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The image shows five individuals standing closely together in a line. On the left is a man in a dark blue coat with a gold emblem, beige trousers, and black shoes. Next to him is a woman in a black dress with a lace collar. In the center is a young boy in a brown suit with gilt buttons. To the right stands a young girl in a white dress with pink ribbons, and a taller woman in a similar dress holding a parasol. The background shows lush green trees and a clear blue sky.
The image shows two children, a girl and a boy, depicted from head to toe. The girl is standing to the right, slightly turned towards the boy. She has dark hair tied back with a pink ribbon, and her facial features are serious with a fair complexion. The boy also has a fair complexion and short light-colored hair. They are both wearing matching red dresses with white lace collars and cuffs, and white pantalettes underneath. The boy holds a yellow ceramic jug decorated with a floral pattern, while the girl holds an open book in her hands. Around the girl's neck hangs a long chain with a circular pendant. The background features a dark, wooded area with bare trees, and in the distance, there is the silhouette of a house with smoke coming from the chimney, set against a pink and blue sky.
The image shows a young child standing next to a rocking horse. The child is standing upright with one hand resting on the rocking horse's head and the other hand holding a whip. The child has fair skin, blue eyes, and short blonde hair with a small curl at the top. The child wears an orange dress with floral patterns, white lace-trimmed pantaloons, white stockings, and black shoes. The background includes red drapery on the left side and a bright landscape visible through a window, as well as a deep green hue on the right side.
Mrs. Nadassy
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.”
This painting shows a village nestled in hills and trees with a cloudy blue sky at the top. Closest to us are simple white buildings, some with white spires and others with red and brown roofs, surrounded by tall trees. In the distance there are hills, smaller trees, and sailboats on a body of water on the right. The artwork has visible brushstrokes, and the buildings are simple and flat. The color palette is earthy, with soft greens, warm tans, and light whites and yellows.
The Dutton Family in the Drawing Room of Sherborne Park, Gloucestershire
Jessie Benton Frémont
Dame in zinnobergrünem Kleid
In this painting, a large half watermelon with vibrant red flesh and black seeds sits at the center of a white plate with a silver knife on top of it. Surrounding it on the long wooden table are various fruits, such as a yellow pineapple, red and green grapes, dark red plums, pink peaches, and a partially peeled orange. Below the table are some pumpkins or squash, as well as what could be figs or radishes. A yellow-and-black bird is perched on the handle of a yellow basket of mixed fruit placed behind the watermelon. Around the basket are white and pink flowers. In the background, on the left of the painting, a window reveals a scenic landscape featuring a winding river cutting through a green valley and dark, tree-filled hills below a light blue sky with faint pink clouds. The wall behind the table is a plain gray color.
This painting shows a bowl of red raspberries resting on a surface. The bowl is pale blue with blue details on the rim, and it is surrounded by a pile of pale peaches and pears, red plums, and green and purple grapes. In the bottom left corner, there are some pale purple-and-white carrots and a small group of red berries. On the right is a tree with yellow pears and a small vase with red and white roses. On the left is a thin brown branch with a bird perched on it. The bird has a green back and a yellow chest, and it is leaning down towards the raspberries, its wings flared and its beak partially open. The surface these items rest on is dark gray and the background is a gradient of pale yellow on the left and light blue on the right.
