THE

ART INSTITUTE
OF CHICAGO
 THE
ART INSTITUTE
OF CHICAGO

by

JOHN MAXON

298 illustrations, jj in color

THAMES AND HUDSON

 First published 1970
Revised edition 1977
Reprinted 1983

C 1970 THAMES AND HUDSON LTD, LONDON

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THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOG CARD NUMBER: 72-125779

Printed and bound in Great Britain

Contents

The Art Institute of Chicago 7

Painting and Sculpture 20

Prints and Drawings 126

Photography 172

Oriental Art 174

Classical and Decorative Arts 216

Textiles 234

Primitive Art 240

Appendix 249

Index of Illustrations 2 79
The Art Institute of Chicago
In 1866 there was established in Chicago, Illinois, an institution called the
Chicago Academy of Design; this body was formed by a group of artists and
managed - more accurately, mismanaged by them. About 1878 a group of
business men was elected to the board of this body in the hope of unsnarling its

tangled affairs. After a year's endeavor, the new trustees decided that they could
not achieve their goal, and all resigned. They then formed a new organization
Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, which was incorporated 24 May
called the

1879. (The former institution continued to struggle till 1882 or thereabouts.) In

December 1882 the new academy changed its name to the one it still bears, the
Art Institute of Chicago. The certificate of incorporation states as its purposes,
'the founding and maintenance of Schools of art and design, the formation and
exhibition of collections of objects of art, and the cultivation and extension of
the arts of design by any appropriate means.'
The first President of the Institute, George Armour, served one year, and his
successor, Levi Z. Leiter, served two years. The man who followed Leiter,
Charles L. Hutchinson, was to serve as President of the Art Institute for

forty /three years.

During its first three years of existence the Institute rented rooms at State and
Monroe Streets, in which art classes were held from the start, and occasional
exhibitions were mounted. In 1 882, when the name was changed, the property
at the southern corner of Michigan Avenue at Van Buren Street was bought,
and a building was put up to front on the latter street. Here there were class/

rooms and exhibition galleries. On 19 November 1887, a new building

designed by John Wellborn Root was opened. Each year for five years, further

changes were made was finally decided that the building

to the fabric, but it

was hopelessly outgrown, and the property was sold to the Chicago Club for
an amount almost ten times what had been paid a decade earlier.
The trustees decided to profit from the World's Columbian Exposition in
1893 by co-operating with the managers of the exposition in the building of a
hall for the World's Congresses, which, at the end of the exposition, would
revert to the trustees of the Art Institute for their permanent use. The building,
by Shepley, Rutan, and Coolidge, remains the core of the Art Institute's

complex of buildings. It has since been named to honor Robert Allerton, long
a trustee, officer, and benefactor of the museum.
An examination of the paper of incorporation shows that the purpose of the
school, as well as of the museum, reflected the thinking which had received its

main impetus in the Great Exhibition in London in 1851 ; that is, there was a
strongly didactic motivation which, in its turn, represented a genuinely ethical
purpose. Thus, in keeping with such feelings, there was acquired, very early in
the history of the Institute, a large and fine collection of plaster casts which sur/
vived intact till the late 1950s, when, in accord with the change of taste in

teaching and a different view about the value of reproductive works, the collec
tion was dispersed. By 1900 there was also a collection- albeit a rather small one
- of Egyptian and Classical material. The former was later abandoned as a field
for pursuit, mainly because of the emergence of the work of the Oriental
Institute of the University of Chicago. The latter group remains a small one,

but a choice one with a number of superb Greek pots. In 1 894 Mr Hutchinson,
aided by Martin Ryerson who still remains the greatest single benefactor of the
Art Institute, was able to secure thirteen major works, mostly Dutch, from the
sale of the Demidoff Collection in Florence. Mrs Henry Field gave in her
husband's memory, also in 1894, his distinguished collection of Barbizon
paintings, among which works by Millet are outstanding. By 1900, the
members of the Antiquarian Society, an ancillary group dedicated to helping
the Art Institute, had bought a number of important items of decorative arts.
In 1906, the trustees voted, after some hesitation and by no means unanv
mously, to buy what still remains the greatest object in the collection: El
Greco's Assumption. This was the master's first great Spanish commission and
had formed the central part of the high altarpiece of the church of San Domingo
el Antiguo in Toledo. Mr Hutchinson and Mr Ryerson had seen the picture
at Durand'Ruel's in Pans and ordered it sent on approval to Chicago. The
then Director, William M. R. French (brother of the American academic
sculptor, Daniel Chester French), observed that he could not recall seeing any
El Greco in a European gallery. He further noted that, while he felt the picture
to be one ofEl Greco's best and that it made a valuable addition to the collections
in the Institute, he could not say that he felt ready to pay $40,000 for it. In terms
of the buying power of the dollar in 1906 this was indeed an enormous amount
of money to pay for the work of an almost completely unknown or, at least,

forgotten master. It is interesting to note that the painting had been seen at
Durand'Ruel's by John Singer Sargent, Frank Duveneck, and Gari Melchers,
among American artists, and by Degas among the French. It was Mary Cassatt
who called the work to Ryerson's attention. She had found it in Spain while
she was travelling with the Horace Havemeyers of New York. The Havemeyers
found they could not use the picture and reluctantly asked Miss Cassatt to see

if she and Durand'Ruel could find a buyer. This was still a period when
painters were intensely interested in the art of the past, and it is not without
meaning that Mr Ryerson and Mr Hutchinson appear to have been more
impressed by Miss Cassatt's views and those of her colleagues than they were
by that of their own professional staff member.
The come to the Institute was the bequest, in
next great group of pictures to
1922, from Mrs Mrs Palmer had not only been the doyenne of the
Potter Palmer.
social scene in Chicago, but she was also one of the principal forces in the

organization of the World's Columbian Exposition and served as President

of its Board of Lady Managers. Bertha Honore Palmer appears to have been a
woman not only of great energy but also immense charm and a superb sense of
business affairs; she greatly increased the family fortune - by more than 100
per cent - in the twenty years between Potter Palmer's death in 1 902 and her own.
Mary Cassatt was her friend and undoubtedly made suggestions to her, but
Mrs Palmer was her own woman in matters of taste. She owned, of course,
Barbizon pictures - everyone did in her time - but she began early to collect
other things as well. She bought the great Corot figure^piece, Interrupted

Reading, in 1889, hardly a fashionable choice at that moment. Then in 1 892 she
bought the beautiful early (1868) Monet, The River, again a most personal
choice. One of Mrs Palmer's most beautiful pictures, which unfortunately did
not stay in Chicago, was the ravishing small Veronese, Mars and Venus surprised

by Cupid, which now rests in the Gallena Sabauda, Turin; one wonders why
Mrs Palmer seems to have ordered the picture sold instead of including it in
her magnificent bequest.
Also in 1922 the Kimball bequest came to the Art Institute. This group
included the best Reynolds in the whole collection, Lady Sarah Bunbury Sacr'u
firing to the Graces, one of the painter's finest works of all (certainly one of his
two best in the United States). Also in the group is the great Constable Stoke
by^Nayland,Romney's Mrs Francis Russell, and one of Sir Thomas Lawrence's
of the Danish consul's wife, Mrs Jens Wolff. The one non/
finest portraits, that

English work in the Kimball Collection is Rembrandt's noble, early Portrait

of the Artist's Father.
When Mr Hutchinson died in 1925, he left his small group of Flemish and
Dutch pictures, as well as Rossetti's 1872 replica of his Beata Beatrix.
 The next great gift to the Institute was that given by Frederic Clay Bartlett

in his second wife's memory, the Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial Collection.
The most notable work of this collection is Seurat's finest painting, Sunday
Afternoon on the Island of the Grande'Jatte, which, aside from the El Greco, is the
most famous single item in the museum. Capital works by nineteenth'
entire

century masters such as Cezanne, Gauguin, van Gogh, and Toulouse-Lautrec

are present as well as major pictures by such twentietlvcentury artists as Matisse,
Modigliani, Picasso, and Rousseau. There are also three paintings by Hodler,
who is rarely represented outside of Switzerland.
Arthur Jerome Eddy, a Chicago lawyer, bequeathed a notable group of
Expressionist works in I93i- Some of these he had bought from the famous
Armory Exhibition of 191 3- The collection included a Franz Marc and four
works by Kandinsky, as well as a major early Manet, and portraitsof Eddy
by both Whistler and Rodin.
Martin Antoine Ryerson, a Vice-President of the Art Institute and great
friend of Charles L. Hutchinson, died in 1933, leaving his collection to the
museum. His was the greatest single bequest yet to come to the Art Institute,

and Ryerson must rank as one of the greatest of all collectors in the United
States. Two hundred and twenty^seven pictures, as well as items of the Oriental
and decorative arts, were included in the bequest which joined the Demidoff
Rembrandt he had given in 1894, in addition to fine Greek pots. Ryerson's

eye was infallible, and it is interesting and rather chastening for the professional
art historian to learn that the only four debatable paintings Ryerson seems ever
to have bought were the only two on which he had professional advice.
Ryerson's eye could encompass painters as different as Giovanni di Paolo and
Cezanne, Memling and Redon, Renoir and French primitives.
Another benefactor museum's holdings in nineteenth'
greatly to help the
century French painting was Mrs Lewis Larned Coburn, who died the same
year as Mr Ryerson did. Two great Manets and two equally great works by
Degas set the tone for the Impressionists. And Cezanne, van Gogh, Gauguin,
and Picasso go with a group of fine Monets to complete the bequest.
One of the prime sources of benefaction for the Art Institute was the
Buckingham family: Clarence, and his sisters, Lucy Maud and Kate Sturges.
Clarence Buckingham was introduced to the art of Japanese prints at the

World's Columbian Exposition, and was able later to acquire the collection
of the well-known connoisseur from Boston, Ernest Fenollosa. On Bucking'
ham's death in 191 3, his sister Kate appointed his friend, Frederick Gookin,
to be keeper of the collection and to continue its growth. To honor her
sister's memory, Kate created the collection of ancient Chinese ritual bronzes

10
and, also in Lucy Maud's memory, donated the collection of medieval art
and artifacts. In addition, in memory of her brother Clarence, Kate Sturges
Buckingham some two streets to the south of the
built a fountain for the city,

Art Her crowning benefaction in 1937 was the bequest of a fund

Institute.

from which the income was to be spent in caring for the collections begun by
her brother and sister as well as to augment them. And it was from this bequest
that Clarence Buckingham's collection of European old master prints and

drawings began seriously to be increased and improved.

Charles H. and Mary F. S. Worcester had built their collection systema^
tically to correlate with the rest of the museum's holdings. They bought

German and Italian masterpieces to go with their own group of Impressionists.

This bequest came to the Institute on Worcester's death in 1947, along with
an endowment fund to augment the collection.
On Max Epstein's death in 1954, the Max and Leola Epstein Collection
was added to the museum's holdings. Two Botticellis - one rather early, the
other quite late - are in the group as well as some fine Flemish and Dutch pieces
and a great French primitive.
One of the curious and characteristic things about collecting in Chicago
is the fact that, save for certain specialized collections - one thinks of Russell
Tyson's Oriental art - most of it has been devoted to what was, at any given
time, contemporary art. With Ryerson, Worcester, and Epstein, the only other
serious and systematic collectors of old master paintings have been the Deering
brothers, Charles and James, and the late Morris I. Kaplan. From Charles
Deering and his descendants have come a number of major works of Spanish
art. Chief among these are the Ayala altarpiece and the Burgo de Osma
embroidered dossal and antependium. The Charles Deering heirs have also
given major works by Velazquez, Mancini, van Gogh, and Ingres. James
Deering gave the magnificent set of four canvases by G.B. Tiepolo which
illustrate scenes of the Story of Rinaldo and Armida.
From collectors of contemporary art have also come a number of distil
guished works. Chief among these is the bequest of Mr and Mrs Walter S.
Brewster, and gifts from Mr and Mrs Leigh B. Block and from the late

Samuel A. Marx and his widow, Mrs Wolfgang Schonborn.

In 1 92 1 Joseph Winterbotham set up a trust fund, the income of which was
to be spent on modern European pictures, with the total number of paintings

to be limited to thirty^five. It was understood that the quality of this group was

always to be maintained and, if possible, improved.

In the later history of the museum there have been generous donors who have
bought directly to enrich the collections of the museum. The first of these was
Robert Allerton, who was interested not only in the decorative arts but in

twentietrvcentury sculpture and drawings; his trust is the largest yet to come to
the museum. Mrs Tiffany Blake began, with her friend, the second Mrs Potter
Palmer, to buy drawings in the 1940s in order to build up that department.

Mrs Joseph Regenstein, who has done the same, has been equally generous
to theDepartment of Oriental Art.
Mrs James Ward Thorne created a group of period rooms of breathtaking
accuracy on a miniature scale. She gave this group along with an endowment to
maintain it; always a popular attraction, its presence has relieved the Art
Institute from any desire to emulate the cult of the period room, so popular in
some American galleries.

The building of the museum's edifice has continued through the years.
Martin Ryerson built the original library in 1900; it was rebuilt in 1967. After

the First World War, wing across the Illinois Central Railroad tracks was
the
completed. And in 1925 the Kenneth Sawyer Goodman Memorial Theatre
was built. This was conceived as a theatre with a resident professional company
as well as a school of acting. After the abandonment of this purpose as a result

of the great depression of the 1930s, it has been possible, in 1969, to return to the
original concept of a professional theatre in residence.
In the late 1950s a new administrative block was built, and in 1962 a new
wing to house twentietlvcentury art as well as special exhibitions was given by
Mr and Mrs Sterling Morton. (His widow later gave a small lecture hall.) A
new building for the school, a new auditorium, restaurant, galleries for
Primitive Art and TwentietlvCenturyAmerican Art were added in 1973-76.
Mrs Stanley McCormick provided the two gardens at the front of the
building on Michigan Avenue, as well as funds to maintain them.
Mrs E. C. Chadbourne provided a generous endowment fund to augment
her many gifts of objects of art. The late Grant J. Pick bequeathed objects of
art and a generous fund. Mr and Mrs James W. Alsdorf have been
generous in many fields.

Many other generous donors have given not only works of art but also
money. The total roster of membership is the largest of any American
museum's, in excess of 40,000. The ownership of the collections and control of
the operations of the Art Institute of Chicago are vested in its Governing Life
Members who elect the trustees and officers. In 1900 the total endowment was
less than $100,000. Seventy years later it is more than $50,000,000. That this
could be, is the result of Charles L. Hutchinson's energy and affection during
his long Presidency, and the industry and activity of his successors, the second
Potter Palmer, Chauncey McCormick, Everett Graff, McCormick's

12
cousin, William McCormick Blair, Frank H. Woods, Leigh B. Block, and,
since 1975, James W. Alsdorf, as Chairman of the Board. But their task
would have been an impossible one if they had not had the help of their fellow

trustees. And, most of all, the Art Institute exists because of the affectionate
interest of the people of Chicago who have given and still give amounts of all
sizes, both large and small.
Museums of art, aside from any stated purposes they have proclaimed, always
embody their own history and exemplify the taste of their benefactors and staffs.
Further, they show the exigencies of collecting and possibilities of various
epochs. These facts are particularly true of the Art Institute. In no sense does it

have the completeness in its collection of pictures that the Metropolitan Museum
or even the National Gallery of Washington have, not to mention such a
consciously synoptic collection as that of the National Gallery of London. Nor
does it have the completeness of specialization which is found in the Freer
Gallery, Washington. Nor yet is it a catalogue of the taste of a single inspired
collector, such as is found in Fenway Court, Boston.
What the Art Institute of Chicago has in its collections is a group of
nineteentlvcentury French pictures of the greatest distinction as well as a major
group of old Flemish pictures and old Italian paintings. Put another way, the
collection does not cover the whole history of Western painting with equal
emphasis. But what it covers in depth, it covers gloriously. The same may be
said of the print room's holdings as well as the Oriental collections. In the case
of the collections of ceramics and furniture, the original emphasis was on
acquiring the typical rather than the exceptional, an attitude perfectly in line
with the thinking which originated in the Great Exhibition of 185 1, London;
as modern taste no longer seeks to copy, the emphasis necessarily has had to

change - and at a moment when many categories have skyrocketed in price.

THE DEPARTMENT OF EARLIER PAINTING

AND SCULPTURE
The department ranks, in its way, as the oldest in the Art Institute of Chicago.

William M.R. French, who was Director from 1888 till 19 14, also functioned
as the first Curator, and his successor, George W. Eggers, served during his
directorship from 1 916 to 192 1 as both Director and Curator of the department.
The department's first major acquisition was the Jan Steen Family Concert
in 1892. The Demidoff Collection of major Dutch works followed closely in
1895, when the Henry Field Collection of Barbizon pictures was also received

13
as a bequest. The four great decorations by Hubert Robert were acquired in
1900, and the first come to the Art Institute of
Impressionist painting to
Chicago was Monet's The greatest of the old master/
Cliffs at Pourville in 1903.
pieces in the museum, El Greco's Assumption, came in 1906. The bequest
o{ Mrs Potter Palmer in 1922 established the museum's reputation in the
Impressionist field, just as the BirclvBartlett Memorial Collection established
pre-eminence in Post/Impressionism, and the Arther Jerome Eddy Collection
in the painting of the opening years of this century.
Principal exhibitions organized by the department have included the
following: Monet and Manet in 1895; Gustave Dore in 1896; Rafaelli in

1899; The 'Eight' in 1908; Cassatt in 1922; Laurencin and Braque in 1924;
Toulouse-Lautrec in 1924; Morisot in 1925; Maillol in 1926; Chardin in
1927; Venetian paintings of the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries in 1928;
Delacroix in 1930; Toulouse-Lautrec in 1930; and most important: fine arts

exhibitions for the 'Century of Progress' celebration in 1933 and a Retro/

spective of American Art for the 'Century of Progress' in 1934; van Gogh
in 1936; Cezanne in 1952 and 1971; Seurat in 1958; Manet in 1966; Renoir
in 1973 ;Monet in 1974.

THE DEPARTMENT OF TWENTIETH/CENTURY ART

One of the glories of the collections is that of twentieth/century art. During Dr
Harshe's directorship and that of Mr Rich, strong directions to acquire capital
contemporary works were maintained. Further, the interest of collectors in
Chicago has for many years been oriented toward the contemporary. Since
1 961 the emphasis has been particularly to acquire the new and usually
controversial. This same emphasis has prevailed in exhibitions of contenv
porary art, and was begun by Dr Harshe and continued by his successors.

Dr Harshe, no man to suffer fools, serenely ignored squawks of rage both from
hyper/conservative patrons as well as from artists who did not make it.

Through the years Chicago has seen many innovative and controversial
works shown and acquired for the collections.

THE COLLECTION OF PRINTS AND DRAWINGS

This collection was begun in 1887 with a gift of some five hundred miscel/

laneous items which were kept on deposit in the library. Additions were made
to this group only on the most haphazard basis. At the beginning ofJune 191 1,

three trustees, Wallace L. DeWolf, Clarence Buckingham, and Kenneth

H
Sawyer Goodman, organized the print collection as a separate department,

with Mr Goodman to function as curator. In these early days the representation

of the great European masters was slight; more attention was paid to

McLauglan, Joseph Pennell, and the English makers of mezzotints than to

Goya, Diirer, and Rembrandt. The French masters of the nineteenth century,
however, were cultivated, especially Meryon, of whose works an exemplary
group was formed; and a major group of Redon prints was bought from the
painter's widow as early as 191 9-
In 1938 the nature of the department's holdings was transformed by the

arrival of the Buckingham Collection, which included fifty/seven prints by

Diirer, fifteen by Lucas van Leyden, twenty'one portraits by van Dyck, as well

as ninety/five by Rembrandt, among many others. And Miss Kate S. Bucking'

ham's establishment of a purchase fund has made it possible to enrich and build
upon this foundation. From 1946 through 1957 came the Potter Palmer II

bequest, which included some three hundred items of the greatest sophistication

of taste. Mr Palmer preferred Schongauer to Diirer, and he had even acquired

seven prints by Master E. S. as well as an important group o( early Italian
engravings.
The whole tenor of the collection was further altered with the arrival of the
late Carl O. Schniewind during whose curatorship, 1940-57, the collection
ceased entirely to be provincial in its character and became one of the great
printrooms of the world. This character has been even more strongly empha'
sized during the tenure of the present curator in the generation since Schnie'

wind's death. The French collections of the nineteenth century had been
emphasized by the gift in the 1920s from Walter Brewster of a major group of
works by Bresdin. And a former mayor of Chicago, Carter H. Harrison,
helped materially to form the great group of prints by Toulouse-Lautrec. The
present curator has kept up these collections, and it was he who had the fore'
sight to buy the bulk of the unparalleled collections o( prints by Edvard
Munch from the architect, Mies van der Rohe, in 1963. In addition, the
German Expressionists and American and European contemporary artists

have not been neglected.

