA ATTA FRE FRATE GIOVANNI DA.” In the wing to our left, a balding, bearded man wearing a brown cloak over a black robe stands facing our right almost in profile. His pale skin has a dark, ash-gray cast. The hood of the black robe lies across his shoulders. He holds a wooden crutch with a curved top in the hand closer to us, and holds up his other hand with his palm facing us, fingers slightly curled in. A halo around his head is incised into the gold background and is filled with letters reading, “SaS ANTONIVS O VIENA.” Nearly lost against his dark robes, a black boar or pig stands near his feet. The floor here and in the right panel have a brocade-like pattern with three-lobed, gold designs against a field of brick red. The right wing is filled by a blond, cleanshaven young man standing facing our left as he looks toward Mary and Jesus in the center. He wears a long orange tunic decorated with blue flowers, and has a peacock-blue cloak and matching boots. Flags patterned with gold against black or red backgrounds flutter from a staff he holds with his right hand, farther from us. His other hand rests on the gold belt at his waist. His inscribed halo reads, “SCS. VENANCIVS MRTIRI.” The three panels are separated by spiraling gold columns and topped with triangular gables. The gables are filled with stylized leaves and animals in muted shades of brown against a black background. Near the pointed tops of the panels, the side wings have three-lobed shapes filled with a winged angel on the left and a person with a halo holding a hand to the chest on the right. The central gable has a four-lobed shape showing a man hanging on a cross.
This altarpiece is made up of three panels, with a single man standing in each of the narrow wings to the left and right and a wider panel at the center, which shows a woman holding a baby as twenty-two people look on. The background behind all the people is gold, and the top of each panel comes to a rounded, pointed arch under a second taller, sharper point. Spiraling columns frame the left and right sides, and rows of semicircular shapes, like inverted scallops, run inside the curving arches. In the central panel, the woman, child, and people around them all have pale skin and blond hair except for two elderly men with gray hair and beards. They all have plate-like gold halos that overlap, sometimes obscuring the face of another person. The woman and child, Mary and Jesus, sit on an unseen chair on two wide steps. They gaze at each other while Mary gently touches Jesus’s chin. Her lapis-blue mantle covers her hair and wraps around her body. The robe is edged with gold and has gold starbursts on one shoulder and on the crown of her head. Jesus’s garment is patterned with blue and gold against a dark orange background, and it wraps around his lower body. He holds a bird in one hand, touches Mary’s robe with the other, and a piece of coral hangs from a cord around his neck. Most of the people on each side wear azure-blue, pale peach, or brick-red garments decorated with gold. There are three inscriptions in this central panel. Mary’s halo is inscribed with “SCA MARIA MATER DEI” and Jesus’s halo reads, “IIS XRO M.” A third inscription across the bottom of the panel is partially damaged, but some of it reads, “LIIII QUESTA TA ATTA FRE FRATE GIOVANNI DA.” In the wing to our left, a balding, bearded man wearing a brown cloak over a black robe stands facing our right almost in profile. His pale skin has a dark, ash-gray cast. The hood of the black robe lies across his shoulders. He holds a wooden crutch with a curved top in the hand closer to us, and holds up his other hand with his palm facing us, fingers slightly curled in. A halo around his head is incised into the gold background and is filled with letters reading, “SaS ANTONIVS O VIENA.” Nearly lost against his dark robes, a black boar or pig stands near his feet. The floor here and in the right panel have a brocade-like pattern with three-lobed, gold designs against a field of brick red. The right wing is filled by a blond, cleanshaven young man standing facing our left as he looks toward Mary and Jesus in the center. He wears a long orange tunic decorated with blue flowers, and has a peacock-blue cloak and matching boots. Flags patterned with gold against black or red backgrounds flutter from a staff he holds with his right hand, farther from us. His other hand rests on the gold belt at his waist. His inscribed halo reads, “SCS. VENANCIVS MRTIRI.” The three panels are separated by spiraling gold columns and topped with triangular gables. The gables are filled with stylized leaves and animals in muted shades of brown against a black background. Near the pointed tops of the panels, the side wings have three-lobed shapes filled with a winged angel on the left and a person with a halo holding a hand to the chest on the right. The central gable has a four-lobed shape showing a man hanging on a cross.