Clara Louise Kellogg
The Burgomaster
An older girl and a younger child, both with pale skin, bend toward each other as they look at a book spread open on a wooden cupboard in this nearly square painting. Shown from the hips up to our right, the girl leans over the cupboard with her body facing our left in profile. She looks at the child peering over the low ledge at the back of the cupboard with her head tilted slightly in that direction. The older girl has a straight, delicate nose, her smooth cheeks are flushed, and her rosy-red lips are pursed. Her brown hair is tucked under a bright white, ruffled cap encircled with a gold and cranberry-red ribbon. The long sleeves of the muted sapphire-blue dress seem to have been rolled back along the forearms to reveal cascading, white cuffs. A translucent white neckerchief, like a short, full scarf, is tucked into an ivory-white apron that also covers the flaring skirt. With both hands on the open book, she points to one page with a metal pointer like a knitting needle. Facing us, the smaller child looks at the book from behind the wood cupboard, eyes downcast, resting one forearm on the surface and pointing to a detail in the book. The child has delicate brows, a short, wide nose, and full raspberry-red lips are closed. The padded cap the child wears covers the ears and is loosely painted with a pattern of honey brown, silvery white, and slate blue. The nutmeg-brown sleeves are pushed back along the forearm and there are white cuffs or sleeves beneath. The cupboard has two diamond-shaped, iron-gray metal pulls in front. Light illuminating the pair from our left creates a greenish glow on the tawny-brown background behind them.
This painting shows four individuals - three women and one child - in an indoor setting. One woman is seated on a chair on the left, wearing a purple and blue dress under a black coat, with white gloves and a gray hat. Next to her, sitting on an arm of the chair, is another woman with blonde hair, wearing a light teal dress. To the right, in the center of the painting, a child stands, wearing a blue dress or tunic. On the far right, a third woman sits on a bench, wearing a bright red-and-white dress with a white-and-blue hat capped with a white feather, as well as long white gloves. All of the people have pale skin, and their faces are detailed. The room around them has other colorful furniture, including two armchairs in shades of red and teal, and the walls are in shades of light blue and cream. Red curtains hang over an open window or balcony, and there's a painting in a gold frame on a wall on the right. The orange floor beneath them is covered in several colorful, patterned rugs.
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.”
L'Arlésienne: Madame Joseph-Michel Ginoux (Marie Julien, 1848–1911)
Das Bittenlernen (Familie Reiter)
When this work was painted, millinery work (hat making) was considered a prestigious trade, elevating the women who succeeded in the business. Degas addressed this subtle shift in the class hierarchy: He gave his milliner a dress nice enough to be worn by an affluent woman, and though she does not wear the expected hat of a high-class lady, Degas playfully positioned the hat with green trimmings so it seems to sit atop the woman’s head.
Painted almost entirely in tones of golden, mustard, and pale yellows, a young woman is shown from the lap up having turned to face us while making lace on a wooden frame in this vertical portrait painting. Her body faces our left almost in profile, but she turns her face to look at us with large, hazel-gray eyes. Her skin has a yellow cast but her smooth cheeks are lightly flushed, and her coral-red lips are parted. Her cinnamon-brown hair is parted down the middle and pulled back under a slate-blue ribbon, and she wears a teardrop-shaped earring in the ear we can see. Her burnt-orange shirt has pale yellow, wide cuffs at the elbow-length sleeves and a wide collar that rests across her chest and shoulders. The cuffs and collar are textured, suggesting fur. She rests her bare forearms against the wood frame in front of her, to our left, which is about the height of a table. A parchment-yellow cloth is draped over the frame, and she holds two short, cylindrical bobbins in her hands. Two more thread-wrapped bobbins hang to one side. The woman’s tea-brown skirt is partially hidden by a table situated closer to us, in the lower right corner of the painting. The table is covered with a patterned rug in maroon red, black, and gold. On the table are a low, wide pewter-gray bowl and a dark indigo-blue pillow with gold tassels and gold stripes near the seams. The wall behind the woman is honey yellow.
We look slightly down into a lime-green and white rowboat carrying a woman holding a baby and a man in this nearly square painting. The man wears midnight-blue shoes, pants, jacket, and soft, floppy cap. He sits with his back to us, bending forward to row the boat, which is cropped by the bottom edge of the canvas. The left side of his ruddy face is visible over his left shoulder. The woman and baby both have pale skin. The woman and baby sit across from the man, facing us to our left in the bow. The woman’s long-sleeved, sky-blue dress is crosshatched with pink lines. The baby leans back in the woman’s arms, and wears a pink dress, blue socks, and brown shoes. The wide-brimmed hats on both the woman and baby are painted pale celery green. They gaze toward or just past the man. The corner of the boat’s sail, also painted pale green, is pulled taunt by the wind to our left. Azure-blue water surrounds the boat up to the high horizon line, which brushes the top edge of the painting. The shoreline in the distance is lined with trees and dotted with white houses with red roofs.