Schniewind began to develop the collection of drawings. Prior to his time
the main groups consisted of the miscellaneous but interesting groups in the
Gurley Collection as well as a number of major late nineteenth' and twentieth'
century works given by Robert Allerton. Schniewind made a fine start in
acquiring major works, mainly through the help of the second Mrs Potter
Palmer and Mrs Tiffany Blake, as well as purchases through the Buckingham
Fund. His successor has been able to build brilliantly upon that foundation
through the continuing help of Mrs Blake and through the dazzling generosity
of Mrs Joseph Regenstein.

PHOTOGRAPHY
Work with photography began as an extension of the activities of the Depart/
ment of Prints and Drawings. This activity was dormant from 1957 to 1959,
when the collection was again activated and a serious program of exhibitions
and collection carried on and maintained. Not only have programs oftemporary
exhibitions been continued, but a small but superlative collection has been
formed.

THE DEPARTMENT OF ORIENTAL ART

This department was organized in 1921, although objects had been acquired
before that time and some memorable exhibitions had been held, notably one
installed and planned by the famous Chicago architect, Frank Lloyd Wright,
in 1905. With the establishment of the department as a separate entity, the
collections began to assume something of a form in which they now exist.
Chief among these are the collection of Japanese prints and ancient Chinese
bronzes, both of which owe their impetus and continuation to the Bucking/
hams. Among his many other administrative functions in the institution, the
late Charles Fabens Kelley served for thirty years as the second Curator of the
department after 1926. During his later years and during the tenure of his

continuing successor, the department has continued to grow and has, especially
in the last fifteen years, made major acquisitions in the fields of Japanese and
Indian sculpture. Again Mrs Joseph Regenstein and the late Robert Allerton
have been key people in making these acquisitions possible, as well as the late

Bertha Brown and the Buckingham Fund.

THE DEPARTMENT OF DE CO R AT VE ARTS I

The serious work of the department began in 1896 with the help of the And/
quarian Society as ancillary body; this group had been established a generation
earlier, actually before the incorporation of the Art Institute. Textiles were the
principal early gifts and purchases, and between 1901 and the First World
War oriental, medieval, and Renaissance objects were added. The depart/

16
ment became an entity in 1921, and its main currents were aided and sub/
stantially encouraged by Robert Allerton with the constant help of Mrs E. C.
Chadbourne. The acquisition of the Lucy Maud Buckingham Collection of
Medieval Art added some solid distinction. A new seriousness of purpose was
given by Hans Huth, who brought a broad European outlook to his task as
did his colleague, Oswald Goetz. In recent years the department has acquired
major pieces of eighteentlvcentury Italian and French origin. Curiously,
French furniture and sculpture have been the difficult and expensive
purchases of the last decade, with generous aid.

THE DEPARTMENT OF TEXTILES

This department has been a separate one only in the last decade, but, as noted
before, textiles were among the earliest acquisitions of the museum. Mildred
Davison served for many years in the old Department of Decorative Arts and
became the museum's first Curator of Textiles, only to retire in 1967.

THE DEPARTMENT OF PRIMITIVE ART

This department began as an auxiliary activity of the Department of Decora^
tive Arts, and was organized as a separate department only in 1956. Its

emphasis has always been artistic and never merely ethnographic. It has had
during its existence only two curators.

THE DEPARTMENT OF CLASSICAL ART

This department was established in 1974 t0 use tne income of the bequest of
the Chicago architect, David Adler, in memory of his wife, Katherine. The
previous holdings have been reassembled and restudied. With further aid from
Mrs Eugene Davidson the department is proceeding modestly but upholding
high standards.

THE ADMINISTRATION
The museum was first directed by William M. R. French. The Acting Director
two years was Newton Carpenter till George W. Eggers became Director.
for

Robert Harshe, a sensitive minor painter, was Director for sixteen years. He
17
was succeeded by Daniel Catton Rich, who served till 1958. From 1959 till

1966 Allan McNab was Director of Administration and the present writer
Director of Fine Arts. Charles G. Cunningham then became Director and
served till 1973. At was changed, and E.
that time the corporate structure

Laurence Chalmers, Jr became President and the present writer again was
put in charge of the museum as Vice-President for Collections and Exhibit
tions. That the professional administrators have been effective is due to the

fact that they have had the aid of sympathetic and gifted curators who have
had a major share in the systematic development of the collections, and the
wise help of our generous donors.
The Museum is about to commence its second century of existence, and
undoubtedly there will be changes in emphasis (supreme quality always
assumed for the acquisitions), and, equally, there will emerge a more
diversified support for the activities. Already, we have a membership of
more than fiftyfive thousand, and equally important is the growth in the
group who annually give money, in amounts both small and great, to help
defray the enormously and increasingly expensive process of maintaining and
advancing this great institution as well as the subvention of the Chicago
Park District.

John Maxon

18
THE PLATES
PAINTING AND SCULPTURE

Master of the Bigallo Crucifix Italian

Crucifix, c. 1260
Tempera on panel, 75§x 50^ in (191. 5 x 127.7 cm)
Ace. no. 1936.120
The earliest European painting in the collection is this large painted crucifix,
which was probably done in Florence around middle of the thirteenth
the
century. The style, still in the strongly linear tradition of Romanesque, is hand'
some in its quality and peculiarly adapted to the portraying of an austerely
hieratic religious image. The name of the painter is still unidentified, and
though his style has strong affinities with the Lucchese painter, Berlinghiero
Berlinghieri, specialists believe that the Chicago crucifix was painted in
Florence by a Florentine painter who worked closely in the manner of the
Lucchese master. The combination of austerity and elegance applied to a
severe religious theme can, in cruder hands, be off-putting. In the hands of a
securely professional painter who belonged in the midst of a great and accepted
tradition, the combination works to make a hauntingly impressive image. A
closer examination of the painting will remind the viewer that its style derives
from the transformation of the illusionist methods of late antique painting into
a system of areas and lines which are combined to describe form. In the Late
Romanesque style, however, this system carries only systematized reminiscences
of the illusionist manner which lies many layers behind the style of this crucifix.
After the changes that have taken place in painting during the seven centuries
since this picture was executed, it is difficult to recall that, to the artist, this was a
realistic painting.
The picture came from a private Austrian collection, and was bought for the
A. A. Munger Collection.

20
Meliore Toscano Italian
Virgin and Child Enthroned, c. 1270
Tempera on panel, 32^ x 1 8^ in (82.0 x 47.7 cm)
Ace. no. 1933. 1034
This painting is by the same hand as one in the gallery at Parma which is

signed 'Meliore 1271'. On the basis of this signature, a number of other paint'
ings which seem to be by the same hand have been attributed to the same
artist. He may have worked in Pistoia, and his work shows familiarity with that
of the Berlinghieri and the other painters of the time in Lucca, as well as with
contemporary painters in Florence itself. As with the Bigallo Crucifix, one
sees the final perfection of the Byzantine/Romanesque style in central Italy.

The costumes, of course, are late antique, of a sort familiar from Rome and
Byzantium; their representation as the garments of sacred personages persisted
even after togas ceased to be worn as everyday clothing.
From the Collection of Achille Clemente, the picture is part of the Mr and
Mrs Martin A. Ryerson Collection.

22
Veneto - Byzantine Italian
Enthroned Virgin and Crucifixion, 13 th century
Tempera on panel, each n^ x 8 J in (29.2 x 22.2 cm)
Ace. no. 1933. 1035 a and b

This pair of devotional panels (diptych) represents Italian art at its most
Byzantine form. The two panels were probably painted in Venice and are
richly ornamented in gold and silver leaf and raised ornamentation in gesso
(the ash of plaster of Paris mixed with glue). The forms are ceremonious and
reflect the splendor of Byzantium as it was diffused over the Western world,
particularly after the Venetian conquest of 1204.

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Unknown Artist (14th century) Italian
Crucifixion (probably 1 390-141 5)
Tempera on panel, 20 x 9J in (50.9 x 23.5 cm)
Ace. no. 1933-1032
This small panel (which is painted on its back to resemble porphyry) was
certainly a devotional object of great luxury; presumably what remains is the
top pan of a pax, the base of which has been broken. The panel, surprisingly,
is almost totally unabraded, so that the surface one now sees must be remark'
ably close to what it was when new. Perhaps one of the most intriguing things
about the painting is the fact that, so far, scholars have reached no agreement
as to who the artist was. The fact that he was a Florentine seems reasonably sure.
But the names proffered for the attribution have ranged from Bernardo Daddi
to Stamina, Matteo Torelli, and even the young Don Lorenzo Monaco.
Mr and Mrs Martin A. Ryerson Collection.

Unknown Artist (14th century) Spanish

The Ayala Altarpiece, 1396
Tempera on panel, Altarpiece: 99^x251! in (253.6X639.4 cm); Ante^
pendium: 33^ x 102 in (85.2 x 259.2 cm)
Ace. no. 1928.817
This altarpiece and its antependium are among the most imposing monuments
of medieval Spanish art outside Spain itself. They were painted in 1 396 for the
Chancellor of Castile, Pedro Lopez de Ayala, who had ordered the work for
hismortuary chapel in the Convent of San Juan at Quejana, Province of
Ayala (about 40 miles south of Bilbao). (The convent - of Dominican nuns -
had been founded by his father.) This reredos remained in place for 520 years,
the panel over eight yards wide neatly joined into one plane. It was sawn into
three parts for removal from the chapel. (The carved effigies of Don Pedro and
his wife, born a Guzman, still remain in the chapel.)
The compartments into which the reredos is divided show (in the lower
tier) the Annunciation, the Visitation, the Nativity, the Epiphany, the Purification,
and the Flight into Egypt, and (in the upper tier) Christ among the Doctors, the
Marriage Feast at Cana, the Resurrection, the Crucifixion, the Ascension, Pentecost,
and the Assumption (with Donation of the Virgin's Girdle to St Thomas). The
antependium shows the scenes of the Angel appearing to the Shepherds, the
Nativity, and the Epiphany. The frames of both parts repeat the Lopez arms, two
wolves passant, and the Guzman arms, two kettles. The whole scheme is visualized
on a background of white (perhaps in recollection of manuscript pages). The
gilding on the reredos is in gold leaf, whereas that on the frontal is in silver leaf
which has lost most of its orange varnish. The narratives are straightforwardly
presented with a directness which is rather like that of a modern comic strip. The
sparing use of gold against the white background gives the work a quality which
is both austere and luxurious at the same time. The effectiveness of the color

scheme becomes apparent when the Ayala altarpiece is compared to the St

Catherine of Alexandria (Munger Collection, 1932.989), which comes from the
same workshop the complete use of gold in the small work makes it seem much
;

less impressive in both design and color than the Ayala panels.

Gift of Charles Deering.

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Giovanni di Paolo (c. 1403-1482/3) Italian
[

St John the Baptist in Prison, c. 1450-60

Tempera on panel, 27 x 14J in (68.7 x 36.3 cm)

Ace. no. 1933. 1012
Giovanni di Paolo's are among the most appealing and lovely of Sienese
Renaissance paintings. His style came from Taddeo
di Bartolo and Sassetta,
and he was influenced by example of Gentile da Fabriano who worked in
the
Siena. He also seems to have been influenced by the example of Fra Angelico.
This panel is one of six in the Art Institute, and there are four more extant (two
in the Landesmuseum fur Kunst und Kulturgeschichte, Miinster, West
Germany; one in the Metropolitan Museum, New York; one in the Collection
Carvallo, Tours, France) and two certainly lost, not to mention the missing
backs of the panels of which only one has survived. Together these formed the
wings of a large altarpiece of which the center panel may have been a large
painting, or, more probably, a piece of sculpture.
Giovanni has presented the beholder with an imaginary, toy^scaled Siena,
gloriously clean and silvery, with figures which remind the viewer of late
medieval painted wood sculpture. Beyond the empirically realized perspective

26
of the architecture, is a symmetrical landscape of ploughed and worked fields

and fantastic mountains. In his rather toybox image, Giovanni has presented his
fragment of sacred legend with an intensely felt sense of the situation. Though
Jerusalem at the beginning of the Christian era and its inhabitants were not
elegant in the Sienese taste, Giovanni convinces the beholder of the Tightness of
his mode of seeing, and his preciousness of manner merely emphasizes the
sacred aspect of the story and its function as part of a decoration for an altar.
This panel and its pendants are part of the Mr and Mrs Martin A. Ryerson
Collection.

Bernardo Martorell (active 1427-1452) Catalan

St George killing the Dragon, c. 1438
Tempera on panel, 56 x 38 in (142.3 x 96.5 cm)
Ace. no. 1933.786
Bernardo Martorell was the principal painter in Barcelona during the second
quarter of the fifteenth century and with him Catalan painting reached its

zenith. He painted altars and miniatures; this is a panel of an altarpiece, four

other panels of which are in the Louvre. Spain had strong connections with
Flanders and northern Europe at this time and Flemish influence can be seen

in the technique and in the use of egg yolk for the paint. The style is still
International Gothic with no hint of the Renaissance style which was already
the norm in Italy. In fact, the picture might well, at first glance, be taken for a
page of a Late Gothic manuscript.
It is particularly the scale of the figures which is Gothic. They are depicted

in a size relative to their importance for the narrative; thus the castle is tiny, the
people crammed inside it disproportionately large (people are, after all, more
important than buildings). The princess, large in relation to the castle, and
portrayed in full detail with her jewels and ermine, is, in her turn, subordinate
to St George who is the dominant figure in the composition, representing the
triumph of good over evil, impersonated by the dragon (which is, rightly,
also on a large scale). St George's horse, on the other hand, is a miniature beast
in terms of the knight.
It is a pleasant picture, not only for the clarity of the narrative, but also
for the details - such things as the staring eyes of the horse, the hair and jewelry
of the madonna'like Princess Cleodelinda, the ducks and swans swimming in
the moat. It is the kind of picture that is rewarding to look at again and again.
From the Roccabruna, Vidal Ferrer y Solar, and Charles Deering Collect
tions.Given by Mr Deering's daughters, Mrs Richard Ely Danielson and
Mrs Chauncey McCormick.
Hans Memling (c. 143 3-1494) Flemish
Madonna and Child with Donor, c. 1485
Oil and tempera on panel, 13^x10^ in (34.4x26.7 cm); 134X io| in

(35 < 27 cm)

Ace. nos. 1933-1050; 1953.467
Memling may have had his first experience as an artist in Cologne, but he later
worked in the shop of Roger van der Weyden. He became the leading painter
in Bruges after 1465. This diptych exemplifies his mature style, which is
medieval and Renaissance, though primarily the latter. The action takes place
in a wainscotted room, and it is possible to see both a bull's-eye looking/glass,
inwhich two girls and a cupboard with a vase of flowers on it.
are reflected,
Behind the action an open mullioned window. The donor's position is
is

directly behind the picture frame, and his sleeve and the clasp of his book are
painted to appear to rest on the sill of the frame in trompeA'oeil perspective; so,
presumably, once did the drapery and cushion of the Christ child, but the
frame of the left wing has been scraped.
The painting is a devotional object of great luxury; on the rear of the donor
panel is a painted representation of St Christopher and the Christ child as
sculpture in a niche; the back of the left wing is marbleized.
The Virgin and Child are in the Mr and Mrs Martin A. Ryerson
Collection. The Donor was given by Arthur Sachs.
Bernardino Butinone (before 1436-after 1507) Italian
Flight into Egypt, c. 1480
Egg tempera on panel, 10^- x 8-^- in (25.9 X 22.1 cm)
Ace. no. 193 3.1003

This panel once formed part of the predella (base part) of a large and typical
The painting was done by a diligent, intelli/
late fifteentlvcentury altarpiece.

gent workman who reflected the best traditions of his day and, in the doing,
proved that a great tradition can mean, in a minor work, almost as much as a
great personality.This picture was part of the Martin A. Ryerson Bequest.

30
Sandro Botticelli (1444-1510) Italian
Madonna and Child with Angels, c. 1490
Tempera on panel, D. 13^ in (33-4 cm )
Ace. no. 1954.282
This small tondo is around 1490. That it was intended to be a very
to be dated
luxurious object emphasized by the use of gold line work in the drapery and
is

also in the scene of the Annunciation and the candelabra which are inscribed
on the architectural plinths. In the very rear a landscape is discernible, and

before it is a group of trees which form a kind of bower. Vasari, in his Lives of
the Painters, in the second edition, notes that the Epiphany and the Calumny of
Apelles and a small tondo to be seen in the room of the Prior of Santa Maria
degli Angeli received more praise than any other works by the master. E. Fahy
has suggested that this small tondo is the only surviving work to answer Vasari's
description, and the extremely precious nature of the picture bears out his
suggestion.
This little picture already anticipates the Mystical Nativity in London, with
itscombination of small-scale figures and elaborate garden decoration. If the
almost heraldic angels epitomize the common notion of Botticelli's grace and
suavity, the Virgin and the Christ child remind one in their bulk and breadth
(in spite of the slenderness of the parts) that Botticelli was a Florentine painter
with an essentially Florentine feeling for form and solidity. The picture also
has the great advantage of being all of a piece and apparently, entirely by the
master's own hand, except for the angel's head at the viewer's left, done by a
much younger man, who may have been an even greater painter.
The picture is part of the Max and Leola Epstein Collection.

Master of Amiens (active after 1475) French

St Hugh of Lincoln, c. 1480
Oil and tempera on panel, 46^ x 20 in (11 7.2 x 50.9 cm)
Ace. no. 193 3.1059
Hugh of Avalon, a monk from the Grande Chartreuse, became Bishop of
Lincoln in the late twelfth century, died in 1200, and was canonized in 1220.
As one of the most famous Carthusian saints, he was chosen to figure in the
altarpiece made for the Chartreuse of Thuison, near Abbeville - a large
composition of carved and gilded panels and eight paintings. (The Art
Institute has seven of them; the eighth is in the Hermitage, Leningrad.) The
white Carthusian habit can be seen beneath St Hugh's richly decorated robe.
The swan was one of his pets and became his symbol in art.
Amiens is in the north of France, close to Flanders, and the style of this
master is an amalgam of French and Flemish influences. Typically Flemish are
such carved niche and canopy and the tiled floor. Everything is
details as the
closely observed and rendered with meticulous accuracy - the crozier, the
vestments, above all the very engaging swan - although the bottom edge of the
chalice was evidently something of a problem for the artist. The total effect is
one of elegance and charm.
Mr and Mrs Martin A. Ryerson Collection.

32
Master of Moulins (active c. 1500) French
Annunciation
Oil on panel, 29 X 20 in (73.7 X 50.9 cm)
Ace. no. 193 3.1062
The Master of Moulins was the most important of French painters at work on
either sideof the year 1500, though he was strongly influenced by Flemish art,
especially Hugo van der Goes. He takes his name from a triptych of the
Madonna and Child with Angels and Donors in Moulins Cathedral. This panel is
a pendant to a Meeting at the Golden Gate in the National Gallery, London.
The Master's mode of seeing was one of the greatest suavity and elegance,
and imagery of feminine beauty, though a bit hearty, is persuasively lovely.
his
The general mode is late medieval in construction, although the details of the
architecture are already touched by an awareness - even at third hand - of the
Renaissance as it affected architectural ornament. It is hard to say whether or

34
not the picture is Renaissance or only late medieval; and such a question
merely serves to emphasize that stylistic pigeon-holing is mostly a meaningless
pastime. Put another way, the picture illustrates very aptly the notion of some
German art historians of the last generation that the Renaissance, as such,
really did not exist save for the briefest of moments in Raphael's career, and that
art went straight from the late Middle Ages into Mannerism.
Mr and Mrs Martin A. Ryerson Collection.

Gerard David (c. 1455-1523) Flemish

Lamentation at the foot of the Cross, c. 15 n
Oil on panel, i\\ x 24^ in (54.7 X 62.4 cm)
Ace. no. 193 3.1040
Though David was of Dutch birth he settled in Bruges and took on strong
Flemish characteristics. His style was clearly formed under his experience as
an illuminator of manuscripts.
This panel is cut at the top and on the right side, and was once part of a much
larger whole. The painting exemplifies David's style which is retardataire,
without much understanding of the waves of influence to be felt from Italy. Yet
one notes that there is a centrally planned, domed church set into the landscape
in the rear, and the various parts of this building have Renaissance detail.
Gerard David's strength lay in his capacity to combine obvious elegance
with a convincing rendering of tenderness and sobriety. One does not find in
his work the tormented passion of Hugo van der Goes or the majesty and
compression of van Eyck. What is to be seen is a group of carefully composed
elements, combined to create devotional pictures of considerable beauty. The
parts of this picture are indeed conventionalized, but they are beautiful parts,
and the spectator is convinced.

Mr and Mrs Martin A. Ryerson Collection.