Armor (Gusoku)
Pichhwai for the Festival of Cows
This vertical portrait painting shows a pale-skinned older woman wearing a full, long-sleeved black dress with a wide white ruff at her neck and white lace cuffs at her wrists. She sits in a curving, low-backed wood chair against a pale brown background. Her body and the chair are angled slightly to our left, and she looks directly at us. She has small eyes, pink, rounded cheeks, and a wide chin. Her lips are parted in a slight smile, and her hair is covered by a starched, sheer white cap that flares at the sides. The ruff around her neck is gathered in accordion-like, narrow figure-eight folds, and it extends flat and stiff, nearly to her shoulders. Close inspection reveals that the dress is woven with a black-on-black brocade pattern and has a line of small black buttons down the front. She holds a small brown leather book tooled with gold ornament in her right hand, on our left, and her other hand rests on the arm of the chair. She wears a gold ring on each hand. An inscription is painted to our left of her head: “AETAT SVAE 60 ANo 1633.”
The Merry Family
Doublet
John Samuel Sherburne
Shown from the lap up against a dark background, a pale-skinned woman wearing a black dress looks out at us in this vertical portrait. Soft light coming from our left highlights her oval face, the peach blush on her cheeks, and her crisp white collar, cap, and cuffs. Her brown hair is pulled back under the cap that flares slightly over her ears and the wide, lace-trimmed collar covers her shoulders. She has dark eyes, a straight nose, and her pink lips are slightly parted. Her left arm, on our right, rests on a table covered with a rose-red patterned carpet next to two pieces of fruit, perhaps apples, and a book fastened with metal clasps. She rests her other arm on the arm of the wooden chair and holds a deep pink carnation the same color as the carpet. She wears a ring on the third finger of each hand. The artist signed the work with black paint against the dark background near the upper right corner: “Rembrandt. f.1656.”
Shown from the waist up on the other side of a strawberry-red table, an elderly, pale-skinned woman sits facing us, sleeping with her head propped on her hand in this vertical painting. She is brightly lit from our upper left, which creates deep shadows across her face, and behind and around her. The woman rests her cheek against her closed left fist, to our right. That elbow is propped on a gold and amber-yellow cushion tucked into the corner where the table meets the wall to our right. Her brows are slightly furrowed over deep-set eyes. She has loose jowls, thin lips, and wrinkles line the corners of her eyes and her mouth. Almost lost in shadow, her other hand rests on the large book lying open before her. She wears a black coat draped over a parchment-white garment. Her hair is covered by a ginger-brown and black striped veil that hangs to her shoulders. Three iron-gray keys hang from a rail running across the wall next to her at head height. The wall is sage green and mustard yellow in the light, and the corners and left edge are swallowed in shadow. The artist signed the painting in capital letters on the right, just above the rail, “N. Maes.”
Pendant in the form of a cock
The Milkmaid
Shown from the waist up, a pale-skinned man with long, honey-blond hair and beard faces us in front of a gold background in this vertical painting. The man has a long face and nose, with closed peach-colored lips, which turn slightly down at the corners. Almond-shaped, hazel-brown eyes under arched brows stare over our left shoulder. His rose-pink robe is covered by a spruce-blue mantle that drapes over the left shoulder, on our right, and wraps around the waist. The robe and mantle are trimmed with gold. His right hand, on our left, is raised with the index and middle fingers extended up. The other hand holds an open book so the pages face us. The top edge of the pages is burnt orange, and the left and right edges are moss green. The side facing us is inscribed in gold letters, “ECO SUM LUX MUNDI.” A halo incised into the gold background surrounds the man’s head, and clusters of five dots in dark red, blue, and black are placed at the top and to either side within the halo. The panel on which this is painted has a five-sided, angular arch on top that frames the man’s head. A border within the frame has a pattern of gray circles and scarlet-red diamonds against a navy-blue band. The border follows the contours of the panel but runs behind the man’s body, as if he stands in front of it. The panel is framed with dark wood.
Saint Sebastian
Henri-Charles Maniglier
Study for the Nude Youth over the Prophet Daniel (recto); Figure Studies for the Sistine Ceiling (verso)