Spring
The image shows an elevated view of a landscape with hills and a river or lake in the distance. Several buildings, including a church, are scattered across the land. Soldiers in red and white uniforms are lined up near a stone wall and gravestones in the foreground. The sky is blue with a few scattered clouds. The painting style uses precise brushstrokes, featuring a color palette of soft blues, greens, reds, and muted tones.
Woman Reading a Letter
The Birth and Naming of John the Baptist
This painting depicts a rural scene with people gathered in front of log cabins. Hills, sparse trees, and a haystack are visible in the background under a partly cloudy sky. In the distance on the left, two people stand on a pile of logs, a small fire breaking out on the far left and putting gray smoke in the air. Closer to us on the left, a man stands by a machine made of several horizontal rods, appearing to feed long strands of fiber or grain into it. Gathered in a line across the rest of the painting is a crowd of men and women, appearing to hold long, flat objects and bundles of thin fiber. Some of the people talk while others seem to dance. The people all have pale skin, and the women wear colorful dresses with aprons and bonnets, while the men wear jackets, vests, and top hats.
Charles and Lavinia Stratton
Cabin in the Cotton
A young, smiling man bursts through the door of a dimly lit bedroom occupied by three women in this vertical painting. All four people have pale skin. The arched door is to our right and the man faces our left with his arms spread wide. He leans slightly forward as he holds the wide brim of his hat out by his left side, to our right. Shoulder-length chestnut-brown hair frames his face, and he wears a velvety brown jacket trimmed with tan stripes and pompoms down the front and along the sleeve we can see. A broad sash crosses his chest and tassels hang from his wide, white collar. Between us and him, a wooden chair is draped with a crimson-red cloak trimmed with white fur and bands of gold. A pewter pitcher and candlestick rest on the pine floor in front of it, near the lower right corner of the painting. The man is stopped at the door by a woman wearing a sable-brown gown with a tight-fitting bodice and a white cap on the back of her head. Her body faces the man as she leans toward him with her outstretched right hand resting on his shoulder, and she turns her smiling face back over her shoulder. Light from an open window on the left illuminates the woman in the center, who steps down from a bed enclosed by forest-green, velvet curtains trimmed with gold fringe and tassels. The curtains are parted behind her to reveal white pillows. She wears a long, gleaming white satin skirt topped by a tight-fitting coral-red bodice stitched with thin lines of gold. A white neckerchief covers her shoulders and is partially tucked into the bodice. Her head is covered by a white kerchief knotted under her chin. Her body faces us with one foot on a step stool, and the other foot reaches down to a gold and red shoe on the floor. Its mate lies nearby, pointing away from us. Her head is turned to our right to look at the man. She has a thin face with a high forehead, and small mouth is closed or pursed. Closest to us and near the lower left corner of the painting, the third woman sits alongside a small table under the open window. She wears a long, pine-green jacket trimmed with white fur over a brown skirt. Her auburn hair is partially coiled around her head, while some locks fall in bunched curls. She sits facing our right in profile with her back to the window, so her smiling face is mostly in shadow. Her left arm rests on the table, which is draped with a red and copper patterned cloth, and she holds a white comb in that hand. A mirror and round silver box sit on the table next to her. A small brown and white dog stands by her feet, its head tilted up to look at the others. The far wall of the room is covered with a faint pattern of golden brown vines and leaves against a forest-green background. The artist signed the painting on the face of the step leading up to the bed, “G. Metsu.”