Antonio Allegri called Correggio (c. 1494-15 34) Italian

Virgin and Child with St John the Baptist, probably 15 15
Oil on panel, 25^ x 19^ in (64.2 x 50.4 cm)
Ace. no. 1965.688
Correggio worked the district around Parma, but seems to have
all his life in

been fully aware of developments in Rome, Venice and Florence.

artistic

Probably a pupil of F. Bianchi Ferrari, he early came under the influence of

L. Costa and Mantegna. Soon, however, these influences were superseded by
that of Leonardo: from the hard, enameled and sharply focused world of
Mantegna he moved to a softly focused but firmly felt world of reality which is
bathed in veils of colored light. But where Leonardo created unearthly beauty,
Correggio's subjects, however idealized, are sensuous and very much of this
earth.
In this picture the Virgin with her son are placed against a hilly landscape
from which they are cut off by a trellis of lemon trees. The young St John the
Baptist is part of the narrative scene, and he is neatly differentiated from his
fellow protagonists by his suntanned skin which contrasts with the ripe colora^
tion of the Virgin's skin and the healthy glow of the skin of the infant Jesus. In
the forms of the Virgin, Correggio is here remembering the Virgin and Child
of Mantegna's Epiphany in the Uffizi as well as, obviously, Leonardo himself.
There are also recollections of the prints of Albrecht Diirer in his Madonna of the
Monkey (c. 1498, Bartsch 42) or his Madonna of the Pear (c. 1511, Bartsch 41).
This work seems to be just a step beyond the St Francis altarpiece now in
Dresden, for which the contract was signed 30 August 1 5 14 and for which the
final payment was made on 4 April the following year; one assumes that this

panel was done by the end of 15 15. What one has here is a small but perfect
altarpiece of the north Italian High Renaissance.
Clyde M. Carr Fund.

36
Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-155 3) German
Eve tempted by the Serpent, c. 1530
Oil on panel, 42^ x 14I in (107.7 X 36.6 cm)
Ace. no. 1935.295
Not much is known about Lucas Cranach the Elder's early life, but in 1500 he
settled in Vienna where he was active as a painter of holy pictures, portraits and

as an artist for woodcuts. His work already showed a strong influence from the
prints of Albrecht Diirer. In 1504 he was called to the court of Saxony, and
remained a court painter to the end of his life. He was very successful and there
was no shortage of commissions. He was also a close friend of Martin Luther
and the artist par excellence of the Reformation.
The story of Adam and Eve was a popular subject at the time - perhaps
because of the legitimate scope it gave the artist for portraying female beauty in
the nude (it has been reckoned that Cranach painted Eve thirty^one times,
Venus thirty'two times and Lucretia thirty/five times). This is a particularly
fine version. Cranach has Gothic traces and the
rid his style of lingering
painting is Renaissance, although Germanic in its flavor and emphasis on
narrative detail. The type of woman portrayed is typical of Cranach's style -
blonde, slim, with high small breasts and curving belly.
There is in Cranach's work a rather agreeable sense of material well-being,
which is quite hedonistic. Along with the sense of human pleasure there is a
matter^of'factness that seems completely in tune with the world of Luther and
the Reformation.
Charles H. and Mary F. S. Worcester Collection.

Jacopo da Ponte called Bassano (c. 15 10-1592) Italian

Madonna and Child and infant St John the Baptist, c. 1565-68
Oil on canvas, 29 x 33^ in (73.7 x 84.5 cm)
Ace. no. 1968.320
Jacopo Bassano was one of the great masters of the second half of the sixteenth
century in Venice, a worthy companion of Tintoretto and Veronese, and the
continuator of the innovations of Titian. More than that, Bassano was a
formative influence on the young El Greco. But it is not merely his place in the
historical situation which makes him an important figure. Bassano, and his
sons after him, brought a note of straightforward^ re painting into the heroic
form of later sixteentlvcentury Venetian painting. Beyond that, Jacopo uv
vented a type of feminine beauty which was to survive him by two centuries, for
it is his concept of female beauty - visible in the Madonna in this picture -
which prefigures the types of Giambattista Tiepolo and even of the latter's son,
Domenico.

39
 This painting shows the tender and rather domestic side ofJacopo Bassano's
artcombined with his concept of heroic form. Though it is hardly a monu/
mental painting, the feeling of monumentality is present, accomplished through
the simple device of putting the whole action slightly above the viewer's eye^
level so that he is forced to look up at the action. There is a richness of form and
color in the canvas which reinforces Jacopo's reputation as a colorist, though as
with all great Venetians of his century, the actual range of the palette is limited
in hue and somber in tonality.

Wilson L. Mead Fund.

Domenico Theotocopuli called El Greco (1541-1614) Spanish

The Assumption of the Virgin, 1577
Oil on canvas, 158 x 90 in (401.4 x 228.7 cm)
Ace. no. 1906.99
This is the most famous picture Art Institute and, in some terms, far and
in the
away the greatest, not only for its enormous size but for the very grandeur of its
concept and execution. Greco is today one of the most popular of all old masters,
but this is a development which has occurred in this century.

40
 In looking at this picture it is well to remember that part of the curious nature
of Greco's style can be explained by his origins: he was a provincial Greek
twice expatriated. Born in Crete and trained there, he went at an indeterminate
date to Venice (where he was much influenced by Titian, Tintoretto, and the
Bassani) and then was established in Rome
by 1570. By 1577 he had again
removed himself, this time to Toledo in Spain. The impact of the great
Venetians on him was enormous; he was also affected by his stay in Rome
where he was much absorbed by late Roman Mannerism as well as by the
example of Michelangelo himself (no matter what El Greco may have said
about the latter).
This picture was painted for the high altar of S. Domingo el Antiguo in
Toledo and was El Greco's first commission in Spain. It is surely influenced by
Titian's great altarpiece of the same subject in the Frari, Venice. But if the two,
modern, lateral strips, 3 in wide on each side, are removed (as in our reproduce
tion) it will be noted that El Greco has compressed his spaces, and the positions
of the figures within the spaces, into Mannerist terms so that they seem to burst
from the canvas onto the viewer. The color scheme reflects Venetian precedent,
particularly Veronese's, but the whole picture already reflects and embodies
El Greco's mature development and is, in fact, his first truly great work.
Originally the picture was crowned by a Trinity (now in the Prado) and
surrounded by other panels. The original frame is still in the conventual
church of S. Domingo el Antiguo.
Gift of Nancy Atwood Sprague in memory of Albert Arnold Sprague.

Bartolommeo Manfredi (1 587-1620) Italian

Cupid Chastised, c. 1605-10

Oil on canvas, 69 x 5i| in (175.3 x 130.6 cm)
Ace. no. 1947.58
Manfredi was a close follower of Caravaggio and preserved much of that great
innovator's manner. What he did not preserve, however, for it was Cara^
vaggio's own private idiomatic expression, was the latter's sense of terror and
urgency and occasional overtone of intense sensuality. The difficulty with the
work of all truly great innovators is that the shell of the innovation is usually
quite easy to imitate, but the inner tension and drama, which are peculiar to the
innovating master's own vision, are not only inimitable but usually not even
noticed by his followers.
While there were sources for Caravaggio's great innovative mode - for
example, in certain late works by Tintoretto - on Italian
his innovations burst
art almost without precedent so far as the public was concerned. The manner,
of course, was much imitated, simply because it is a gloriously simple idiom.
What was and remains not at all simple was Caravaggio's use of the idiom and

4^
his concept of life as seen in his painting. For example, Caravaggio frequently
included the beholder by implication not only in the picture but as an actual
participant: in the Vatican Entombment the spectator is conceived as a grave'
digger who stands in the grave ready to receive the body of Christ (which
brings up all sorts of theological implications) ; and in the so-called John'
Baptist in the Dona, Rome, (really Isaac with the Sacrificial Ram) the beholder is

thought of as father Abraham armed with the knife. There is none of this

dramatic identification of the spectator and relating him to the action in

Manfredi's work. There is only brilliantly observed and dramatically lighted
action.
Charles H. and Mary F. S. Worcester Collection.

4?
Peter Paul Rubens (i 577-1 640) Flemish
Holy Family with St Elizabeth and St John the Baptist, c. 161
Oil on panel, 46 x 3 5^ in ( 1 1 6.9 x 90.2 cm)
Ace. no. 1967.229
Rubens was not only thesupreme Flemish painter of the seventeenth century,
he was also the most important artist in northern Europe and the greatest

northern exponent of the Baroque. He was extremely successful during his

lifetime and employed a large number of assistants to help him complete the
numerous commissions which kept pouring in. Consequently not many of his
pictures are entirely by his own hand, although he always designed them
himself and closely supervised their execution.

44
 This painting is entirely by the master's hand. The action is set within a
very shallow space and the color, in spite of a rather limited palette, is brilliant.

The people shown Flemish types, and in the pink coloring and texture of
are
the flesh of the Virgin and the two children we have a foretaste of the sensual
exuberance of Rubens' later style. There is great charm in the depiction of the
children, especially St John the Baptist; the adults, too, are sensitively portrayed.
Although the picture is of rather modest format, the way in which the action
the whole scene gives an impression of monumentality.
fills

Major Acquisitions Fund.

Peter Paul Rubens (i 577-1640) Flemish

The Triumph of the Eucharist, 1626-27
Oil on panel, \z\ x i2^in (31.8 x 31.8 cm)
Ace. no. 1937. 1012
The daughter of Philip II of Spain, the Archduchess Isabella Clara Eugenia,
who was Regent of the Netherlands, had received her education at the convent
of the Discalced Carmelites in Madrid. She remained devoted Order and
to the
wore its habit during her widowhood after 1622. The ladies of this Order were
(and still are) especially devoted to the cult of the Blessed Sacrament, and in the
later sixteenth century the convent used to borrow tapestries from the Royal

Collection on occasions of special devotion to the cult. Apparently in 1625 the

Archduchess had commissioned from Rubens designs for a series of tapestries
for the sole use of the convent. The tapestries seem to have been delivered by the
summer of 1628. Part of the set was apparently destined for use in the conventual
church during Holy Week, particularly for the observances of Maundy
Thursday and Good Friday, especially the latter when the tabernacle is empty.
This little panel represents five tapestries as they would have been hung
around a stripped altar. The top, central section shows two cherubs holding
up the monstrance with the Sacrament within; the top side sections show
adoring musk>making angels; the bottom sections show the ecclesiastical and
secular hierarchies. (In the latter group may be recognized Philip IV and his
queen, Isabella of Bourbon, as well as the Archduchess in her religious habit.)
The historical importance of the small panel lies in the insight it gives into
Rubens' design schemes. Artistically it is important because not only does
every brushstroke appear to be the master's own, but the panel is in a pristine
of preservation with no sign of restoration upon it. It is toned in a light
state

warm grey, and it is on this unevenly graded surface that the painter has touched
in his design unerringly and with absolute sureness of touch.
Mr and Mrs Martin A. Ryerson Collection.

Guido Reni 575-1642)

(1 Italian
Salome with the Head ofJohn the Baptist, probably 1638-39
Oil on canvas, 97^x 68^ in (248.5 x 173.0 cm)
Ace. no. 1960.3
Guido was the most important Bolognese painter of the seventeenth century,
the most famous in his own day, and from his death till roughly the beginning
of the last third of the nineteenth century he was ranked as one of the very giants
of European art. Roger de Piles refers to his 'style so grand, so easy, and so
gracious', while Goethe noted his 'divine ingenuousness able to paint only the
most perfect things to be seen in this world'. Stendhal saw in him, in a felicitous
phrase, an 'absolutely Mozartian sensibility'.
What Guido has done in this late masterwork is to transform the naturalism
he had learned from his great Bolognese elder fellow citizens, the Carracci, into
a grand and noble style which he used with such freedom, in this phase of his
career, that he anticipates the cool elegance of the Rococo was well as the
serenity of Renoir, and, even, certain aspects of the Neo-classical side of
Picasso. The colors are cool to
icy, with the tones and hues laid onto the canvas

in diaphanous and luscious touches of rich pigment. In some ways the

veils

picture may be considered unfinished in that the final laying/in of some of the
paint is not accomplished. It is the intensity of expression married to the element
which Stendhal related to Mozart which makes this still a compelling master^
piece. It was bought by Girolamo Cardinal Colonna on Guido's death. Lord
Darnley bought it from the Colonnas early in the nineteenth century.
Frank H. and Louise B. Woods Purchase Fund.

46
Nicolas Poussin (i594-1665) French
St John on Patmos, c. 1650
Oil on canvas, 40 x 53^ in (101.7 x 135.9 cm)
Ace. no. 1930.500
Poussin is one of the giants of French painting and, indeed, one of the most
influential of all painters. He represents the absolute triumph of reason and
logic, combined with a rare sensitivity for visible phenomena. Put another way,
his art combines a Cartesian clarity of mind with an Apollonian sensibility of
the spirit. But his work is so ordered, the beholder sometimes forgets that there
lies beneath the order a grace and passion which are breathtakingly intense.

Most of Poussin's active career was spent in Rome, and in spirit he belongs
to the world of late antiquity. But it is always an imaginary antiquity, for what
Poussin recorded of antiquity was a carefully considered record of the world of
the Roman countryside as reordered and clarified by a man of logic and sensi'
bility. In other words, the Alban Hills never looked either as glamorous or as
studied as their progression recedes from view in the distance of this painting.
Nor did Roman ruins ever seem so solid in texture as they do here. St John is a
figure of Michelangelesque majesty, who dresses as an orator and reclines like
a rivergod among the fragments of antiquity.
The landscape is the thing in this picture, and Poussin's vision of the Roman
campagna is noble and serene. He has seen through the casual accidents of nature
in order to record the truth of the idea of the campagna.
The picture was bought for the Munger Collection.
Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velazquez (1599-1660) Spanish
Isabella of Spain, c. 1632
Oil on canvas, 494 x 40 in (126.4 x 101.7 cm)
Ace. no. 1954.302
Velazquez was not merely the greatest of all Spanish portraitists, he was one of
thesupreme masters of all painting. His particular genius lay in his unbelievable
capacity to achieve the subtleties of optical truth, and thus to re-create the very
appearance of reality. In this capacity his only equal was his younger Dutch
contemporary, Vermeer.

49
 But Velazquez was more than painter to the most ceremonially bound court
of Europe; for much of his career he was also a functionary involved in cere^
monial niceties. The result is that he painted a number of masterpieces, copy'
right paintings, so to speak, and his large and disciplined shop painted replicas,
some of which the master himself touched up. This painting is a case in point.
It repeats a version in Vienna, which went to that city in 1632, and which
itself is also slightly unfinished, though perhaps hardly as much as this one
seems to be. The Vienna version, also, seems in part - even great part - to be
by the hand of an assistant. But the head and the hands of the Vienna picture
are surely painted by Velazquez himself, presumably from life. As there seem
to have been two hands at work in the Chicago canvas, and as the painting of
the face and the hands are materially superior to the rest of the picture, one may
suppose that the master himself at least touched them up if not completely
reworked them from the first laying'in.
The picture shows dour color scheme employed by Velazquez
the rather
and the richness so unpromising a palette. The effect
which he achieved with
of the luxurious silver embroidery is most striking.
The picture is pan of the Max and Leola Epstein Collection.

Francisco de Zurbaran (1 598-1664) Spanish

St Roman, 1638
Oil on canvas, 97 x 63 in (246.5 x 160. 1 cm)
Ace. no. 1947.793
Zurbaran was one of the principal masters of the Spanish Baroque School, the
ablest, perhaps, after Velazquez and Murillo. (Ribera functioned mostly as a
Neapolitan painter.) This is an impressive work by him and illustrates his
style, which was of an enameMike hardness and crispness. The figures are St

Roman, Deacon of Caesarea, and the boy, Barulas, who were put to death in
Antioch in 303, both by especially disagreeable methods. Zurbaran has shown
them as straightforwardly seen Spaniards of his own time, with the elder dressed
in monastic habit surmounted by a splendid cope. The saint holds a book with
the collect of his day upon it and in his other hand his ripped'out tongue. Both
figures are isolated in the front of the scene, with a somber landscape stretched
out far behind them. In the farthest distance a rainstorm is visible, a curious and
rather unexpected piece of nature^painting and observation.
The basic vision of the picture is essentially sober and the color scheme is
apposite. Zurbaran's color is never riotously bright in any sense, but it is usually
rich and warm. On this occasion it is rich but very cool in its tonality, and the
individual hues are quiet in each case. He has managed to interpret the super'
natural by means of a closely observed realism.
Gift of Mrs Richard E. Danielson and Mrs Chauncey McCormick.

50
Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669) Dutch
Presumed Portrait of the Artist's Father, c. 163
Oil on panel, 32^ x 29^ in (83.5 x 75.6 cm)
Ace. no. 1922.4467
Rembrandt is so celebrated and has been famous for so long, that it is hard to
look at his works with a fresh glance, the pieces are so familiar. Furthermore, as
his pictures are too often covered with an amber^hued varnish, the of his
effects

cool tonalities and soft colors are often vitiated. But no matter how darkened
his pictures may be, their power and the vision of the artist always shine
through.
This picture is usually considered to be a portrait of the painter's father who
often sat for his son,though in this case the painting would be a posthumous
likeness, done apparently about 163 1. This work is in Rembrandt's tighter,
earlier - though not his earliest - style, and it is a cool, silvery likeness with

creamy flesh to set off the armor of the silverygrey background and the dark
of the costume. Though the brushwork is tight, there are already intimations
of the breadth to come. Rembrandt's concentration upon the material effects of
aging and the loss of all youthful appearance contrasts sharply with the suave
elegance and freshness o{ the steel gorget and the smoothness of the back'
ground. And the contrast of the costume with the plain, aged face is
touchingly striking.
Mr and Mrs W. W. Kimball Collection.
Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669) Dutch
Young Girl at an open Half'Door, 1645
Oil on canvas, 40^ x 3 3^ in (102.0 x 84.2 cm)
Ace. no. 1 894.1022
This painting is an early example of Rembrandt's mature style and exemplifies
noble breadth as well as its simplification of form and surface to achieve the
its

utmost monumentality and grandeur of concept.

It can be seen that the young woman is full of figure, and the fulness of her
face isemphasized by the braid of hair which is wrapped around her skull to

53
emphasize its solidity and bulk. She is clad in the habit of an inmate of the
Amsterdam Municipal Orphanage, but the concept is one of monumental
grandeur and hardly girlish.

The subject may have been the painter's second wife, Hendnckje
StofTels, whose portrait he painted at this time. Whoever she was, she is seen
with the greatest of human sympathy and
But Rembrandt was
tenderness.
always the conscious professional, and here, even while he painted a nominally
local subject in a local scene, he has gone back to the monumental half-length
female figures of Titian which he certainly knew through engravings. The
resulting influence lends a Venetian greatness of form and impersonality of
concept which intensify the nobility of Rembrandt's vision and his image. The
young woman thus stands out as far more than merely a young woman in the
clothing of an orphanage at a door and becomes, rather, an evocation from the
Venetian past as well.
The picture came from the Demidoff Collection through the generosity of
Mr and Mrs Martin A. Ryerson.

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (i 696-1 770) Italian

Madonna and Child with St Dominic and St Hyacinth
Oil on canvas, 108 x 54 in (274.4 y x 3 7- 2 cm )
Ace. no. 1933. 1099
Tiepolo was the last major old master of Venice, one of the giants of eighteenth'
century art, the greatest monumental decorator of his century. He sums up all
the virtues of Venetian Baroque art and established the Venetian Rococo
tradition in its ripest form. This noble altarpiece epitomizes his mature style

of the 1 740s.
The format of the altarpiece goes back to Titian and the early sixteenth
century, but Tiepolo puts the scheme into Rococo terms. The Virgin is seated
justabove eye4evel in a pose which, in its twisted gesture, goes directly back to
one commonly used by Tintoretto and his shop; the Virgin herself has the type
of sullen beauty which was Tiepolo's own contribution to sacred legend, while
the holy infant is Venetian boy. The pose of St Dominic even
a beguiling little

quotes that of a Michelangelo Slave (though such had long been common
artistic property). St Hyacinth is shown genuflecting to the Virgin as he holds

the host in a monstrance (his conventional attribute in art). By St Dominic's

left head of a black and white hound is just visible, a symbol of the
foot the
Dominicanes as the Latin pun, the Dogs of the Lord. St Dominic is shown
carrying a book and a lily and with a star over his head. In front of the Virgin's
podium ishanging cloth decorated with a series of ravishingly painted small
a
scenes of the life of Christ, a whole series of pictures within a picture.

Collection of Mr and Mrs Martin A. Ryerson.