The painting depicts a wintry scene from an elevated point of view, showing people skating and playing games on a frozen river. On the left, leafless trees line the frozen bank. On the right, there are brown buildings with snow on their roofs and smoke rising from their chimneys. A woman stands on one of the porches, holding a small child. On the snowy ground outside the buildings, a sled is being pulled by two horses. In the center of the painting is the wide frozen river. The people on it wear colorful clothes in shades of red, yellow, green, blue, and brown. Some of them slip and fall on the ice, and others lace skates on their feet. Four men in the center hold long curved sticks and look towards a small round ball on the surface of the ice. In the distance, the horizon is marked by blue-tinged mountains under a cloudy gray sky.
Philip Key
One of 17 canvases that Paul Gauguin completed during a brief and tumultuous visit with Vincent van Gogh in Arles, this powerful and enigmatic painting depicts the public garden directly across from Van Gogh’s house. The painting's large, flat areas of color, arbitrary handling of space, and enigmatic silhouettes exemplify the deliberateness with which Gauguin sought visual harmony and symbolism in his work.
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.
Walking ensemble
This painting is a portrait of a seated woman, her body turned slightly to the right and her head looking towards us. She has a fair complexion, with round, rosy cheeks, pale eyebrows, large green eyes, and thin pink lips in a neutral expression. Her light blonde hair is styled in short curls close to her head and adorned with pearls and a clip or barrette in the shape of small leaves. She is dressed in a cream-colored dress with intricate embroidery in shades of brown, gold, and black. On top of the dress is a long black garment that flows over her shoulders and upper arms and has a high collar, decorative buttons, and more embroidery. Her gown is paired with a ruffled white collar and lace at her neckline and wrists. Long gold chains drape across her chest, and she wears a pearl necklace around her neck and two small golden rings on her fingers. In her left hand, our right, she holds a small book, while a lace handkerchief is in her right hand, our left. She wears pearl earrings, strands of pearl bracelets, and a decorative brooch in the shape of a white dog with a pink bow. The seat she sits on is wooden with dark red cushions decorated with golden tassels and embroidery, behind her on the left is a draped green cloth, and on the right, a table is covered with music sheets, a stringed instrument, books, and small blue and yellow ribbons. The wall behind the table is brown, and there is some gold lettering in the top right corner.
Young Woman with Ibis
Abraham Lincoln and Family
Portrait of Dora Wheeler
The Merry Family
Shown from about the lap up, a young person with brown hair and a peachy complexion faces our left in profile as he leans onto a table and sets folded playing cards up in a row in this vertical painting. Shown against a dark background, his long, brown hair curls by his ears and is pulled back with a navy-blue ribbon at the nape of his neck. He has a delicately sloping nose, his pink lips are closed, the cheek facing us is flushed, and he looks down at the tabletop under lowered lids. He wears a chestnut-brown, long-sleeved coat with a dark blue sash across his chest and tied around his waist. The white of his undershirt peeks out at the high neck and wrists, and the brick-red lining of the sleeve of his jacket rolls back at his right wrist. The wooden table is lined with teal-blue fabric on its surface, and three coins lie near his left hand, closer to us. In that hand he holds three nested, vertically folded playing cards. With his right hand he places the last in a line of ten cards, standing vertically but close together like dominoes, in a curving row in front of him. Scarlet-red diamonds and hearts and the edges of some black shapes are visible within the bent cards. A jack of hearts and a piece of paper or the back of another card sit in a drawer that opens toward us along the side of the table. The artist signed the work in dark brown paint in the lower right corner: “J. Chardin.”
This painting shows a woman sitting at a round table. She has fair skin, sharp cheekbones, thick eyebrows, and pale lips with one side of her mouth raised in a partial smile. She has short brown hair with bangs across her forehead. She is wearing a black dress with a high collar, a pale yellow bow around her neck, and a white apron over her lap. In her hand, she holds a small, translucent glass that rests on the table. The background is a blurred blend of earthy tones, including brown, gray, and dark green, which suggest a wall behind her. The brushstrokes in the painting are thick and visible.
Margaret of Austria
Portrait of a Woman in Gray
Round gown
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.”
Gian Lodovico Madruzzo
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.
La Berceuse (Woman Rocking a Cradle; Augustine-Alix Pellicot Roulin, 1851–1930)
Charles II of Valois, duke of Orléans.
G.W.M. Nutt and Minnie Warren
After a Long Cruise
This painting depicts a woman holding a child. The woman is turned towards the left, and she looks down at the child in her lap. She has pale skin, reddish-brown hair, high, arched, eyebrows, and thin, slightly downturned lips. Her hair is put up above her head under a red and brown net with a thin veil hanging over her face. A golden halo is behind her head. Her clothes are ornate, in shades of gold and brown with a collar decorated with pearls and green gems. The child is nude except for a red necklace and red bracelets. They also have pale skin and brown hair, and they are looking up at the woman. The child rests on a green cushion and holds a light pink peach or apple in one hand, and there is a faint golden halo around their head. Next to the woman, on a white marbled surface, is a white bowl of light pink fruit. Behind her is a landscape of green fields, tree-lined, rocky hills, and a light blue body of water. The sky above is a gradient of blue, white towards the horizon and fading into dark blue at the top of the painting. Puffy white clouds drift across the top of the sky.
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.
This is a painting of a pastoral scene near the water with a ship and buildings in the background. The artwork is in the style of American folk art, presented in an oval frame. The image depicts a serene landscape by the water, with figures engaged in activities such as gathering flowers in the center. The foliage is in shades of green and brown, spreading above under a lightly clouded, blue sky. On the left side, a ship is anchored near the shore, with buildings visible in the distance. The water has soft waves, contrasting with the rocky ground in the foreground. The pastel colors create a calm and reflective mood, evoking tranquility and connection with nature.
A young woman with smooth, pale skin wearing a fog-gray gown stands in shadowy outdoor setting in this vertical portrait painting. Her body faces our right almost in profile. Her head turns toward us though she looks off to our left with brown eyes under arched brows. Auburn-brown hair frames her heart-shaped face, which has a slender nose over closed, coral-red lips and a dimpled chin. Her long, curly hair is gathered at the back of her head and tied with a sand-brown ribbon. Long tendrils hang down her shoulders and back. Her iridescent gown has a deep neckline and a wide, harvest-gold sash around her waist with matching bands on the upper arms. A shimmering, laurel-green cape bordered in gold falls from her shoulders in deep folds down her back. The woman has pulled some of the cape forward with both hands to hang down her left side, farther from us. She wears delicate, translucent pearl bracelets on one wrist, and steps forward on silvery-gray shoes under the dress’s long hem. Bright light falls across the scene from the upper left so much of the background is in shadow. A stone wall behind the woman spans the right half of the painting. A tree grows up along its leftmost edge, just beyond the woman’s shoulders. A landscape along the left third of the composition opens onto trees under a sky filled with thick, off-white and steel-gray clouds.
The Fitting Room
During Raphaelle Peale’s time, still lifes were relegated to the bottom of the hierarchy of painting subjects. Peale, however, ignored their low status and is now acknowledged as America’s first professional still-life painter and leading practitioner. In this particularly fine example, the rhythmic balance of fruit, nuts, and Chinese-export porcelain is enlivened by the diagonal branch of grapes becoming raisins and an orange leaf.
Madame Cézanne (Hortense Fiquet, 1850–1922) in the Conservatory
This painting dates from the later part of Martin Johnson Heade’s long, varied, and peripatetic career. After traveling through the United States, to England and continental Europe, and three different times to Brazil, Heade settled in Saint Augustine, Florida, at the age of 64. There he began painting detailed arrangements of native flowers, including the Cherokee rose, orange blossom, and, as in this work, magnolia.
DeWitt Clinton
Madame X (Virginie Amélie Avegno Gautreau)
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.