54
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696-1770) Italian
Ubaldo and Guelpho surprising Rinaldo and Armida in the garden, c. 1740
Oil on canvas, 73^ x 102^ in (186.9 x 259.5 cm)
Ace. no. 1925.700
This picture is one of a set of four done by Tiepolo about 1740 to illustrate
episodes from Tzsso's Jerusalem Delivered, a romantic epic dealing with the First
Crusade. This scene occurs in the sixteenth canto: Armida - a pagan woman
and the Late/Renaissance version of Dido - entices the Christian, Rinaldo, by
her magic and holds up the capture of Jerusalem. Tiepolo did another set of
these paintings in 1751-52 for the castle at Wiirzburg, and a third set for the
Villa Valmarana in 1757. The popularity of Tasso's poem lasted over two
hundred years and retreated into literary history only within the last century.
Tiepolo used precisely the same methods and outlook on this secular, almost
pagan subject as he did in his depiction of sacred themes, but he has adjusted
the mise'eri'scem to accord with his story. So one sees the amorous couple
reclining among the hollyhocks set into the empty foreground. Their spectators
hide behind the wall set into the middle distance, while behind stretches a misty
valley with hills covered by ilexes, Lombardy poplars, and weeping spruce
trees, in the midst of which is a round building with a tiled conical roof. That

this landscape seems exceedingly familiar in its way, is the result of thousands
of paintings and old-fashioned stage decorations done since Tiepolo after his

innovation.
Gift of James Deering.
Giovanni Battista Piazzetta (1683-1754) Italian

Pastoral Scene, c. 1740

Oil on canvas, 7s\x $6\ in (191. 8 / 143.0 cm)
Ace. no. 1937.68
Piazzetta is one of the great masters of Venetian painting in the transition from
Baroque to Rococo. His first teacher was the minor Venetian, Antonio
Molinari, but his real master was his second teacher, the great Bolognese,
Giuseppe Maria Crespi, and from him he gained his feeling for large-scale
But Piazzetta, whose manner anticipates that of Giovanni Battista
genre scenes.

57
Tiepolo, always kept something heroic about his work, and there is an ampli^
tude and a nobility of form which is own. Further, there
characteristically his
is a type of face which is as much Piazzetta's as there is one which is Tiepolo's.

There is in each man's types a kind of radiance and warmth which is particu/
larly human and humane, even sensual.

This large and elegant canvas shows Piazzetta at his most monumental
(short of his great church decorations). The subject is nominally a pastoral
scene, although there are strong literary suggestions, and it is not impossible
that the picture still something of the concept of a Rest of the Holy
retains
Family. There is a sobriety, even a sadness, about the mother and the child
which strikes a note of elegiac poetry and reminds the viewer of the old European
tradition of the pastoral idyll.
Charles H. and Mary F. S. Worcester Collection.

John Singleton Copley (1738-1815) American^British

Mary Greene Hubbard, 1 764
Oil on canvas, 50J x 39^ in (127.7 X 10 1.3 cm)
Ace. no. 1947.28
John Singleton Copley ranks as the first important 'old master' to emerge in the
United States. He was essentially selfarained, for his only serious tutelage was
under his stepfather, a minor engraver, Peter Pelham. He had, of course, seen
the works of the various limners who practised in Boston before the Revolution,
all of whom were distinguished for their earnestness if not for their competence.
Indeed, the limners, for all their worthiness, never really rose above the level of
English provincial practitioners. Copley, by reason of his intense observation
and meticulous care, did, and what he achieved was a representation of natural
appearances which even two centuries later is always convincing. He had, of
course, his sources, in this case a mezzotint of John Faber Jr's after Thomas
Hudson's of an English noblewoman. But in his
portrait own simplification
of surfaces and textures, he manages to invest his sitter with liveliness as well as
a sense of solidity. Graceful and suave the painting is not, but, instead, the
directness with which it is done triumphs over the somewhat inconsistent
artificiality of his source with its memories of the Grand Manner - a manner

disconcertingly elegant for the exigencies of the provincial, let alone the
colonial, life. What Copley himself thought about his American manner is

best gauged by development of a new, cosmopolitan style

his rapid in England
after his move there on the eve of the Revolution. But his sturdy, earlier style

with its forthrightness has always endeared itself not only to cultural chauvinists
but also to perceptive critics.

The painting was of Mrs Hubbard's descendants; it and

in the possession
itspendant of Daniel, her husband, were bought through the Art Institute
Purchase Fund.

58
Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792) English
Lady Sarah Bunbury Sacrificing to the Graces, 1765
Oil on canvas, 94 X 60 in (238.9 x 152.5 cm)
Ace. no. 1922.4468
Sir Joshua Reynolds was not only the most famous English painter of the
eighteenth century, he was surely the most intelligent and infinitely the most
learned. He was not, however, the most sensitive,and his very intellectual
curiosity led him to make technical experiments which have since proved
disastrous so far as the staying power of his pictures is concerned. But if Rey
nolds took second place, for example, to Gainsborough in sensibility and
feeling for his medium, his intelligence and the character of this intelligence
made him peculiarly suited to his position in London in his time; indeed, it

was through them that he occupied his place. What Reynolds had, of course,
was that kind of British common sense which absorbed from the Enlighten'
ment and also from his own brilliant milieu. In a word, Reynolds was an
intellectual. It need not be thought that this really hindered him as an artist.
What his intellectuality hinders is latter-day understanding of him as an artist.

Because he rarely beguiles the modern eye with ravishing brushwork and
because his color is frequently sadly faded and distorted, the viewer today is all

too often bored. And dead wrong, because Sir Joshua, like
here the viewer is

Poussin, always had precise reasons for everything which he did - and they
were always good reasons, if not always concerned with visual matters.
Sir Joshua has presented his noble sitter (a duke's daughter) in a bit of play/
acting, but the play in the play-acting should not be overlooked. He has here
applied the grand manner of van Dyck to an elegant charade, both seriously
and mock'seriously. And where his color has survived unfaded it is ravishing.
The picture came as part of the Mr and Mrs W. W. Kimball Collection.

Hubert Robert (173 3-1808) French

Villa Medici, Rome, 1785
Oil on panel, I2|x io| in (31.5 x 26.4 cm)
Ace. no. 1968.616

Hubert Robert (nicknamed 'Robert des Ruines') went to Rome at the age of
twenty 'one and spent eleven years in Italy, becoming the friend of Piranesi and

Panini whose type of Romantic ruin^painting he introduced into France. He

was also a friend of Fragonard and the two friends influenced each other's
styles. On his return to Paris he was elected a member of the Academy and

became one of the first curators of the Louvre.

61
 Robert's pictures illustrate all the virtues of classic French painting: probity
of drawing and scale, nobility of sentiment, discreet and well/adapted coloring.
But Robert also evolved his own personal version of antiquity and of the
mythical present. Mrs Albert Bevendge gave the small picture in memory of
Adelaide Ryerson in 1969.

Francois Boucher (1703-1770) French

aux Raisins?, 1747
Pense't'il
Oil on canvas, 3 if x 27 in (80 x 68.5 cm)
Ace. no. 1973.304

Boucher was a consummate observer as well as the perfect craftsman. The boy,
the girl,and the child are elegantly observed and slightly stylized by technical
tricks with the brush the boy's head is quoted (either directly or from memory)
;

from a pastel portrait which is also in the Art Institute Collection. In the
painting, he is the familiar type of boy on the make, which, as i{ it were not

62
clear enough, Boucher reinforces by the title, is he thinking about the grapes?
The landscape is on a close study of
similarly generalized but remains based
nature. It is in the sheep and goats
Boucher allows himself the pleasure of
that
close and specific rendering, while direct observation makes the humans in
the picture all the more generalized so as to become figures from pastoral
poetry. The painting was bought from the bequest of Martha E. Leverone.

6?
Pompeo Batoni (1708-1787) Italian
JoseMunoz, Duque de Florida Blanca, 1777
Oil on canvas, 393X 2Q§ in (99.5 x 75.3 cm)
Ace. no. 1974.386

Batoni, a superb painter of mythologies, histories, and religious subjects, was

the mostfamous portraitist in the eighteenth century, as his many portraits of
Englishmen on the Grand Tour and other notables show. (He also was a
great teacher; his most celebrated pupil, to whom he willed his palette, was

J./L. David.) In this portrait of a Spanish diplomat, one sees Batoni's grand
style on a reasonably intimate scale. The painter was a superb draughtsman,

and as he was celebrated in his time for his uncannily accurate likenesses, one
may suppose that the duke looked precisely as he appears here. The costume,
gloriously elegant even to the tricorne carried under the arm or the reading
glasses in the hand, establishes the fastidious character of the personage, even as
the letter, inkpot, and quill, and the three books suggest his intellectual and
professional attainments. The luxurious character of this portrait and its

Spanish subject may give the thoughtful viewer an idea of how Count
Almaviva might have looked. Bought from the income of the Charles H. and
Mary F. S. Worcester Fund.
jAcquES'Louis David (1748-1825) French
Mme Pastoret and her Son, c. 1791-92
Oil on canvas, S 2 x 39§ in (13 3.1 x 100.0 cm)
g
Ace. no. 1967.228
David is the great painter of moral passion and ethical concepts as interpreted
by the French in the generation after the Revolution. In the pictorial arts ethical

concepts are the least lasting of matters, and moral passion in one generation

65
may easily turn into the moral idiocy of another or, much worse, into the
absolute silliness of still another epoch. The result is that David is all too often
quite unapproachable for the modern viewer. It is most agreeable, therefore, to
be able to approach this portrait by a very great painter of histories and to
notice what a superb portraitist he was. Here one sees David with his moral
scruples parked outside the studio along with his sitter's outer garments, as well
as the pictorial rhetoric of his time.
What David has done is to present his noble sittermoment of serene
in a
domesticity, even if it rather suggests that she was much a nursemaid as
as
Mane^Antoinette was a milkmaid. Actually, of course, Mme Pastoret may
frequently have done some sewing while rocking the cradle of her infant son.
(The only unfinished detail of the picture, incidentally, is the fact that David
never got around to putting in the needle and thread which Mme Pastoret was
in the act of threading; the picture otherwise is completely done, but in David's
'soft' or blotchy style, without the seemingly airbrushed finish he sometimes
employed.)
This painting was left in David's studio, because Mme Pastoret felt she
could never complete her sittings to a regicide. Her scruples, however, did not
prevent her having her son bid on the picture at the sale of the contents of
David's studio after the artist's death.
The painting was bought from the income of the Clyde M. Carr Fund.

Francisco Goya y Lucientes (1746-1828) Spanish

Capture of Maragato by Fray Pedro, c. 1807
Oil on panel, n|x 15^ in (29.2 38.5 cm)
Ace. no. 1933. 1076
The set of six paintings to which this panel belongs illustrates an event which
occurred in 806 a monk, Fray Pedro de Zaldivia, was attacked by the bandit,
1 :

Maragato, but managed to resist and overcame the villain. Here he is shown
tying the bandit up. The episode was enormously popular and inspired many
prints and popular songs. Goya seems to have done the set for his own pleasure,
for it was still in his possession in 18 12.
The pictures illustrate Goya's skill as a narrative painter. The subject is

presented in a very direct manner with no unnecessary detail. There is no

reworking of the paint to achieve subtlety of effect or lusciousness of surface.
The impression gained is one of the and supreme confidence.
artist's strength
The painting is also reminiscent of Goya's prints and drawings. In fact,
the panels read as well in a black and white photograph as they do in color, and
color seems to have been of secondary importance to Goya. The painting is

66
extraordinarily modern in style and technique. In fact Goya had an important
influence on Manet and the step from this panel to the directness of the early
Manet is small.
Mr and Mrs Martin A. Ryerson Collection.

Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830) English

Mrs Jens Wolff, 1803, 1815
Oil on canvas, 50^ x 40J in (128.0 X 102.2 cm)
Ace. no. 1922.4435
Lawrence was not only the best portraitist of Regency England, he remains one
of the finest of all English portraitists. And the portrait of Mrs Wolff is one of
his greatest works. Lawrence began it in 1 803 when Mrs Wolff was wife to the
Danish Consul in London. Her house in Battersea housed a fine collection of
casts, and there she entertained a distinguished group of writers and artists. The

Wolffs were separated in 181 3, and the collection was sold. The portrait was

67
not actually finished till 1 8 1 5 when Lawrence showed it in the Royal Academy.
A quick glance at the finished painting shows that it was certainly reworked,
especially around the head and neck.
The painting is fascinating. While there is an obvious quotation of the
collection of casts in the background and in the pseudo^antique setting with the
hanging lamp, there is also another set of quotations in the picture: Mrs
Wolffs pose is derived from one of the figures from the Sistine Chapel ceiling,
and one notes that Mrs WolfTis leafing through Alderman Boydell's publica/
tion of that same chapel. The picture also evokes portraits by Pontormo. A
further examination reveals that Lawrence's portrayal of Mrs Wolffs anatomy
is rather unorthodox - she appears to have no clavicle. But the picture is

extremely elegant and, in the pose and the costume, anticipates Victorian styles.
Mr and Mrs W. W. Kimball Collection.
J.A.D. Ingres (1780-1867) French
Amed'ee'David Marquis de Pastoret, 1826
Oil on canvas, 39I x 32J in (99.5 x 82.0 cm)
Ace. no. 1971.452

The baby in the cradle in the splendid David portrait (page 65) grew up to be
this elegant man; about the time Ingres painted him, his mother despatched
him to buy her portrait at the David sale. On the face of it the picture is the
epitome of naturalistic representation, but it is not quite so. Only after scrutiny

does one notice that the portrait is highly arbitrary, as a glance at Ingres's

great drawing of Gounod (page 157) shows. The head is too large for the
body, the neck is too long, and the structure of the body is impalpable. Further,
one sees that Ingres has lengthened the fingers a bit (their original form is still
visible), presumably to fulfill the marquis's vanity. This is a somewhat rare
instance of Ingres's 'boned shad' concept of form, endemic in all his later
females, seldom in his men. One may suspect that not only was the marquis
very vain but also stubbornly difficult. All the same, having given us Amedee
as the latter wanted to be seen, Ingres has created a stunning image and brilliant
portrait.
The painting was bought from the Dorothy Eckhart Williams Bequest, the
income from the Robert Allerton Purchase Fund, the Bertha E. Brown Fund,
and the Major Acquisitions Fund.

69
J.B.C. Corot (1796-1875) French
View of Genoa, 1834
Oil on paper, n|x i6| in (29.5 -
41.7 cm)
Ace. no. 1937. 1017
Corot did many small views of Italian scenes during his trips to Italy, especially
in his earlier years.Although he regarded them as studies, to be incorporated
later on in larger pictures, they are in fact full of charm and perfectly satisfying

on their own. They are quite remarkable for their rendering of atmosphere,
space and light. Although they are basically accurate recordings of the country^
side, the composition is careful and there is the occasional slight adjustment of

the visual facts for the sake of artistic perfection. This is the case here.
Corot only painted nature in the months of spring and summer, finding no
attraction to the other seasons; here, in cool and blond colors, we have a lucidly
presented view which perfectly evokes the beauties of a Mediterranean summer's
day.
Mr and Mrs Martin A. Ryerson Collection.

70
J.M. W. Turner (1775-1851) English
Valley of Aosta - Snowstorm, Avalanche, and Thunderstorm, 1836-37
Oil on canvas, 36 x 48^ in (91.5 x 122.6 cm)
Ace. no. 1947.513
A third of Turner's life was lived during the eighteenth century, and the impact
of the cult of sensibility and the picturesque stayed with him to the end. He
grew up in a world which had discovered the phenomena of nature and natural
terrors. His art was based on Richard Wilson and on Claude, and his earliest

works are predictably in the vein of the end of the eighteenth century.
In his late period, from the early 1830s on, Turner was concerned with the
painting of light, the ostensible subject-matter seemingly taking second place.
Forms and details were suggested and painted on previously prepared broad
areas of yellows, whites, pinks and reds, or cool greys and blues. This painting
was probably done in this manner. It was worked out in his studio from sketches
and watercolors Turner had made in the Italian Alps in 1 836; yet the artist has
managed to preserve the freshness of an immediate experience of the greatest
intensity and impact.
Frederick T. Haskell Collection.
Eugene Delacroix (1798-1863) French
The Lion Hunt, 1861
Oil on canvas, 30^x 3 8^ in (76.5 x 98.5 cm)
Ace. no. 1922.404
On the defeat of Algeria by the French in 1832, Louis Philippe sent a special
diplomatic mission to the Sultan of Morocco. Delacroix, who was a friend of
Charles de Mornay, the Ambassador, accompanied the mission as historical
painter. The visit marked a turning-point in his life, and provided him with
subjects for paintings for the rest of his career.
Thus Delacroix had actually seen Arab riders in action and combats with
wild animals. He made many sketches and studies on this trip and what he
did not record he could check in later years from observations in the zoological
gardens. His observation was acute and the painting is extremely life-like.

Mrs Potter Palmer Collection.

72
Jean'Francois Millet (i 8 14-1875) French
A Horse, c. 1841
Oil on canvas, 65^ x 77^ in (166.4 x 196.8 cm)
Ace. no. 1976.30

Millet's traditional reputation is deceptive. He belongs properly in the main'

stream of the French tradition. His technique looks backward to the late
Fragonard and beyond him to Salvator Rosa and seventeentlvcentury Italy.
The breadth of the landscape, the softness of the sky, and the richness of texture
and depth of color in the foreground road and foliage (all of which reflect an
awareness of Rembrandt) serve to set off the splendid horse. The horse's head
reflects the painter's memories of classical sculpture. The painting is one of
bravura skill, and Millet has, as he always did, ennobled his subject matter.
The picture is said to have been painted as a sign for a veterinary.
It was bought from the Charles H. and Mary F. S. Worcester Fund Income.
Gustave Courbet (i 819-1877) French
Mere Gregoire, 1855
Oil on canvas, 50^ x 3 8^ in (128.9 x 97.2 cm)
Ace. no. 1930.78
Courbet has painted a rather uncompromising portrait of the Swiss patronne of
the BrasserieAndler. One sees her seated at her change desk, where she habi'
tually presided over the establishment. Here she is in her occasional act of
offering a flower to a favorite customer.
This is a work of Courbet's early maturity, and though his career had yet a
generation to run its course, one can see precisely what he was equipped to do in
painting. This equipment, which was so admirably turned to a straightforward
presentation of the visible world, is, all the same, not uninfluenced by the
humanistic passion of the Romantics. Courbet was antipathetic to much of the
Romantic view of the world, but the part of that world which heard the
insistent (if often very quiet) voice of man has registered with him. Physically
Mme Andler is not an attractive presence, but the viewer feels that her per^
sonality was probably sympathetic. Exactly how Courbet accomplishes this

still remains his secret, but it lies as much as in anything in his care to present
Mere Gregoire in a typical attitude and action. In addition, by the time he
painted this portrait Courbet had acquired a technical finesse which, for all of
his rebellious views, looked backwards to Chardin by wayearlier masters, to

of Vallayer^Coster, and even to the seventeentlvcentury Dutch. In other words,

Courbet was on the way to becoming himself an old master. If Mere Gregoire
is not really a lovable picture, it is an unforgettable one.
The painting was bought from the Wilson L. Mead Fund.

Edouard Manet (i 832-1 883) French

The Mocking of Christ, 1 865
Oil on canvas, 75g x 58§ in (190.8 x 148.3 cm)
Ace. no. 1925.703
Manet ranks as one of the rare artists in the history of Western art who was
also, paradoxically, a real conservative. For all of his revolutionary impact upon
his contemporaries, he seems today to be in the dead center of French artistic

tradition, the inheritor - as he himself seems to have wanted - of the Classic

work, as well as in the two canvases of the Philo^
tradition of painting. In this
sophers, Manetevoking the form of seventeentlvcentury Spanish painting
is

and the world of Velazquez. This picture proves on careful examination to be a

mid'nineteentlvcentury restatement of a big, Spanish Baroque religious piece.
Moreover, it is Manet's version of the big salon machine, his own translation
of the salonnier's grand'eoup. It is a grand painting, heroic in concept, heroic in
scale. Yet for all its true technical brilliance and learned assimilation of the
grandeurs of the middle period of Velazquez, it not only retains the smell of the
salon, but even more the smell of the studio. Brilliant the painting is, but the
viewer is never quite convinced of its validity as a piece of Biblical illustration.
Manet refers in this work not to the art of the past but also the world about
him. Christ is not really a self/portrait, but there is a strong reminiscence of the

artist's face in that of Christ. The executioner in the yellow turban resembles

remarkably (though again it is not a real portrait) the young Clemenceau

75
whom Manet had painted twice within twelve months of the Mocking of Christ.
It is this sense of the topical and familiar, coupled with what Manet's academic
contemporaries detested as bad drawing, which is indeed curious, rather
personal, and surprising. These details, together with the curiously direct, even
rough, handling of the surface of the paint, count among Manet's contributions
to make him one of the great innovators. But in the end it is not
painting and
his newness but his very traditional oldness which make him one of the
mainstream French giants.
The painting was given by James Deering in 1925.
Edouard Manet (1832-1883) French
Still' life with Carp, 1864
Oil on canvas, 28^ x 3 6^ in (7 3 .4 x 92. 1 cm)
Ace. no. 1942.3 1
Manet painted this picture at Boulogne during the summer of 1864. year A
later he showed it with five other pictures at a cooperative exhibition gallery,
Martinet's. This is Manet's version of a typical Chardin subject, and the
derivation of the type is clear enough. The technique and color, however, are
Manet's own. In spite of his occasionally tentative drawing style, Manet always
manages to communicate a sense of formal structure.
It is this historical type of work by Manet which establishes his claim to a

real place in the mainstream of traditional French painting. But when Manet

lightened his palette he pushed his own innovations forward, though they were
still supported not only by his traditionalism but also by his formal sense. And
in this early work there are intimations of his later manner to be noted in the
tonalities of grey and white with warm colored accents.
The painting was added to the Mr and Mrs Lewis Larned Coburn
Collection.

77
Eugene Boudin (1824-1898) French
Approaching Storm, 1864
Oil on panel, 14! x iz\ in (36.6 x 57.9 cm)
Ace. no. 1938. 1276
Boudin is the perfect minor master, the exquisite painter whose lovely, smallish,
minor works are precious and cherishable, always infused with ravishing
surfaces. He is also important in the evolution of the Impressionists, who were
slightly younger. Born in Honfleur (a place much loved by Corot, who often
painted there), Boudin grew up in a city with a wonderful light which seems
peculiar to that part of the French coast. He was a pupil of the academic
Romantic, Eugene Isabey, but, save for an admirably sound technique, little
of Isabey seems to have rubbed off on Boudin. Boudin was much his own
man, and though he knew and reacted to the works of Corot, Courbet and
Jongkind (with whom he had much in common stylistically), he remains very
much an original in nineteentlvcentury French art. He was a realist, even a
factualist, but always managed to see his subject-matter - even in his stilMife
paintings - with a kind of elegiac and poetic intensity. For many years collectors
craved his late harbor and shipping scenes, but within the last generation the
beach scenes, done in his late thirties and early forties, have become most
admired. This small picture shows a group of fashionably dressed people at
the beach, standing or talking beside the small portable huts which were used
by sea^bathersat the period and which are still not unknown on northern

European beaches. What Boudin has portrayed and caught exactly is the
quickly changing light which occurs on a late spring or early autumn day just
as a rainstorm is arising. The piece has the instantaneous quality of a snapshot,
and it is easy to see in it how Boudin was
to influence the young Manet.
Mr and Mrs Lewis Larned Coburn Memorial Collection.
Frederic Bazille (i 841-1870) French
Self Portrait, 1865
Oil on canvas, 42^ x 28| in (108.6 X 72.0 cm)
Ace. no. 1962.336
Bazille's works are the rarest among those of the Impressionists for the simple
reason that the artist was killed, when still a very young man, in the Franco'
Prussian War. Among the Impressionists he was one of the most talented and
one of the most interesting socially, being a member of an old Protestant family.
It is hard to categorize his work, for while he somewhat resembles the young

Monet, even the young Pissarro, there is a straightforward sobriety in Bazille

which sets him slightly apart from his peers. Such things are hard to justify on
merely visual evidence - and indeed are probably impossible to document -
but the spectator gets a definite feeling that Bazille's work shows an attitude
which is not only uncompromising but full of almost harsh ethical values.
This attitude is manifest in the very directness and method of his style.
This directness is evident in this self-portrait, wherein the skin of the arm is

visible beneath the cambric of the sleeve by way of a subtle alteration in the
color itself. The illusion is one of the use of a glaze, but it is accomplished with
worked wet into wet.
direct painting
The painting was bought from the Frank H. and Louise B. Woods
Purchase Fund in memory of Mrs Edward Harris Brewer.

79
Claude Monet (i 840-1926) French
The Beach at Sainte'Adresse, 1867
Oil on canvas, 29^ x 394 in (75.0 x 101.0 cm)
Ace. no. 1933439
Monet was the leading member of the Impressionist group and it was from
his painting Impression, soleil levant, exhibited in 1874, tnat Impressionism got
its name. He was born in Paris but the family soon moved to Le Havre, where
he met Boudin who encouraged him to paint nature on the spot; he was the
of the Impressionists to do
first so. In 1859 he returned to Paris and studied
under Gleyre for a time, getting to know Renoir, Sisley, and Bazille; the latter

described him competent landscape painter' and was to become a

as 'a very
good friend, often helping him out of his financial difficulties. These were
frequent as his family was for ever stopping or reducing his allowance. This
happened again in 1867 and he was forced by lack of money to return home to
Sainte^Adresse near Le Havre. The year was a worrying one in other respects,
for in July his mistress, Camille (whom he was later to marry), gave birth to
their son. But Monet seems to have found some consolation in his art and this
is one of the pictures painted during the period.

Cezanne is said to have called Monet: 'Only an eye, but my God, what an
eye!' and there is considerable truth in the remark. The present picture belongs

80
to that early group of Monet's paintings in which he records natural scenes in
broad and simple terms - he has not yet become obsessed with the effects of light,
with representing (in his own words) 'that which lies between the object and the
artist, that is the beauty of the atmosphere - the impossible'.
Mr and Mrs Lewis Lamed Coburn Memorial Collection.

Claude Monet (i 840-1926) French

The River, 1868
Oil on canvas, 3 1| x 3 9^ in (8 1 .0 x 100. 3 cm)
Ace. no. 1922.427
This is another of Monet's early pictures and shows his mistress, Camille,
sitting on banks of the Seine in which the hills of Bennecourt are reflected.
the
The scene of radiant serenity and it is difficult to see how such a picture
is full

could ever have been considered revolutionary: the reason was, of course, that
Monet painted as he saw and not according to two centuries of academic
thinking about how an artist ought to see. The paint is boldly applied and the
artist seems to have been more concerned with conveying the atmosphere of the

scene than in the depiction of detail.

Mrs Potter Palmer Collection.

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Claude Monet (1 840-1 926) French
Old SainULazare Station, Paris, 1 877
Oil on canvas, 23^ X 31^ in (59.6 x 80.2 cm)
Ace. no. 1933. 1 158
By the time Monet painted his several views of the interior of the train shed of the
Gare Saint'Lazare, two things had happened. The first was his discovery that
anything made a suitable subject for a painting, no matter what conventional
minded people thought. The second was that his brushwork was becoming
even looser than it had been before, and he began to emphasize simple strokes
of his brush rather than to organize them into broad areas of color. The result

of development was a glittering and

this technical lively, three-dimensional
surface even though the subject portrayed might be entirely quiet in its actual
visual texture.
In this picture Monet has conveyed a very real sense of the interior of the
train shed with the open space beyond, suffused by a soft, diffuse light. The
sense of the interior space is achieved partly through the actual perspective
drawing but even more through the rendering of the steam from the locomotives
as it rises to block the view of the world around. Monet has rendered the humans
in the scene as blobs and strokes of paint, but each of his strokes, whether to
depict a man or the network of cables overhead or the skylights above the
network, is calculated to describe a tacitly understood form or set of forms.
Mr and Mrs Martin A. Ryerson Collection.
Alfred Sisley (i 839-1 899) French
Sand Heaps, 1875
Oil on canvas, 21^x28^ in (54.1 x 73.4 cm)
Ace. no. I933- 1177
Alfred Sisley was born of English parents in Paris where he was educated and
grew up a Frenchman. He studied painting under Gleyre, along with Bazille,
Monet, and Renoir. Monet's example and certain phases of Corot largely
determined his style, though his stay in England in 1870 made him familiar
with the works of Constable and Turner, both of whom he much admired.
This work, dated 1875, shows Sisley's mature style. Though not an artist
of the first rank, he was a major craftsman with an exquisite taste for the Surface
of the painting and a remarkable feeling for forms. In one sense, Sisley was
completely unimaginative, but this very fact makes him a perfect recorder of
observed fact, more elegant than Monet, more observant than Boudin. Without
dramatization and with only the direct observation and recording of what he
saw, Sisley makes the spectator see for himself the pictorial drama inherent in the
scenery.
This painting, once in Dr Georges Viau's collection, was bequeathed to the
Art Institute by Martin A. Ryerson.

83
Pierre Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) French
Lady at the Piano, 1875
Oil on canvas, 36^ X 29J in (93-4 < 74-3 cm)
Ace. no. 1937. 1025
The Lady at the Piano represents the first phase of Renoir's mature style, during
which he painted mainly scenes from everyday life - pretty women from Mont/
martre who used to pose for him in his studio, the wives and daughters of the
rich bourgeoisie; and the friends he used to meet in the Cafe Nouvelle Athenes.
He showed this picture in the second Impressionist exhibition in 1875.
In it the spectator sees Renoir's loose but carefully plotted brushwork,
applied to the old-fashioned academic drawing he learned from Gleyre. What
is peculiarly Renoir's own is the technique of painting so that the white ground
always shows through the paint. This is an inheritance from his apprentice
days as a chinaware painter which were to have a continuing influence on his
attitude and technique. The picture is pleasant, full of a happy attitude towards
life. Somber subjects had no place in Renoir's repertoire: according to his
idea, art lay in the depiction of light and joy.
Mr and Mrs Martin A. Ryerson Collection.

84
Pierre Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) French
Two little Circus Girls, 1879
Oil on canvas, 51 J x 38^ in (130.8 x 98.5 cm)
Ace. no. 1922.440
This picture was painted in 1879. The subjects are Francisca and Angelina
Wartenberg, who, according to Angelina, the younger, were at the start of
their careers in the circus. These children performed as jugglers in the Cirque
Fernando, which was set up in Paris in 1875 m tne Boulevard Rochechouart.
This is Renoir at his very best as a simple and direct observer of the world,
making use of his chinaware painter's technique, but not yet spoiled by his
desire to emulate old masters. In its simplicity and genuine charm, the painting
must rank as one of Renoir's masterpieces. It was, incidentally, the favorite
picture of its owner, the first Mrs Potter Palmer who kept it with her at all
times: it followed her from Chicago to London and finally to Sarasota,
Florida. It entered the collection of the Art Institute on her death in 1922.
Potter Palmer Collection.

Pierre Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) French

The Rowers' Lunch, c. 1880
Oil on canvas, 2\\ x 25^ in (54.7 X 65.5 cm)
Ace. no. 1922.437
This picture was another of Mrs Palmer's favorites and was acquired by her
after she had become acquainted with the works of the Impressionists through

her friendship with Mar}' Cassatt. However, it must never be thought that
Mrs Potter made purchases merely because Mary Cassatt told her to buy.
What Mary Cassatt did was to call Mrs Palmer's attention to various works by
her Impressionist friends, and then Mrs Palmer herself unerringly and
cheerfully exercised her own choice.
Potter Palmer Collection.
Pierre Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) French
On the Terrace, 1881
Oil on canvas, 39^ x 31^ in (100.3 x 81 cm)
Ace. no. 193 3455
This picture is today probably the most popular painting in the collection of
the Art and occupies a place in the heart of the public just as Breton's
Institute
Song of the Lark did eighty years ago. It is a straightforward and effective likeness
of a pretty woman with an equally pretty daughter. The spectator is conscious
of the radiance and glow of a warm and lovely day in France.
Mr and Mrs Lewis Larned Coburn Memorial Collection.

8-
Edgar Degas (i 834-1 91 7) French
Dancers preparing for the Ballet, c. 1880
Oil on canvas, 29AX 23^ in (74.1 X 60.5 cm)
Ace. no. 1963.923
Degas has presented here a seemingly casual arrangement, as though it were a
snapshot or something seen in passing from the corner of the eye. One notices a
curtain going up or descending in the rear of the scene, with several pairs of
ballet dancers' lower legs and feet, and in the foreground three dancers in the

88
process of adjusting their dress. The gestures are observed with absolute under>-
standing, so that the viewer feels emphatically the movements in each body and
even the weight of the costumes. What is rather more surprising is the sense o^

physical beauty in the women, for Degas frequently gave the impression o(
emphasizing the ugly in the faces he drew.
This picture, from Mrs Potter Palmer's Collection, was given bv her
descendants, Mr and Mrs Gordon Palmer, Mrs B. Palmer Thorne, and Mr
and Mrs Arthur M. Wood.

Edgar Degas (i 834-1917) French

The Millinery Shop, c. 1882
Oil on canvas, 39§ 43|m ^99-5
'
110.3 cm)
Ace. no. 1933428
Degas was inmany ways the greatest master of the nineteenth century in France,
certainly in any traditional sense. He never broke through to the future as
Cezanne did, nor, as Cezanne did, did he ever falter. Indeed, of any painter
of the last two centuries, Degas left the most fastidious body of work. This is
because he was ruthless in maintaining his standard of quality and simply
never let He always tried to recover work with which he was
trash accumulate.
unsatisfied. Degas knew his Louvre and, as a collector, also knew artists not
found there. (Important works by El Greco as well as Ingres were sold with the
contents of his studio.) Degas was also attuned to all sorts of novelties, was him/
self a good photographer and knew how to use his photographs in his work.

(It is from Degas' example that Toulouse-Lautrec also used photographs.)

As he grew older, Degas increasingly strove to render the body in motion

as well as at rest. His very earliest oils, as well as the brothel'Scene monotypes
late in his career, prove that he could have been the greatest of all illustrators.

But the course of Degas' art was the continuing pursuit of the most fastidious
vision of his century. It is sadly ironic that his eyesight failed and that he died
a blind man.
This remarkable canvas is brilliantly constructed with the solidest of forms
seen in an ambiguous environment. The seemingly casual design owes a good
deal to the precedent of Japanese prints, but the solidity goes back to Poussin
and the Renaissance. Though this is a casual scene of domestic triviality, the
structure establishes Degas as the last great master of the old tradition.
The picture came as part of the Mr and Mrs Lewis Larned Coburn
Memorial Collection.

Jules Breton (i 827-1906) French

The Song of the Lark, 1884
Oil on canvas, 4 3 1 x 3 3^ in (1 10.6 x 85.8 cm)
Ace. no. 1 894.103 3

Jules Breton was trained, in the survival of Neo'dassicism, by a follower of

David: he first showed in the Salon at the age of twenty'two and continued to
be a popular exhibitor for the rest of his long career. Today Breton seems a dull
and rather lifeless figure in the history of nineteenuVcentury French painting;
in his own time, however, he was not only widely esteemed professionally but
was immensely popular with the public at large. This popularity seems hard to
understand now, and his paintings seem for the most part merely boring. This
estimation is just as unfair to Breton's real but small talent as the enormous
overesteem he enjoyed within his own time.
Breton's talent was truly a small one, but within his range he was a superior
craftsman and a painter of exquisite sensibility. The trouble with the Song of
the Lark is that it is too familiar, not from one's own childhood but from that of
one's grandparents. This overfamiliarity blinds the observer to the virtues the
painting has. The first virtue is that of carefully comprehended form expressed
in terms of precisely observed and thoroughly understood drawing. The second

90
virtue is that of beautifully observed light, not in the way the Impressionists
understood light, but thoroughly noted and perceived all the same. The third
virtue is one hard to accept today but nevertheless a virtue carefully considered
:

sentiment, which is intense but not mawkish. These solid virtues account in
part for the picture's popularity throughout the years; it was the most popular
painting in the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893.
The painting is signed and dated 1884. It was painted at Courrieres. It
came to the museum as part of the Henry Field Memorial Collection in 1894.

91
Georges Seurat (1859-1891) French
Sunday Afternoon on the island of La Grande fatte, 1884-86
Oil on canvas, 81 x i2o| in (205.7 X 305.8 cm)
Ace. no. 1926,224
This picture was shown in May 1886 at the Salon des Independants where it
caused great controversy. But Felix Fe'neon recognized its merit and described
it in La Vogue'. 'It is four o'clock on Sunday afternoon in the dog-days. On the
river the swift barks dart to and fro. On the island itself, a Sunday population
has come together at random, and from a delight in the fresh air, among the
trees. Seurat has treated his forty or so figures in summary and hieratic style,
setting them up frontally or with their backs to us or in profile, seated at right'
angles, stretched out horizontally, or bolt upright: like a Puvis de Chavannes
gone modern.'
But of course it was not the subject that was revolutionary - although the
stillness and dreamlike quality of the painting are remarkable. What was so

new was Seurat's technique - his pointillism based on his studies of optical
theory, by which he tried to convey the flickering summer light by dots of
color which would be reconstructed into shapes and forms by the eye when the
picture was observed from a distance.
Seurat painted this picture only after he had done numerous studies and
sketches for it, one of which is in the Institute (see p. 161).
Frederic Clay Bartlett gave it for the Helen Clay Bartlett Memorial
Collection in 1926.
 t**:

Vincent van Gogh (185 3-1 890) Dutch

Bedroom at Aries, 1888
Oil on canvas, 28^ 36 in (73.0 914 cm)
Ace. no. 1926.417
Van Gogh's pathetic life is too well known to recount here. What is meaning'
ful about him is that he was the first great Dutch artist since the seventeenth
century, one to rank with Rembrandt and Hals not only for his human appeal
but for his accomplishment as an artist.

Van Gogh had that touch of genius which allowed him to see things in a
new way, as if the old familiar things had never been seen at all. His bedroom
here is a case in point. The quality of the plain interior, with its painted deal
furniture and its scrubbed if respectable poverty, is simple enough, but van
Gogh has invested it with freshness, he has even turned the tricks of perspective
to his own uses and intensity ofmeaning.
That van Gogh died in a state of derangement is sad but irrelevant to his
art, for in hispaintings and drawings he was lucid and infinitely observant of

9?
the life of the mind and the world about him. His problem was simply that he
was so filled with ideas (and pictorial ones he literally did not have
at that) that

the time to produce them, nor the occasion for serene withdrawal for the sake of
renewal. One feels that the illustration he cast on the world about him was not
unlike that of an arc light of fullest intensity, which may have burnt out for
lack of staying power, but was totally revealing while it endured.
The picture came with the Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial Collection.

Vincent van Gogh (185 3-1 890) Dutch

Self-Portrait, 1886-88
Oil on cardboard, \6\x 13^ in (42.0 x 33.7 cm)
Ace. no. 1954.326
During the two years van Gogh lived in Paris, 1886-88, he painted twenty^
four self-portraits. At this time he became fascinated by the pointillist theories
of Pissarro and Seurat, whose work he much admired, and tried to adopt them.
Characteristically, however, he used loosened, longish strokes rather than dots,
so that the effect is and emotional rather than cool and objective.
expressive
Form, from pattern, plays a more vital part. Notice, for instance,
too, as distinct
how the strokes round the head and nose elucidate the structure beneath the
surface. Only in the background has he managed to stay with the dots of the
pointillists, but not at all in their disciplined and careful way.

The final impact of the portrait is its emphasis on the artist's eyes and the
intensity of their glance at himself in the mirror.
Joseph Winterbotham Collection.
Gustave Caillebotte (i 848-1 894) French
The Place Rainy Day, 1877
de I'Europe on a

Oil on canvas, 83^ x 108^ in (212.2 x 276.2 cm)

Ace. no. 1964.336
Caillebottewas by profession a civil engineer. As a well'tcdo man he could
afford tobuy the works of his friends, the Impressionists, and, indeed, with
Victor Chocquet, he was one of their first great patrons. On his early death,
he bequeathed his collection to the State: to the everlasting disgrace of the
museum professionals of his time and equally everlasting despair of their
successors today, only a portion of the collection was accepted for the Louvre.
This picture is Caillebotte's finest work, and it is constructed with the same
skill that he devoted to his steel construction. The observation is of the subtlest,
and the construction is comparable. For example, only by actually measuring
does one discover that the central lamp'post precisely bisects the canvas. After
careful examination one also notices that Caillebotte has condensed his per^
spective and adjusted his figures into the two-dimensional pattern so that the
eye fails to note on first glance with just what care as well as fakery the painting
is composed. Interestingly enough, this picture was painted seven years before

Seurat began the Grande 'Jatte.

Charles H. and Mary F. S. Worcester Collection.

95
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (i 864-1901) French
At the Moulin Rouge, 1892
Oil on canvas, 48** < 55^ in (122.9 X 140.4 cm)
Ace. no. 1928.610
The Moulin Rouge was about the most popular dance hall in Paris in the 1 890s
and Toulouse/' Lautrec painted many pictures of it.
Here his interest has shifted from the dance floor to the spectators. Seated at
the table he shows the critic Edouard Dujardin (with a yellow beard), La
Macarona, a Spanish dancer, Lautrec's friends Sescau and Guibert, and, with
her back to the viewer, an unidentified woman. The woman arranging her hair
in front of a mirror is La Goulue (The Glutton), a dancer at the Moulin, to the
left of whom Lautrec himself can be seen, accompanied by his lanky cousin

and constant companion, Gabriel Tapie de Celeyran.