The Milkmaid
A three-storied, white manor house with a rust-red roof and wings extending off both sides sits across an emerald-green lawn lined with tall, sage and dark green trees in this horizontal painting. Straw-brown paths lead to the house from either side of the lawn, where they meet an oval-shaped path directly in front of the house. The grassy area inside the oval is cordoned off with posts and weighted chains. Closer to us, three men, two women, and a gray dog stand on the lawn. Two of the men wear uniforms with navy-blue, button-lined jackets with golden yellow epaulets and collars, dark, tricorn hats, and butter-yellow britches over black, knee-high boots. The third man wears a brown suit with a white collar. Both the women wear white dresses. One has a sky-blue sash around her waist and the other has a black shawl wrapped across her torso, and wears a white bonnet. Two light-skinned people, perhaps a man and a child, walk along the path to our left, wearing gray suits. Four people closer to the house have brown skin. One of them, a woman, stands at the front center of the oval path and other three men approach a door in the wing to our left. One of that trio carries a shovel over his shoulder, one a rake, and the other a staff. A carriage guided by a seated horseman and pulled by four horses enters the scene from our right. To our left and right, covered walkways connect the main house to the side wings. The wing to our right is mostly hidden by trees and cut off by the right edge of the painting. The wing to our left has a teal-blue roof, red brick chimneys, and the same white walls as the manor. The main house has a triangular pediment over the front door and chimneys to each side of the red roof. A spire-like lantern is at the center of the roofline, over the pediment. Faint, wispy white clouds billow against the azure-blue sky above. Centered at the bottom of the scene across a white margin are the words, “A VIEW OF MOUNT.VERNON THE SEAT OF GENERAL WASHINGTON.”
A woman pushes aside a deep golden yellow curtain that fills three-quarters of this nearly square painting. The curtain runs on a rod parallel and close to the top of the canvas, extends off the right edge, and falls behind a bed covered in the same color. The bed is cropped by the bottom and left edges of the painting, and a brown, arched wood footboard almost reaches the right side. The woman stands on the far side of the bed, facing away from us as she pulls at the curtain with her right hand. She wears a navy-blue dress and a brown braid falls down her back. She reveals an area covered in a pink, green, and white floral pattern that seems to match the size of the curtain, at least along the left edge where it is exposed. A round mirror hangs on the floral-patterned area above a red piece of furniture, perhaps a small table or stool. The wall around the patterned area and curtain is painted bone white. A line incised in the paint running from the top left corner of the floral area to the top edge of the canvas suggests a crack in the wall. The paint is loosely applied so brushstrokes are visible throughout, especially in the floral pattern. The artist’s signature is painted in red in the lower left corner: "E. Vuillard."
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 painting shows a young man against an olive-green background. The man is standing, his body partially turned to the right, with one hand on his hip and the other near his waist. He is looking at us with a neutral expression. The man has light skin and short brown hair under a black hat with pointed ends on either side. He wears a dark outfit with a high white collar and puffed black sleeves. A thin gold ring is visible on his right hand. The green background has visible brushstrokes and some slight variation in color.
A woman stands drinking from a tall glass as two men sit at a table in a courtyard enclosed by wood paneling and brick buildings in this vertical painting. The people all have pale, peachy skin. The men, table, and woman take up the lower left quadrant of the composition. Both men wear broad-brimmed, black hats. The man closer to us, on our side of the table, faces our right in profile and holds a long white, clay pipe to his lips. He wears an ink-black jacket and tan leggings. A white stocking hangs down in a wide cuff from his knee on the leg we can see. A dove-gray cape is draped across his lap and a brown coat with gold-colored buttons is slung over a railing behind his back. Across the table, a bearded man wears a shining armor breastplate over a brown shirt. He looks up at the woman and smiles, holding a blue and white tankard with the lid flipped open in one hand. Another pipe and piece of paper sit on the narrow table between the men. The woman stands to one side of the table, facing our left in profile and the toe of her shoe touching or nearly brushing the black shoe of the man closer to us. Her brown hair is covered by a white cap, and she wears a tan-colored jacket, a long, crimson-red skirt, and an ultramarine-blue apron. Across the courtyard, in the lower right corner of the painting, a young girl also wears a white cap and blue apron but with a slate-gray shirt and laurel-green skirt. She approaches the table. A glowing ember is visible inside the ceramic brown dish she holds in both hands. The slightly uneven floor is paved with long, pale yellow bricks. A building rises to our right, a red shutter opening out from a window on the ground level. The other, closed shutter is painted with triangles of black, white, and gray. A half-wall of red brick across from us surrounds an open door, through which are stairs and a tree trunk. More trees rise above the top of that wall. Horizontal paneling encloses the courtyard to our left, behind the men. A church steeple in the distance is silhouetted against the sky over the paneling. A few wispy white clouds float across the vivid blue sky above.