96
 This is undoubtedly one of Lautrec's greatest and most imaginative pictures.
The influence of Degas can be seen in the seemingly casual arrangement of the
subjects - e.g. the woman in the bottom right-hand corner who is half out of the
picture. His use of the converging diagonals of the floorboards and the balustrade
to create an illusion of space owes much to the example ofJapanese printmakers.
Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial Collection.

Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) French

The Day of the God, 1894
Oil on canvas 27! x 3 5§ in (69.6 x 90.5 cm^
Ace. no. 1926.198
Gauguin began as an amateur painter in the manner of the Impressionists, with
whom he exhibited in 1880. Three years later he turned professional, and by
South Seas in 1 890, he had achieved his own
the time of his final removal to the
highly decorative manner of painting, which was completely adapted to the
things he chose to communicate in his work.
This painting was executed in Paris but epitomizes his feelings about the
primitive and archaic world of the Maoris and the South Seas. The point to
remember about Gauguin is that, while his style is occasionally primitivistic,
he was never in any sense a primitive, and he was always the complete pro'
fessional, totally equipped for what he wanted to accomplish.
 One sees a wooden figure set up in the rear of the painting with women
votaries approaching. In the foreground are bathing and sleeping women. Far
in the distance can be seen a seashore, with sea and surf plainly in evidence. This
painting is as artificial a reconstruction of reality as Poussin's landscapes, and
it is a private and mythic Arcadia which is recorded, with a validity comparable
to the older man's.
The painting is part of the Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial Collection.

Camille Pissarro (1830-1903) French

Place du Havre, Paris, 1893
Oil on canvas, 23|x 28^ in (60.1 x 73.5 cm)
Ace. no. 1922.434
Pissarro may be considered in some ways to be the typical Impressionist. He
was strongly influenced by Corot, Millet, Manet, and Monet, and he took
elements from each of them. In the early 1870s he had a strong influence on
Cezanne. Pissarro exhibited with the Impressionists from 1874 to 1886. For a
short time after 1885 he adopted the pointillist technique of Seurat and
retained traces of that method to the end. This painting illustrates his brilliant
use of color and a remarkable understanding of the effects of light and atmc
sphere. It also demonstrates his rather casual sense of composition.
The painting came from the bequest of Mrs Potter Palmer.

fc rf®^?iE/' ~" *>

i'W>y/ rimS
Paul Cezanne (1839-1906) French
The Basket of Apples, 1890-94
Oil on canvas, 25^ 32 in (65.5 x 81.3 cm)
Ace. no. 1926.252
Cezanne's rather intractable genius is always interesting to trace even in his
unsuccessful works (and there are many) as well as his slightly unfinished ones.
But his brilliance, even magnificence, bursts out with compelling power in his
finished and successful paintings, the ones which can truly be called master^
pieces. The Basket of Apples is such a work of this last category. In it, the viewer
may see the fullest manifestation of the master's method; not one brushstroke
has been put down without due regard for its impact - not only on every other
brushstroke but also on the whole surface of the canvas. Each brushstroke is

carefully considered for itself, as well as for its description of surfaces in space,
but the very drawingis considered in the same way. That is to say, Cezanne's

drawing evolved over the surface of the canvas so that areas of what can be

99
called local truth are fully realized, even if, by merely academic standards, the
method of drawing seems hesitant or inconclusive. Thus, the edges of the table,
both in front and in back, are neither consistent nor continuous, but the
relationship of these edges to the bottle, the basket, the plate, and the napkin is
intensified in each case so that a greater feeling of solidity seen in a luminous
void is achieved.
Cezanne's use of color is analagous to his drawing method. The intensity of
a local situation seen in the light of the room is adjusted to the surface and space
he was describing at the moment. The one of his greatest still/life
result in this,
paintings, is glowing color.
a sense of timeless solidity seen in
The painting, part of the Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial Collection, was
probably painted before 1894.

Paul Cezanne (1839-1906) French

The Vase of Tulips, 1 890-94
Oil on canvas, 23^ x i6| in ($9-6 X 42.3 cm)
Ace. no. 1933.432
If The Basket of Apples shows Cezanne's noblest style applied to the simplicity
of a homely kitchen stilMife, The Vase of Tulips shows the same method applied
to a more suave drawing/room subject. As it happens, there is only the slightest
difference between the two paintings, except for the fact that Cezanne's method
in this picture achieves an even happier result than in the other, and, though
considerably smaller in actual format, this painting seems even larger.
Cezanne's remarkable accomplishment is to make such fragile things as

flowers from the garden seem both delicate and, paradoxically, eternally solid
at the same moment. His method of drawing and composition, even when
applied as it is in this painting to a fragment of an interior, achieves the soberest

and grandest of results. It has been said that it made no difference to the master
of Aix what he was painting, when indeed it did, for he obviously preferred
immovable objects to those which move. The thing which fascinates the be^
holder is that, even though Cezanne obviously preferred the motionless in
nature, he never failed to give a liveliness of touch and reality to the simplest
subject. In this canvas the surface of the top of the table, as well as that of the
wall, handled with the subtlest variations of hue and tone and with the most
is

varied lively of touches. The result is not only an intense evocation of the
and
very nature of the wall and the top of the table, but also an achievement of a
lovely painted surface in itself.

The painting was formerly in the collection of Cezanne's great friend,

Chocquet; it came to the museum as part of the Mr and Mrs Lewis Larned
Coburn Memorial Collection.

100
Paul Cezanne (i 8 39-1906) French
Mine Cezanne in a Yellow Chair, 1890-94
Oil on canvas, 3if X 25^ in (81. ox 64.8 cm)
Ace. no. 1948.54

This work is a major figure piece by Cezanne. One hesitates to say portrait, for
by the time that this work was painted, Cezanne had but the slightest interest
in likenesses as such, if, indeed, he ever did. What the painter does here, with
the aid of his patient wife and kindest sitter, is to give the viewer a concent
trated image of a personage seated and composed on a chair. This personage is
painted in such a way as to suggest the greatest mass and, with the conconv
mitant result, the impression that the subject might just as well be made of
painted stone as of flesh and bone. Cezanne has subjected his wife to the same
intense and analytical scrutiny which he used both for plates of apples and the

102
Montagne Saints Victoire or the avenue of chestnut trees in his garden at the

Jas de BoufTan.
Cezanne's accomplishment in such a work as this great picture is to re/
create in his own terms the whole art of figure painting. These terms were, of
course, the adjustment of the drawing employed to the exigencies of the
overall pictorial structure in both two and three dimensions, and the adjustment
of the paint strokes so as to describe not only the effect of light on objects but to
relate these patches as they were portrayed to the same overall pictorial structure.

The method was infinitely laborious, and in Cezanne's occasional failures

merely labored. In this monumental work, the slow, even tedious, method has
produced an intensely felt and observed image.
The picture, which belonged to both Ambroise Vollard and Alphonse
Kann, was bought from the Wilson L. Mead Fund.

Paul Cezanne (i 8 39-1906) French

Bathers, c. 1900
Oil on canvas, 20^ x 24^ in (51.3 -
61.7 cm)
Ace. no. 1942.457
Throughout of almost half a century, Cezanne was obsessed by a
his career
desire to create monumental decorations portraying nudes in landscape. In
view of his prudishness - not to say nervousness - in the presence of nude models,

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this seems odd. But it is a classical theme and quite in character with his
expressed aim to 'make of Impressionism something solid and durable like
the art of the Museums'.
By the time Cezanne began to paint his bathers in the woods, the oppo^
tunity to see such in fact had been gone for many centuries in France, if, indeed,
it had ever been possible. The result is that a man so stubbornly dedicated to

drawing from close observation of the world was almost certainly going to have
trouble in painting such subjects. After all, even Manet had trouble, even
though he quoted from Marcantonio and the sixteenth century, so it is hardly
surprising that the less sophisticated Cezanne would, also, even if for different
reasons.
This version of the subject, painted towards 1900, ranks as one of his
successful treatments of it, partly perhaps because it is small in scale and does
not try to be heroic. But, paradoxically, even though this picture is in small
format, it gives the impression of being monumental.
The picture came as part of the Amy McCormick Memorial Collection,
and it was formerly in the Zoubaloff and Hessel Collections, Paris.

Mary Cassatt (1 844-1926) American

The Bath, c. 1891/92
Oil on canvas, 39^ x 26 in (100.3 X 66.1 cm)
Ace. no. 1910.2
Mary was in many ways the most consistently able of American
Cassatt
painters, and on occasion one of the two or three best. This picture is one of
those occasions. She was diligent in her work and profited much from Degas'
advice and example; she knew exactly what to borrow by method from the
Japanese printmakers and from Degas as well. What she got from both was an
extraordinary quality of line, decoratively and functionally used.
In this picture the viewer sees a carefully composed composition in which
the typically Far Eastern point of view of seeing from above puts the spectator
into a curious position of not quite knowing his own place vis^a^vis the action.
Thus the viewer is present at a most intimate moment of existence without
actually being part of the scene itself. This device, also used by Toulouse^
Lautrec as well as one which permits communication of an intimate
Degas, is

sense of private reality without destroying the impersonality of subject or

spectator. Mary Cassatt's approach was always a cool one, and it is this detaclv
ment which has baffled and occasionally infuriated sentimentally minded folk
who hope to be involved in all they see. Miss Cassatt's temperament and taste

were too elegant to permit any such vulgarism.

The painting was bought from the income of the Robert A. Waller Fund.

104
*

+? . X
Winslow Homer (1836-1910) American
The Herring Net, 1885
Oil on canvas, 29^ x 47^ in (75.0 120.6 cm)
Ace. no. 1937. 1039
Homer began his career as an illustrator and did brilliantly evocative water'
colors. His reputation was made during the Civil War as a reporter and lllus'
trator for Harper's Weekly. Homer visited both France and England and was in
France during the height of the Impressionist furore, but his work is almost
completely uninfluenced by foreign styles. In fact, he seems to have neither
understood nor liked the Impressionists' innovation. The result is that his own
style is rather hard in its earlier phase and, though looser in its later manner, at

no point shows any real feeling for the way in which light can be used in the
portrayal of sceneryand people.
This Homer's most famous genre of painting. The fact
sea piece belongs to
that he was followed by a host of bad imitations merely serves to emphasize his
own brilliance of performance. By the time Homer did this picture he had
broadened his manner and achieved both a scale and a sense of dramatic
concentration which remain his particular contribution to American painting.
This concentration upon the action, which is clearly rendered but made into so
hermetically closed a pattern that the picture seems almost abstract, is not only
Homer's own but was to become, in the best sense, typically American.
Mr and Mrs Martin A. Ryerson Collection.
106
William Michael Harnett (1848-1892) American
Just Dessert, 1891
Oil on canvas, zi\ x 26J in (56.6 x 68.0 cm)
Ace. no. 1942.50
Harnett was born in Clonakilty, Ireland, but came to the United States at an
early age and studied at the Pennsylvania Academy and at the Cooper Union,
New York. Between 1879 and 1885 ne lived in Europe, being especially
influenced by Dutch stilMife painters of the seventeenth century and by
certain German artists of his own time in Diisseldorf and Munich. Harnett's
strong suit was the development of a style of trompeA'ceil realism which is some/
times uncannily persuasive in its statement of visible truth.
This painting of Harnett's talent. His rendering of sur^
illustrates the best

faces and simple appearance is adroit in the extreme, and in this work the
composition is successful, which it is not in every case. The elegance of the
rendering is a little light in its touch and accords nicely with the whimsy of the
title. Yet there is something else which is mildly (perhaps intentionally) dis^

turbing : this is the rendering of light, for it is almost as if the scene were
illuminated by a flash of lightning.
The painting was added to the Friends of American Art Collection in 1942.
Thomas Eakins (i 844-1916) American
Addie, Woman in Black, 1899
Oil on canvas, 24 x 20 in (61.0 X 50.9 cm)
Ace. no. 1929.548
Eakins was trained first at the oldest art school in the United States, the
Pennsylvania Academy, and then in Paris under Gerome and Bonnat; his
formal artistic education was finished with a trip through Spain where the
great masters of the Spanish Baroque made a lasting impression on him.
This portrait of an intimate friend, and subsequently a member of the
Eakins household, Mary Adeline Williams, was painted in 1 899. It illustrates
very clearly both the artist's immense and solid virtues as well as his equally real
limitations. The limitations were partly of his own choosing. Neither his color
nor his handling of paint are interesting in themselves, but are always sub'
ordinated to the honest portrayal of his subject. Honesty, sobriety, seriousness,
are indeed his chief virtues. His style does not lend itself to prettiness or charm,
and he was therefore more successful with plain than with beautiful women.
Miss Williams was plain, but Eakins, in his obviously uncompromising
statement of visual fact, convinces us of her reality as a person.
The painting belonged to Mrs Eakins, and was bought for the Friends of
American Art Collection.

108
Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) Spanish
The Old Guitarist, 1903
Oil on panel, 48^ x 32^ in (122.3 x 82.4 cm)
Ace. no. 1926.253
The Old Guitarist is an early painting which belongs in Picasso's 'blue period',
so called because of the predominant use of blue between 1901
in his paintings
and 1904. These such as poor
pictures, usually depicting pathetic characters,
women, blind beggars or absinthe drinkers, reflect a fiti'de'siecle melancholy.
The characters seem full of despair and isolated from the rest of the world.
In this picture it is easy to see how the use of blue accentuates the coldness
and hunger of the old man. Because the background is of the same color it
offers no relief- one gets the impression that its quality is dependent on the
state of the man, so here it reflects his cold despair. Only the guitar has some
living color and up a central role in the painting.
takes
Helen BirclvBartlett Memorial Collection.
Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) Spanish
Daniel'Henry Kahnweiler, 19 10
Oil on canvas, 39§ x 28| in (100.6 x 72.8 cm)
Ace. no. 1948.561
Picasso's great innovation, after his heroic and personal Fauvism of 1906
through 1909 with his discovery of African tribal art, was the invention and
perfection of the system called Cubism. The obvious source for this style was
manner of Cezanne, but Picasso and his colleague Braque abandoned
the latest
the lovely glowing colors of the last phase of the master of Aix and substituted
in their stead a sober style of coloration based essentially upon raw umber,
black, white, and a very few touches of ochers.
The principle of Cubism is the systematic analysis of aspects of visual
phenomena in terms of diagrammatic lines, with fragments of individual sur/

faces suggested through highly conventionalized local modeling. To this direct

study of a model Picasso added, through the so-called principle of simultaneity,
an examination of various aspects of his model from different points of view all
at once. The result is as if the entire view of the model from 360 degrees had been

projected onto a cylinder and then unrolled.

Gift of Mrs Gilbert W. Chapman.
no
Robert Delaunay (1882-1941) French
Champ de Mars, Red Tower 191
the ',

Oil on canvas, 64 x 51^ in (162.6 x 130.8 cm)

Ace. no. 1959.
Delaunay, who exhibited regularly in the Paris Salons of 19 10- 14, began his
Cubist career with studies of two Parisian architectural landmarks - the Late
Gothic church of Saint'Severin and the late nineteentrvcentury monument to
technology, the Eiffel Tower, which had become a symbol of modernity to
many French artists and writers.
Delaunay inscribed this painting on the rear of the canvas, and after his
signature he added the revealing words epoque destructive. In other words, at this
period he conceived the Cubist idiom in destructive terms - he has attempted the
destruction of form as normally experienced and understood. The shapes of the
buildings are fragmented and this lends the painting a sense of dynamism. The
painter has used color in a tasteful, elegant way which lends a highly decorative
feeling to the scene. What comes as a surprise is the fact that his palette here is
essentially that of the aged Delacroix, and only its very different disposition
hides this fact from the viewer's immediate awareness.
Joseph Winterbotham Collection.
Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) Spanish
Man with a Pipe, 19 15
Oil on canvas, 5I4X 354 in (130.3 x 89.5 cm)
Ace. no. 1952. 1116
After his revolutionary accomplishment in the creation of Analytic Cubism in
the years just before the First World War, Picasso began to experiment with
collages - pictures constituted from pieces of wood, wire, paper, and string, their
forms distorted by the artist into a flat composition whose inherent third dimen^
sion is alluded to at the same time as it is suppressed. When he reproduced these

112
effects in painted versions he created what is now known as Synthetic Cubism.
Along with this change in style, Picasso abandoned the austerity of feeling in
Analytic Cubism and used, instead of mainly grey and umber, beautifully
glowing but soft hues.
Mrs Leigh B. Block gave this painting in memory of her father, Albert D.
Lasker.

Wassily Kandinsky (i 866-1944) Russian

Improvisation with Green Center (No. ij6) 9 191
Oil on canvas, 43^ x 47^ in (109.9 x 120.6 cm)
Ace. no. 1931.510
Kandinsky is generally considered to be the founder of non^representational
art.Born in Moscow, he trained in Munich after giving up his legal studies. He
eventually established the 'Blaue Reiter' group and also taught at the Bauhaus.
He painted his first work, a watercolor, in 19 10. The one shown here,
abstract
called Improvisation like so many of his other paintings, was done in 191 3- What
Kandinsky has done is to play freely with his colors and his two-dimensional
forms to achieve a display of painted areas seen in relation one to another, so that
the spectator receives an impression of light, movement, and color.
The invention of non^representational painting, which was really the
development of freely brushed'in patterns of pure color and shape onto a
picture surface, was one of the crucial developments of twentietlvcentury art.

It has been destined to infuriate the Philistine, that mythical 'man in the street'
who claims to know what he likes and allegedly likes a story with a moral.
Right-wing Philistines always suspect left-wing propaganda, whereas the
Philistines of the left see 'bourgeois formalism' in the same works. The argu'
ment has continued for more than half a century without either camp's having
noticed that Kandinsky was a great colorist and decorator; nor have they
realized that beauty is not necessarily apropos of anything. The abstract painting
of the 1950s and 1960s would have been impossible without the impact of
Kandinsky's inventions.
Arthur Jerome Eddy, who bought the picture from the 191 3 New York
Armory Exhibition, bequeathed it as part of his collection.

Juan Gris (1 887-1927) Spanish

Portrait of Picasso, 1912
Oil on canvas, 36^ x 29^ in (93.7 x 74-3 cm)
Ace. no. 1958.525

Juan Gris was born and raised in Madrid and moved to Paris in 1906, joining
Picasso and the other avant-garde painters and poets in the bateauAavoir. He
developed his own particular type of Cubism, more severe and more lucid than
the Analytic Cubist work of Braque and Picasso.
This portrait of Picasso, painted in 1912, exemplifies Gris' particular type
of Cubism. Although there is the typical Cubist disjunction of planes, the
vivid luminary definition of edges gives the form solidity and precision. Amid
the abstract regularity of the planes - from the prisms of the background to the
tnangular^shaped buttons - the sitter's head asserts its uniqueness: there is a
strange tension between the concept of formal structure imposed on the picture
and the actual facts of Picasso's appearance which asserts itself. In fact this

regard for concrete reality is a typical aspect of Gris' work. In this portrait, Gris
has abandoned all color in favor of a severely limited use of black and white.
The black appears to be ivory black, and the white is lead white.
The step from Gris' decorative stylization of the Cubist aesthetic to the
simplification of the postermaker and the illustrator is but a tiny one. The
results of such stylization were to appear rampantly in the magazines of the
decade after that of this picture.
Gift of Leigh B. Block.

114
Henri Matisse (1869-1954) French
Apples, 1916
Oil on canvas, 46 x 35 in (1 16.9 x 88.9 cm)
Ace. no. 1948.563
Matisse was Fauve group of painters, to whom color
the most important of the
was the most vital This still/life belongs to that phase of Matisse's
element in art.

work when he was creating a series of austere masterpieces and making fewer
concessions than usual to prettiness. What Matisse has done in this picture is to
concentrate his attention upon a dish of apples set upon the top of a circular
Louis xvi table. That is all there is to the subject and in essence all there is to the
picture. Technically he has adjusted the perspective until it is a kind of isometric
projection, preserving the sense of space and spatial reality while at the same
time forming a satisfactory two-dimensional design on the canvas. The fruit

itself becomes a generalized symbol rather than actual apples at a specific time
and place.
Gift of Mrs Wolfgang Schoenborn and Samuel A. Marx.

Henri Matisse(i869-i954) French

Bathers by a River, 1916-17
Oil on canvas, 103 x 154 in (261.8 X 391.2 cm)
Ace. no. 1953.158
This monumental canvas belongs to Matisse's greatest period. It is austere and
uncompromising in its composition and just as uncompromising in its color.
What Matisse has done in this canvas is to simplify and alter his forms till
they function almost as symbolic icons or ideograms. The figure on the verge of
diving, for instance, has been analyzedand rearranged to emphasize the lines of
the clavicles, the column of the and the ellipsoid character of the head.
throat,
The same is true of the seated figure immediately to the left in which the
simplification of the forms has reached an extreme, though vestigial traces of
modeling in light and shade remain. The water of the pool or river has been
reduced to a broad black band, just as the foliage of the river bank has been
reduced to a green band with black lines to indicate the vegetation.
It is in paintings such as this that Matisse's rank as a great formal innovator
in the history of French painting is completely apparent.
Charles H. and Mary F. S. Worcester Collection.
Lovis Corinth (i 858-1925) German
Self' Portrait, 191
Oil on canvas, i8| x 14I in (46.2 x 37.2 cm)
Ace. no. 1968.608
Lovis Cornith was one of the leading German Impressionists. An East
Prussian, he studied at Konigsberg Academy (1876-80) and the Academie
Julian, Paris (1884-85). He subsequently worked mainly in Paris, Munich
and Berlin and joined the Munich Secession. He was greatly influenced by the
old masters, especially Velazquez, Rembrandt and Frans Hals. In 191 1 he
suffered a very severe stroke and was paralyzed on one side. But with great
determination he continued to paint, his pictures becoming more Expressionist
and often having a deep spiritual quality. He painted numerous self-portraits
during his lifetime (only Rembrandt painted more) which provide a fascinating
record of his development, both as an artist and as a man.
This Self'Portrait is characteristic of Corinth's late maturity. His style has
broadened and the color has been reduced to dull, clay^like earth tones which
are of great beauty and work together to create an effect of great richness. The
expression of the face one of determination and resignation. In its concent
is

trated format it recalls the late works of Hals, as well as Carel Fabntius. The
below eye/level point of view (achieved by placing the looking/glass at an
angle) gives the beholder the impression of looking up at Corinth's image, with
the result that Corinth seems to set himself apart from his viewers.
L.L. Coburn Fund.

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) Spanish

Mother and Child, 1921
Oil on canvas, 56^ x 64 in (143.5 X 162.6 cm)
Ace. no. 1954.270
Whereas during World War Picasso invented the
the years just before the First
new formal expression of Cubism, thereby establishing anew visual idiom, the
period just afterwards saw not only the surprise of Synthetic Cubism but also
his own brand of Neo'dassicism. This canvas is a monument of the latter style.
What Picasso has done is take one of the ostensibly stalest of pictorial idioms
and express it in his He has actually created a new style of monu'
own way.
mentalism expressed by the simplest of pictorial means - simple, eartlvcolored,
and broadly brushed drawing. How much this style was formed as a delayed
reaction to Picasso's knowledge of Etruscan mirrors, Greek ceramics, or the
Hellenistic sculpture he saw in Italy during the war is impossible to tell. He

119
 has the most retentive eye of any painter of this century and every object he has
seen may have nourished his repertory.
Originally there was, to the viewer's left, the seated, nude figure of a bearded
father. Picasso cut part of the picture away and painted out the rest to achieve
the monumental concentration upon the mother and the child. He later

1 presented the cut-off piece to the Art Institute.

The picture was bought from the income of the Ada Turnbull Hertle Fund
aided by generous contributions from the Mary and Leigh Block Charitable
Fund, Inc., Mr and Mrs Edwin E. Hokin, Maymar Corporation, Mr and Mrs
Chauncey McCormick, and Mrs Maurice L. Rothschild.
Henri Matisse (1869-1954) French
Interior at Nice, 1921
Oil on canvas, 52 x 35 in (132.2 x 88.9 cm)
Ace. no. 1956.339
This painting belongs to the very end of the period of Matisse's great structural
paintings, in which color is used for formal purposes as well as simply for itself.

The emphasis here is still upon the space and planes rendered to achieve the
maximum effect of breadth and spaciousness. The single parts are subordinated
to the whole. But there is in the picture a new component which was to
dominate the bulk of Matisse's work in the 1920s, and that is the note of pure
decoration. With this note has come a softening of the style of painting and a
slight clouding of the color so that the viewer is conscious of the surface of the
paint, where in the earlier works the effect was rather that of pure light.
Matisse is still aware of light in this painting, for the pattern of the sunlight
on the muslin curtain is plainly indicated. He is also aware of the traditions of
the Persian miniaturist and of the Japanese printmaker. The result is essentially
a celebration of happiness- 'an art', as he wrote himself, 'of balance, purity and
serenity, devoid of troubling or depressing subject-matter'.
Gift of Mrs Gilbert W. Chapman.

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) Spanish

Sylvette (Mile D.) 1954
y

Oil on canvas, 5 i± x 3 8 \ in (1 3 0.9 X 97.2 cm)

Ace. no. 1955.821
During the decade after the end of the Second World War, Picasso devoted
himself to the painting of particularly intimate moments of domesticity (as
here, with his model crouched upon the floor) and also to a systematic analysis
of other work. This statement must necessarily be qualified by recog'
artists'

nition of the fact that everything the master has done has been a reflection of his
primary absorption of the moment; in no sense has he ever been professionally
involved in personal retrospection as such but has, rather, lived each day as a
new experience.
The pretty, golden^haired model (a fact known from external evidence,
although it may be safely deduced from this painting) is placed upon the floor
with her left hand gracefully extended. She is wearing Algerian costume with a
bodice and harem trousers. The colors are brilliant, decorative, yet completely
descriptive. Picasso has examined his subject as searchingly as he did Kahn/
weiler forty^four years before. But by the time he came to paint this picture the
methods which were new discoveries to him in 19 10 had become part of his
normal repertory and even devices of pictorial rhetoric. For example, the young
woman's profile is turned in and wrapped around onto the head. This is done
simply and without overt emphasis. He has seen her feet and insteps as in a
distorting glass, but records the distorted forms as if this is the way they were
to be seen by all people. And now are.
so they
The painting was given by Mr and Mrs Leigh B. Block.

122
Grant Wood (i 892-1942) American
American Gothic, 1930
Oil on beaverboard, 29^ x 24^ in (76.0 x 63.3 cm)
Ace. no. 1930.934
Grant Wood studied in Minneapolis and then at the Art Institute. In 1920, like
many other young Americans, he went to Paris to pursue his studies and hope^
fully, in the phrase of the day, to find himself. Unfortunately, the self that Wood
found was a watered/down Impressionist, and a thinned'out Fauve with
nothing to say. But in 1928 he moved to Munich and here he discovered the
German primitives, Albrecht Diirer and the fifteentlvcentury Flemings. The
impact of this sharply focused art caused an about-face in Wood's thinking and
in his work. He abandoned his earlier manner and set about evoking the
methods of Holbein, Diirer, and van Eyck, but using them for his own satirical
purposes. At least, this was the impression which his friends had at the time.
This portrait, supposedly of a farmer and his wife, actually represents the
painter's sister and their local dentist. Wood has portrayed, in the rear of the
painting, the facade of a Gothic house, and the forms of the window and the
pitchfork are echoed in the seams of the overalls and elsewhere in the painting.
It is the painter's best picture. Unfortunately, the attempt at satire backfired,
for the painting has now become a folk'symbol of a long'dead (or imaginary)
America. As such the painting has undeniable charm and an unintended
sweetness.
The picture was acquired for the Friends of American Art Collection.

124
PRINTS AND DRAWINGS

Anonymous Engraver (15th century) German

Man 1465-70
of Sorrows, c.

Hand'colored woodcut, 15JX 10^ in (40.0 * 26.7 cm)

Ace. no. 1947.731
This wood engraving with contemporary hand'Colonng represents a rare type:
the popular votive print done for domestic devotional use. The print is vigorous
in its design and clear in its expression of the concept of the wounded Saving
Victim. The strongly characterized design was to set a type of pictorial express
sion which was to influence German Expressionists four and a half centuries
later.

The emphasis is on the image of the beaten and tormented Christ with all

the marks of torture plainly visible upon him. The hyssop (according to St
John, while Christ was on the cross, a sponge soaked in wine was held up to his
lips on a stalk of hyssop; hyssop is also symbolical of purification) and the

scourge are displayed on each arm of the cross with the nails used to nail Christ's
hands. The spear is placed diagonally behind Christ. Although the picture is
very stylized the face and posture of Christ are expressive and moving.
The print is not a luxury production and was probably reproduced on quite
a large scale, although the hand'Coloring would have added to its price. It is
not designed as a work of art in the ordinary modern sense, but rather as a
diagram to aid the devout in the contemplation of the sacred mysteries. It
embodies the Thomist idea of the work of art as an object well made for a
specific purpose.
The directness of expression, as well as the clarity of the design, makes this a

most impressive document of late medieval popular devotion. That it is a

work of art is incidental.
This print was acquired through the help of various donors.

126
Anonymous Printmaker (15th century) Low German
Man of Sorrows with Four Angels, c. 1470
Dotted metal cut print, 13 x 9^ in (33.0 x 25.1 cm)
Ace. no. 1956.3
It is interesting to compare this print with the preceding one. It is much more
ornate with a more complicated iconography: in addition to the figure of
Christ we see four angels holding the scourging pillar, the cross, the lance, and
the nails. There is which the blood of Christ is flowing, the
also a chalice into
seamless robe for which drew lots at the foot of the cross, and the
the soldiers
open sarcophagus. The symbols of the four evangelists are shown in each
corner of the decorative frame.
The figure of Christ is more sophisticated in whole figure
its structure: the
is and presence. The
articulated with a strong sense of anatomical function
contrast between the body and its loincloth is made more marked by the intro'
duction of the highly foliated punched background, which is at once a con'
ventionalized garden scene and an area of flat pattern.
The underlying effect of this print is the sense it gives of certain kinds of late
medieval wood sculpture and engraved pattern. The designer has adjusted his
pattern, through variations of texture and alterations between plain and fancy,
to achieve the maximum effect of the Wounded Savior, the Saving Victim.
While the print was designed for production in a relatively large edition, it is

nevertheless a rarity and in its own terms a valuable object.

The print was bought for the Clarence Buckingham Collection.
Hans Burgkmair (1473-153 i) German
Maximilian I on Horseback, 1508
Woodcut printed in black ink and gold upon vellum, 12^x9 in (31.8 x
22.8cm)
Ace. no. 1961.3
If the preceding two prints represent what was essentially German popular art,

this one of imperial splendor. Printed in black and gold size upon vellum, it
is

is not only the portrait of an imperial patron, but done in appropriate terms.

The image of the Holy Roman Emperor is a figure in splendid court armor
with a crest of peacock feathers emerging from the crown; he is mounted upon
a richly caparisoned horse. An imperial banner is flung upon a gonfalon behind
theEmperor and suspended from the spring of the Renaissance archway. The
Emperor is seen as an unearthly above mortal consideration. The
figure far
splendor of the figure is equalled by the resplendence of the setting, which
represents a grand marble pavement as well as architecture ornamented with
beautifully Italianate arabesques.
The only infelicity of the whole print is that Burgkmair had some difficulty
with the representation of the horse in action. The movement is not only tenta^
tive but downright unconvincing. This is curious in the light of everything

else which the artist got quite correctly.

The print was bought for the Clarence Buckingham Collection.

129
Pieter Brueghel the Elder (c. i 525-1 569) Flemish
The Hare Hunters, 1566
Etching, 8| x 1 1| in (22.0 x 29.2 cm)
Ace. no. 1966.183
Brueghel was the greatest of Flemish Renaissance artists, and this is the only
print executed by his own hand. He here follows the kind of pictorial structure
which he invented for his paintings, one which spreads before the beholders a
great landscape, in which the space recedes in a seemingly endless progression.
In this plate the viewer sees first a copse at his right with a tall tree trunk and
a lower one to the left of it. Around these trunks the hunters are deployed, and
the principal figure is in the act of aiming a crossbow at a hare in the middle
distance. Beyond the hare the land drops away into the second plane of the
picture, and beyond that plane of the picture more recede in continuing
diagonal progression, until the horizon with a town set upon it is finally to be
seen. At the right a hill rises with a crenelated castle crowning its height.
The plate is executed with clear strokes of the burin or needle, and the
tonality lightens progressively into the distance. The foreground is done with
the sharpest and most intense contrast of light and dark.
This landscape print is not only a clear indication of how a northern
Renaissance man felt about nature, it is also a record of life in the Low
Countries at that period.
The print was bought for the Clarence Buckingham Collection.

7 -.-£•-

4,
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Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669) Dutch
The Presentation in the Temple, late 1650s?
Etching and drypoint, y\ •
6| in (19.1 16.2 cm)
Ace. no. 1950. 1508
This plate illustrates that part of the gospel which describes the presentation by
the Virgin and St Joseph of the Infant Jesus to St Simeon. Rembrandt has
chosen the moment of greatest dramatic meaning in the episode, the point at

3i
which St Simeon begins to recite the noble words of the Nunc dimittis, 'Lord,
now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word.'
The figures are basically shrouded in darkness. It is only with difficulty that
it may be seen that the Virgin is wearing a costume quoted from Diirer; both
she and St Joseph are in half-light at the left near foreground. Behind them
recede the forms of an apparently Romanesque interior. Above the altar in the
rightmiddle distance is an enthroned figure behind whom looms, in the
shadows, a gigantic figure holding a plumed staff and wearing an enormous
Oriental headdress. The full light falls upon the quietly noble face of St
Simeon who is conceived of as an aged man. He is kneeling before the altar.

The face of the Christ'child is cast into shadow, although the infant's head has
an aureole around it.

What Rembrandt has done is to illuminate the human meaning of the

narrative in a way which is curiously and insistently Protestant. The moment
chosen is the infinitely personal one which has moved St Simeon, and the
spectator at the event drawn inexorably into the personal drama in the life of
is

the aged saint: he has finally seen and received what he had so long hoped for
and expected.
Clarence Buckingham Collection.

Adriaen van Ostade (1610-1685) Dutch

The Family, 1647
Etching, 6l 6^ in (17.5 < 15.4 cm)
Ace. no. 1962.803
Though Ostade, a man of Haarlem, was Hals's pupil, the principal formative
influence upon and technique came from Rembrandt.
his style
This from popular life, although the viewer may well
interior records a scene
wonder if a farmer's house in the late 1640s had a ground floor with quite such
a high ceiling. What Ostade has done in this print is to reduce quite ohv
siderably the size of his human beings in order to give greater scale and seeming
size both to the scene and to the print itself. The figures themselves are of the

greatest interest. Ostade has given his mother and infant the pose, if not
precisely the faces, of a Virgin and Child, while the father and the little boy
seem quotations from a scene of the childhood of Christ. The only purely genre
bit seems to be that of the dog and the old person bending over it. Ostade has

put together his family scene so that the viewer sees it not precisely as it was but,
rather, reorganized and adjusted for the sake of pictorial grandeur with
quotations thrown in from sacred legend.
The print is part of the Stanley Field Collection.

132
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (i 864-1901) French
Els a, The Viennese; 1897
Colored lithograph, 21^ < 15^ in (58.2 40.1 cm)
Ace. no. 1958.529
By the time Toulouse-Lautrec did this lithograph of the balding and pasty^
faced woman from Vienna, he had become the absolute master of the medium
of lithography. His borrowings of Japanese techniques of composition had
become second nature to him, and his use of color and line was completely his
own, perfectly adapted to any purpose he elected.
The impression Toulouse-Lautrec gives of his Austrian subject is one of
perverse prettiness. The woman's rather Slavic bone structure does not lend
itself to an expression of the obviously pretty or beguiling, and her face, by the

time the artist rendered it, had become mask'like, so that he could concentrate
upon an appearance which is lightly trivial and oddly chic. The impression of
fashionable disreputability is hard to achieve, but Toulouse-Lautrec has done
it here, and the effect is rather devastating. One does not quite know where the

woman was going, whence she came, or who she was. Toulouse-Lautrec
convinces the beholder that perhaps it were better not to inquire. And yet it is
not at all an unsympathetic likeness.
The lithograph was bought for the Carter H. Harrison Memorial
Collection.

M
Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) French
Women at the River (Auti te Pape), 1893-95
Colored woodcut, 8 X 14 in (20.3 x 35.7 cm)
Ace. no. 1948.264
As maker of woodcuts Gauguin ranks with Diirer and the great German
a
masters of the Renaissance. In some ways these woodcuts are among his finest
productions, and in this curiously intractable medium he seems to have found
the technical discipline which forced him to simplify and to establish the most
subtly organized designs and patterns. The step from the remarkable patterns
of this colored print to the qualities and methods of purely abstract art is only a
short one. True, Gauguin has retained the human content, but he has reduced
it to the role of pattern in a visual arrangement.
Gauguin's command of the wood-engraver's knife was remarkable, for he
managed to achieve extraordinary delicacy of touch and arrangement. He also
realized what to leave of the wooden block itself to aid him in his patterning and
what to remove to allow for the virtues of simple emptiness. He forces the
beholder to realize how much
can be accomplished not only with minimal
means but with minimal means. Perhaps his finest
the simplest use of such
achievement in this block is the incredible integration of his light and dark
patterns and the subsequent adjustment of his patterns of color to the black and
the white. (This last is reduced to a rippling ribbon cutting diagonally across
the picture.)
The print was bought for the Clarence Buckingham Collection.

135
Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) Spanish
The Frugal Repast, 1904
Etching printed in blue, 18^ y 15 in (46.2 x 38.2 cm)
Ace. no. 1963.825
This is the most famous print Picasso made during his blue period, and this

impression is a unicum, printed in blue. The curious morphological structure,

with its borrowings from both El Greco and the Pre^Raphaelites, has been
noted before in considerations of hiswork from this period. The iconography is
still the curious one Picasso used at the time with its recurrent image of the

scrawny blind man. The woman, who resembles an emaciated Fernande

Olivier, epitomizes his notion of feminine beauty at the time.
The print is rather too famous to evoke an innocent or fresh reaction, and too
much has happened in the world since it was done for us to see it with the
startled but innocent eyes of 1904. Picasso's personal memories of being young,
unsuccessful, and still unrecognized seem somewhat irrelevant in the light not
only of his subsequent history, but of all history since then. What is left for the

beholder is world of a young and

a personally inventive statement about the
unknown person. The invention lies in the private mythology but even more
in the concept of emaciated beauty. Printed in blue, the note becomes per^
suasively tender in spite of the inherent silliness of the notion.
The print was bought for the Clarence Buckingham Collection.

136
Gaston DuchamP'Villon called Jacques Villon (1875-1963) French
The Set Table, 191
Drypoint etching, njx 15 in (28.6 x 38.2 cm)
Ace. no. 1964.238
Villon, whose real name was Gaston Duchamp'Villon, was the half-brother
of Marcel Duchamp, lived in Paris until he was over sixty, when he moved to
the south of France. He was first an engraver and illustrator for journals, but he
turned to painting in 191 This print of a table set for a meal represents his early
1 •

style as a printmaker after he had become a painter. He has developed his own

version of the Cubist style, and to this version he remained faithful for the rest
of his long career. The style did indeed change, but it changed very slowly, and
his vision was always expressed in terms of faceted planes seen in lozenge^
shaped patches of light or color.
The use Villon made of his technique is a remarkable one, because his
etching technique is peculiarly and particularly that of a man who thought with
a burin and an etcher's needle in his hand. His work as a commercial inW
trator and for newspapers had established firmly in his mind the importance of
reproductive media and their status in terms of art. From a formal point of
view, however, he could express the same idea as an ink drawing, or indeed,
using a different subject altogether - mountains and valleys instead of goblets,
jugs, and crumpled napkins.
Gift of Frank B. Hubachek.

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a
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880-1938) German
The Blacksmith, 191
Woodcut, 19Y5X 15^ in (50.0 < 40.1 cm)
Ace. no. 1946.94
In this study of a German Swiss peasant in his village, Kirchner has con/
sciously quoted from late medievalGerman engravings, such as illustrated on
pages 127 and 128. The sharply angular forms of the head and the landscape
beyond, with its cow and figures adjacent to wooden houses, are consciously
conceived in the light of late medieval craft. But Kirchner emphasizes the
nature of thewooden block on which he is engraving, whereas the man of the
late Middle Ages took it serenely for granted; the latter was trying only to

express a completely compelling sense of reality. The modern artist, on the

other hand, was not only being was equally self/
self-consciously archaic, he
consciously stressing the fact of his craft. He wasremind the observer
trying to
just how difficult and demanding the craft can be, and he wanted the beholder
to be quite clear as to how well he, Kirchner, the printmaker, had mastered it.
In no way was he content to pay the viewer the compliment of recognizing his
intelligence and assuming that he would recognize Kirchner's skill.
The result is that half a century later the viewer of the print sees the piece as a
competent working of the wood-engraver's technique, a pleasantly archaiciz^
ing performance of a sort which looks well in a doctor's waiting-room, or even
on the walls of a psychoanalyst's consulting/room. Unfortunately, the print is

not one of universal appeal or staying power, and the world to which it

belongs seems even more remote than Burgkmair's.

This print was given by the Print and Drawing Club.