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.
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.
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 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.”
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.
The Sunlight
By the Seashore
The image shows a street scene with an urban setting. The composition includes buildings, a statue on a pedestal, signs like "City Hotel" and "Hard Ware," a group of men with a horse, a water pump, two dogs, people on a sidewalk and hotel balcony, additional figures, a worker with stacked bricks. The color palette features warm tones like orange, brown, and green. Brushstrokes are precise and detailed, creating a realistic depiction of the scene.
Twigs of a magnolia tree with light green, glossy leaves and three cream-white blossoms lie on a sapphire-blue cloth in this horizontal still life painting. Brightly lit from our left, the blossoms and leaves nearly fill the composition, and the cut ends lie on the fabric to our right. The blue fabric cascades from the upper left and across the table or ledge. The three flowers are in various stages of bloom. The tightest bud is to our left, overlapped by a stem and the tender, unfurling leaves of a branch. The blossom next to it, at the center, is starting to open. The petals of the third blossom, to our right, splay open around the flower’s oval-shaped stamen. Light glints off the waxy leaves surrounding the flowers. The tawny-brown underside of one leaf is visible where it turns over, near the cut ends of the branches. Light shimmering on the fabric darkens from bright blue to our right, to deep royal blue in the shadows to the upper left, suggesting the fabric is velvet. The background is streaked with tan and pine green behind the fabric, and becomes nearly black in the shadows of the upper right corner and along the bottom edge. The artist signed the lower right corner, "MJ. Heade."
The Flower Girl
Christ and the Virgin in the House at Nazareth
Three women and five men play cards around a round table covered with piles of gold coins in this square painting. The people all have pale skin. The women have round faces, close-set, small eyes, delicate noses and lips, and cleft chins. They wear dresses with tight bodices and long sleeves, and cloth head coverings. The men have prominent, bumped noses, furrowed brows, and lines around their eyes. They wear hats and voluminous robes and coats in shades of ruby red, moss green, golden brown, and black. Two women and two men play cards, and each has a second person behind them or at their shoulders. The woman along the left edge of the painting wears gloves, and she looks out at us. She points at the table or at the space between her and another card player. She holds her cards up so the six of hearts at the front is visible in front of a face card of hearts and a card with spades. A clean-shaven man standing behind her stoops and drapes his arms across her shoulders, one hand limp and gesturing with a three and the other hand cupping the woman’s cards. He looks across the table. The next player is also a woman, who rests one wrist on her face-down cards on the table. She counts out coins with her other hand, and the bearded man behind her stands with one hand tucked into the opening of his robe, leaning back as he looks across the table. Next, a clean-shaven man holds three cards up to his chest as he turns to look to our left, his brows gathered and lips parted. A woman stands between these two players with a hand draped over each of their shoulders. She peers down at the man’s cards and makes a number two with that hand. Her other loose fist rests on the shoulder of the second female card player. The final pair, along the right edge of the painting, are two men. The card player holds his cards so we see the ace of spades at the front. He points at a row of coins or toward the gap left between him and the woman to our left. He leans forward and looks intently, chin jutted out, at the man with his hand tucked into his robe. A man with a long gray beard sits just over the fourth player’s shoulder and appears to look across the scene absently with heavy-lidded eyes. The round table is covered in a teal-blue cloth. A rectangular sideboard in the back left of the room is covered with a white cloth and holds a vase of white flowers, a vessel, a wooden basket, and a piece of fruit. The wall behind this is gray along the top and wood-paneled below. An alcove in the wall to the right holds two vessels, a round gold-colored, plum-sized object, and another basket. A pale yellow curtain is pulled to the right side of that alcove.
Paris Street; Rainy Day
Unidentified Woman
Procession or Pardon at Perros-Guirec
A pale-skinned young woman wearing a kimono stands facing our left in a dim interior in this vertical painting. Her black hair is upswept, and her head tilts slightly down with eyes closed. The seat of a wooden, ladderback chair rests against the back of her knees. With her left hand, closer to us, she reaches back to grasp the top rail chair behind her. She holds a folded white and brown fan in her other hand, by her side. Her voluminous robe is fawn brown and trimmed with brilliant scarlet red down the collar and around the hem. The kimono has wide, long brown sleeves that come down past her hips. The red collar extends nearly to her knees, and another slash of red lines the deep sleeve on her extended arm. The robe pools on the floor at her feet. Above the red band along the bottom hem, the robe is painted loosely in patches and dabs of black, cobalt blue, turquoise, ruby red, and pale pink. Light from the upper right gives her peachy skin a golden tinge and highlights the furniture near her, while casting the rest of the room in shadow. She stands in front of a round table draped with a fabric mottled in earth brown and gray, and bordered with a dark brown band filled with smudges of orange and green. A book and a black carrying case or bag are barely visible on the table's shadowy surface. An image framed in light blue hangs on the olive-green wall over the table. The wall to our right, behind the woman, is mostly forest green. The artist signed the lower right in black paint, “Alfred H. Maurer.”
Alexander Campbell
Henri-Charles Maniglier
The Holy Family
Annunciation 
Two Women
Approximately two dozen people gather around a man standing with his mouth wide open and holding up two objects in a scarlet-red structure on a horse-drawn cart in this horizontal painting. The people appear to all have pale skin and most are men. Near the center of the composition, the man in the cart wears a white robe over a black, high-collared garment and a tall charcoal-gray hat. A hatch on the red structure appears to be open, and he holds up what might be books or pamphlets. A ginger-brown horse stands behind him with its head bowed. In the crowd, the men wear black, brown, gray, dark blue, or olive-green clothing and hats. Two women are to the left. One wears a green gown with a pumpkin-orange shawl and a wide-brimmed bonnet. She faces away from us. She and two men talk near a stand where another man and woman sell food and drink. More people gather around a second stand or structure beyond this, and, in the lower left corner of the painting, a man with white hair and a hooked nose and chin sits by an open cart with a sign reading, “Bear O! Pi Aiggs.” A few men dance and others mill about to the right of the cart. Closer to us, one boy runs toward another as a soldier lies belly-down on the ground, holding a bayoneted rifle out toward a brown dog. The dog crouches with its mouth open. Beyond the dancers and onlookers, a field stretches back to wooded hills. In the field, more than a hundred people stand or march in lines. Lavender-tinged clouds pile up in the blue sky over the horizon, which comes about halfway up this composition.
Madonna and Child
Jean Marie Soulier
Peasant Woman Cooking by a Fireplace
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.
Familie Markl
Still Life with Flowers and Fruit
Ensemble
Margaret Fuller
Charles Sherwood Stratton
As painter to the king of Spain, Francisco de Goya also designed tapestries for the royal residences. To work out his designs, he first made small oil sketches and followed them with full-scale painted cartoons that served as guides for the king's weavers. This cartoon was produced for a tapestry in a series decorating the dining room in the Royal Palace of El Pardo, outside Madrid.