138
Pisanello (1395-1455/56) Italian
Studies of the Eastern Patriarchy 1438
Pen and brown ink on paper, 7^ x in (19. i x 26.0 cm)
Ace. no. 1961.33
Pisanello was the greatest Italian figure of the International style and one of the
earliest of Renaissance artists. He is a typical case of an artist who can Simula
taneously be considered both late medieval and Early Renaissance in his
character and production. He is late medieval in his preoccupation with local
truths and details; he is Renaissance in his humanistic preoccupation.
This drawing can be safely dated to 143 8, the year of a patriarchal visit to an
abortive council, the political hope of which was to save Constantinople from
the Moslem forces. Nothing of political or religious importance was acconv
plished at the council, but it did mean a fresh wave of Eastern influence in Italy
and further contact with the traditions of late antiquity. Pisanello had a perfect
opportunity to record what he saw and to prove himself journalistically com/
petent, for this drawing (as well as a number of others done at the time) shows
how clear his vision was and how capable he was of recording visual facts.
The obverse of the drawing records details of the patriarch's costume and of
a scabbard, as well as the appearance of an Oriental horseman. The reverse
shows details of the horse's paraphernalia. The manner of portrayal is such that
it could have been done yesterday; only the costumes and the trappings of the

horse show that it was in fact done in the fifteenth century.

Gift of Tiffany and Margaret Blake.

tr

/ i
Anonymous North Italian Artist (15th century (?)) Italian

Profile Portrait of a Man, c. 1450 (?)

Silverpoint on prepared surface, 9^x 6^ in (24.8 X 17.5 cm)
Ace. no. 1957.59
This drawing, which was once considered to be by a Flemish artist, is now
usually recognized as being north Italian in origin, perhaps by an artist of
Verona. The drawing epitomizes the style of rendering, particularly of pop
traits, during the second quarter of the fifteenth century in northern Italy.

The method is preciseand completely linear. The medium of silverpoint -

which consists of marking with a silver^pointed pencil (sometimes gold or
lead) onto a surface coated with glue size and chalk (pale pink here) - is
difficult in that it requires absolute precision and permits of no erasures. Shading

can only be accomplished through a hatching technique, and no really dark

areas are possible.
The drawing shows a priest wearing a sleeveless rochet over a gown part of ;

the undergarment is just visible at the throat. The hand is tentatively indicated
and appears to hold what is the beginning of a blossom or a flowering staff. The
face is finely drawn and very expressive. It is not clear whether the drawing was
done as a portrait or whether it was the beginning of a study for a supporting
figure for an altarpiece. Although independent portraits had begun to be
popular around this time, it was still common for rich donors to be depicted
among other personages present at a sacred event.
Gift of Tiffany and Margaret Blake.

™~r *

V
Vittore Carpaccio (c. 1450-c. 1 522) Italian
A Young Nobleman
Brushed grey ink heightened with white, 10 -
7| in (25.5 x 19.4 cm)
Ace. no. 1962.577
Carpaccio was the preeminent narrative painter in Venice at the turn of the
sixteenth century. He related legendary incidents against the background of an
idealized version of the Venice and Venetian countryside he knew; the
miraculous events he depicts have such impact, even today, because they are
set in such a realistic setting and are related in a matter^of'iact way as though
they had taken place before the artist's very eyes.
From Late Byzantine times on, Venetian painting made its effect through
color, mass, and area, rather than through linearity. This had
on its effect

Venetian drawings which never emphasized lines, but, rather, areas, masses
and, by implication, fields of color. This study of a young man in the act of
greeting someone is on examination it will be noticed that what
a case in point;
count drawing are, essentially, areas seen in acute perspective.
for lines in the
What has been emphasized is the effect of light and shade: the artist has
applied white on his neutral blue background to achieve the effect of bright
light (even of dappled sunlight), and broad lines of dark to achieve the
illusion of shadow. The effect of the broadly brushed grey and white upon the
blue gives the illusion of color.
The drawing was given from a gift from the Joseph and Helen Regenstein
Foundation.

142
 3 - m I
m

ikJm -

Fra Bartolommeo (1475-15 17) Italian

Landscape: Hermitage upon a Hill
Pen and ink on paper, 1 1~ < 8^ in (29.0 x 21.7 cm)
Ace. no. 1957.530
Fra Bartolommeo was the greatest artist in Florence purely of the High Renais'
sance style. Indeed, his art epitomizes theThere was considerable
style.

excitement some years ago when a notebook of landscape drawings by him

was discovered. This drawing is a fine one from that set.
What the artist has done in this drawing is to record the appearance of a bit
of a Tuscan hillside with trees and rocks and a small part of a building. The

143
trees are delineated with the clearest emphasis upon their structure, and, in the
case of the palm trees to the viewer's right, with considerable care in rendering
the effect of foliage.
More interesting even than the effects of the natural terrain and its foliage is

the Fra's study of the hermitage. What one sees is a simple, even rather crude,
building partly of rubble masonry and partly of stucco. The tile roof is carefully
rendered and the artist consciously shows the bits of timbering. One also can
see the arched window in the principal gable with its colonette, as well as the
bell in the belfryand two extruded crosses against the sky.
Fra Bartolommeo may have done this group of drawings for his own
pleasure and profit, but they are hardly to be considered - at least in the artist's
terms - as completed works of art, no matter what the modern connoisseur sees
in them. They are means to an end, and it is from a drawing such as this one
that Fra Bartolommeo constructed the ravishingly lovely backgrounds for his
pictures of sacred subjects. One can understand through this drawing how he
became one of the greatest of landscapists before his time.
The drawing was acquired for the Clarence Buckingham Collection.

Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669) Dutch

Noah's Ark
Reed pen and wash, 7^ x 9^ m (20.0 x 24.2 cm)
Ace. no. 1953.36
Rembrandt's most intimate expression is to be found in his drawings, for it is
in them that the spectator is allowed some insight into his working methods.
His principal aim seems to have been to find the simplest and most direct way
of conveying a particular subject, scene or event. Because of this insistence upon
a clear statement, Rembrandt still remains a consummate illustrator, the perfect

artist for who see a kind of social realism as the artist's ultimate goal.
those
But he was much more than just a narrative artist. What makes him so awe/
inspiring is his command of his formal means, the skill with which he deploys
his areas and lines, his darks and lights, and, finally, his color (which some/
times exists only by implication). This drawing demonstrates most clearly
Rembrandt's virtues as a composer of a background a huge
scene. In the far
barge is visible, upon which is gangplank and
a large shed. Isolated at the
indicated only with the broadest of pen^scratches stands the patriarch. His sons
are standing at the foot of the gangplank carrying up provisions and encourage
ing some animals to board the ark. Two of Noah's friends stand at the lower
left to comment on the action and to serve as repoussoirs to increase the solidity of

the composition.
The drawing was acquired for the Clarence Buckingham Collection.

144
Antoine Watteau (1684-1721) French
Studies of Figures from the Italian Comedy
Red, black, and white chalk, io
1

15I in (26.0 < 39.8 cm)

Ace. no. 1954.
Watteau represents that vein of early eighteenth/century French painting which
was strongly under Flemish influence, and for which the influence of Rubens
was paramount. It must be recalled that Flemish and Dutch painting of the
seventeenth century had enormous prestige among French collectors of the
eighteenth century, and artists very early copied the works of these schools.
Watteau also made his own the characters from Italian comedy; here the
black'masked Scaramouche is visible to the spectator's left, a perfectly realized
face which is clearly recognizable even under the three-quarters' black mask.
There is a kneeling Mezzetin, as well as a caped figure and a profile head of a
man in a cap.
By the time Watteau did this page, drawings were in enormous demand
from collectors,and these were being matted and framed to be hung upon the
wall. (The ones which were not hung upon the wall have survived in an
incredible state of unfaded freshness, as this one has.) What Watteau has done
technically is to emphasize the effect of light as it plays upon the shimmering
surface of white satin. The use of the three colors of chalk on the beige paper
gives a close approximation of the colors of painting and its tones. The step
from these figures to their painted versions is a slight one, and in one sense this
drawing represents painting with chalk, only a moment before the use of full
color in pastels.
The drawing was given by Tiffany and Margaret Blake.

: _~^
Antoine Watteau (1684-1721) French
The Old Savoyard
Red and black chalk, 14^ X 8^ in (36.3 x 22.5 cm)
Ace. no. 1964.74
This remarkable touching likeness of an old man in ragged clothes is a haunting
example of Watteau's ability to get to the heart of his subject-matter, to see it
uncompromisingly, but with sympathy. Here he evokes - even quoting
indirectly - some of the nobler drawings of Rubens himself. Technically he has
done a most difficult thing, which is to present his subject frontally. This
straight/on presentation is apt to reduce the subject to the equivalent of higlv
(Watteau was fond of this frontal view: one of his most famous
relief sculpture.

paintings, Gilles,embodies it, and there are many other examples.) But within
this frontal presentation Watteau has composed a wonderfully rich set of

variations upon the shapes of the solids of the body as seen beneath the clothing.
He has also managed to present the heavy, coarse character of this clothing with
amazing precision, still being limited to his two colors of chalk. Everything is

stated in terms of light and dark, or, more accurately, in terms of bright sunlight
and patches of intense shadow.
Gift of the Joseph and Helen Regenstein Foundation.

147
L>-"^ 4
1 k - -

/,

li fe

j
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696-1770) Italian
The Death of Seneca
Pen, brush, and sepia wash, 13* 9^ in 34.4 24.2)
Ace. no. 1959.36
This brilliant drawing of the pathetic episode of the death of Nero's master,
Seneca, translates the horror of the incident into an abstracted pattern of light
and dark with the effect of the brightest light contrasted with patches of darkest
shadow. Tiepolo's antiquity is his own, with strong quotations from the
Venice he knew as well as from the Italian comedy. There is almost no archaeo'
logical quotation as had become familiar contemporaneously in Rome.
Tiepolo has presented a fragment of an episode insofar as its location is con'
cerned, for, in fact, the action is set nowhere.
The importance of the drawing lies in the brilliance of its line work, its light
and patterns o( shade, and in its ultimately humanistic emphasis. The very
horror of the subject is only suggested by the implied expression on Seneca's
face, but there is no attempt to be explicit. Rather, Tiepolo makes his viewer

contemplate the forms of the participants and, thus, by extension, the lmplica^
tions of the action. Indeed, the whole scene is so impersonal that it might just as
well represent the end of some Christian martyr. Tiepolo managed to suggest
color in his rendering of light and dark. There is, of course, no color, but his
use of his limited tonalities, with the suggestion of brilliant light and equally
dazzling shade, carries with it an implication of color. The structure of the
elements of the drawing embody the very end of the Baroque style as it survived
in Rococo Venice.
The drawing is part of the Joseph and Helen Regenstein Foundation.

Antonio Canal called Canaletto (1697-1768) Italian

Ruins of a Courtyard
Pen, brown ink, and grey wash over graphite, > 8^ in (29.2 20.6 cm)
11J
Ace. no. 1943.514
By the time of Canaletto's maturity there was an immense market not only for
his pictures and prints but also for his drawings. This market included a con^
tinuing demand for capriccio subjects, that is, landscapes which were variations
upon with imaginary scenes, such as this one, but which, because
real places
they are constructed with apparently logical means, are entirely convincing
even though the subjects have never existed as they are rendered. In this case,
Canaletto has presented the ruins of a noble courtyard with which various
tenements have been devised, and life seems to continue within these tenements.
At the far distance in the rear may be seen a Venetian Gothic arch, the bottom

149
of which is silted up, and in the farthest distance is a walled city (similar to
Castelfranco) with familiar Venetian towers and domes beyond the battlements.
Canaletto (like his nephew and namesake, Bellotto) was among the first of
Venetian artists to make imaginative use of the camera oscura; from this tech/

nical device he perfected his workings of perspective, although frequently his

perspective seems to have been empirically achieved. In this instance, one feels
that the perspective is based upon Canaletto's vast knowledge of natural
appearances. What is especially appealing in this drawing is his use of bits of
foliage which appear, even as in Italy, on unexpected bits of the stonework. If
the logic of these ruins is tenuous in fact, Canaletto's logic about their recorded
use is convincing if only because of the reality of the action within the scene.
The drawing was bought from the income of the Samuel Putnam Avery
Fund.
Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo (1727-1804) Italian
Christ House ofjairus
in the

Pen and ink with grey and brown wash, i8^x 15 in (48.0 x 38.2 cm)
Ace. no. 1960.547
The younger Tiepolo is sometimes exceedingly close in style to his father, but as
his career continued after his father's death he became more and more Nee
classical. His technique continued very much as it always was, but the forms
and the spatial structures reflected the new aesthetic.
This drawing of Christ in the House ofjairus is typical of the younger
Tiepolo's later style, when he was drawing away from his father's structural
methods. The scene of the action is a large and essentially traditional Venetian
room whose walls are covered with a familiar Venetian sixteentlvcentury
pattern of meandering pomegranates. Set against the wall is a decked'out
table which has obviously been used for a meal. There is a tiled floor with a

15
wooden upon it in the mid/foreground. All of this is distinctly and
stool set
Venetian and precedents could be found in the sixteenth century.
traditionally
There are two things in the drawing which could only belong to the eighteenth
century. One of these is the hanging lamp which is strongly Neo-classical in its

form. The other is the disposition of the figures, which are set as a frieze across
the diagonal to the left rear of the scene with the figure of Christ set parallel to
the frieze in front of it. The gestures are quoted from antique sculpture as well
as, rather surprisingly, from certain earlier pictures. Quotation from antiquity
was an old custom in Venice: Tintoretto did it at the very start of his career. But
the young Tiepolo has done it in terms of the new wave of antique interest
which was sweeping Italy. What is surprising is that the concept works and that
the result is Neo/classical in spite of Tiepolo's old-fashioned technique.
The drawing is part of the Tiffany and Margaret Blake Collection.

Francisco Goya y Lucientes (1746-1828) Spanish

Beware of that Step!, c. 1805
Brush in grey and black wash on white paper, io| X 7^ in (26.4 x 18.2 cm)
Ace. no. 1958.542

As a draftsman in both his prints and his drawings, Goya is uncannily appeal/
ing for his technical bravura and for his incredible understanding of the
possibilities of his media. (This understanding did not always extend to his

which could occasionally be wilful in terms of what he was attempt/

use of oil,
ing.) When Goya set about to do a proverb or a cautionary episode in terms of
drawing, he was unsurpassable. Furthermore, the drawing in his paintings
was sometimes, to say the very least, peculiar in the light of his subjects. When
he was working in black and white, the very discipline of the lack of color
seems to have made him completely assured and capable of rendering the
subtlest of movements and actions to account for both his subject and his
purpose.
Here one can see a figure in the act of a slightly ridiculous dance step, about
which the artist himself has added the words of caution, Cuydado con ese paso,
which can have an application broader than the immediate context. What is
breath/taking about the drawing is the clear way in which Goya has described
not only the figure (she is a very heavy girl) but also the slightly heavy grace of
her action, a corsetted Isadora a century before her time. Goya has rendered the
stuff of the overblouse in simple, puddled washes with only a scribble of black
on top of it to indicate the form of the lace trimming. The touch is an incredibly
light one, yet the artist has conveyed the whole fact of his heavy dancing girl and
her efforts on her feet.
The drawing is part of the Joseph and Helen Regenstein Foundation.

152
Honore Daumier (1808-1879) French
The Three Judges
Pen and ink over pencil and watercolor, i ij x i8| in (29.8 X 46.8 cm)
Ace. no. 1968.160
Daumier was the greatest of all political cartoonists and ranks with Goya as the
supreme master of social comment in the visual arts. Daumier's style is a personal
one which reflects eighteentlvcentury precedent and on occasion even evokes
Fragonard's touch. What Daumier did in his cartoons was to emphasize the
intellectual concept and the political point he was making. His method was the
very old one of caricature, which is to exaggerate the particular and to minimize
the merely typical. The result is always a clear image of what Daumier meant
his public to see.

In this watercolor Daumier has presented his three judges with a rather
diminished emphasis on satirical effect, with the result that the finished work is

the more devastating in its impact. The contrast between the ceremonial robes
of office and what they imply, and the very human men who are wearing them,
is most gently stated. Daumier has neatly underscored, through simple linear
emphasis, the effect and appearance of the three faces. It is quite true that faces
as such tell rather little in fact, but the material evidence of how a man has lived
can in itself be a devastating commentary on the man's view of life. In his
rendering of the three carefully differentiated faces, Daumier has told his viewer
a set of sardonic facts.

The watercolor was bought from a gift of the Joseph and Helen Regenstein
Foundation.
Honore Daumier (i 808-1879) French
Fatherly Discipline
Pen and ink wash over pencil, 10 x 7^ in (25.5 x 20.0 cm)
Ace. no. 1955. 1108
Daumier's many years as a working cartoonist'journalist always stood him
well when he turned his attention to representing domestic episodes. Here he
takes a homely scene and handles it in a fashion worthy of Rembrandt, albeit
with a far lighter touch than the Dutch master would have had. What he
records without flinching is a scruffy^looking couple awakened by a screaming
infant, and the father's attempt to quiet the child. The figure of the mother
aroused from sleep is barely indicated, particularly in the rough pencil drawing
which lies beneath the finished surface of the ink drawing. The father is charac/
terized through his gesturescrawny physique. The anger of the kicking
and his
and howling child is clearly and devastatingly presented. The effect of the
candle upon the chest is to illuminate the scene, although in actual fact the
illumination would have been in a much heavier chiaroscuro.

155
 Daumier has indicated his action as well as the furniture with the simplest
lines. Upon this lightly indicated framework for his action, he then laid in his
washes with enough variation of surfaces to give richness and the feeling of
space. Upon these two surfaces he then drew
and scratchingly with his
lightly
pen to achieve the full effect of the narrative he was illustrating. The thing
which keeps this drawing from being merely humorous illustration or cheap,
socially realistic commentary is the brilliance of the composition as well as of
the two/ and three-dimensional pattern. In addition, Daumier has rendered
his tale in a completely personal way; one which is instantly recognizable as his.
He has transformed a local truth into a universal one.
The drawing was bought from the income of the Arthur Heun Fund.

J. A.D. Ingres (1780-1867) French

Charles Gounod, 1841
Pencil on paper, n^x 973 in (30.0 x 23.0 cm)
Ace. no. 1964.77
Ingres, thatmost intractable, humorless, and greatest of academic artists, was
one of the greatest of all portraitists. And of his portraits, those in pencil on
paper rank as his finest. He earned a living in Italy doing these portraits, and
his repertory of English visitors as well as of French swells on a belated grand
tour is impressive. But Ingres was at his best and most persuasive, when he was
rendering a friend.
The young Gounod, as a pensionnaire of the French Academy in Rome, is

seen seated at an old-fashioned grand piano - it still has a knee pedal - in the
act of playing something from Mozart's Don Giovanni; while playing he turns
to look at Ingres and, so, at the spectator. Ingres's pencil has softened from its

earlier usage, and there is a melting softness over the whole drawing. Rightly,
he has emphasized the face (as he also does in the face of Mme Gounod which
he drew as pendant some years later). But he has written the title of the score too

large on open page of the music book, as though to emphasize a common

the
passion of his and his sitter's. (One is reminded in this of the occasion when the
child Mendelssohn told the aged Goethe that he would play for him the most
beautiful music ever written and then played the Minuet from Don Giovanni;
and it is known that Mozart enjoyed a great reputation among the Romantics.)
Ingres has here made a memorable image of Gounod. His reaction to the
potential distinction of the young musician was the one current at the time;
Princess Mathilde and her friends reacted in the same way, and never seemed to
notice that Gounod failed to live up to his early promise.
The drawing and its companion were given by Charles Deering
McCormick, Brooks McCormick, and Roger McCormick.

156
 *
of
•» *

A
;/

V
K

' K
Edouard Manet (183 2-1 88 3) French
Portrait of Berthe Morisot, 1874
Watercolor on paper, 8 x 6\ in (20.3 x 16.5 cm)
Ace. no. 1963.812
By Manet painted this watercolor study of his talented painter^sister/
the time
in-law, he had reached not only an absolute mastery of the medium of oil
painting but had also mastered the far more difficult medium of watercolor.
Watercolor is intractable because, while it is easy enough to achieve a cheap
and flashy effect to this medium, it is not easy to use it for a simple and direct
statement of form in space, which is neither unacceptably summary nor yet
ill/achieved in its end result.
Manet here has managed a complete control of the application of colored
washes, whether - as with the undertones in pink - they are liquid and puddled,
or - as with the blacks - they are essentially in dry/brush layingS'in. And here,
in this medium, Manet's extremely personal style of draftmanship which is
occasionally both mannered and arbitrary in black and white, works perfectly
simply because it is expressed in terms of color. The very thing which makes this
piece Manet's and nineteenth century in idiom and formal concept, as opposed
to Fragonard and eighteenth century, is just this use of color in the drawing itself.

The watercolor was acquired through a gift of the Joseph and Helen
Regenstein Foundation.

158
 //
Pierre Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) French
Nude (study for The Great Bathers), 1884-85
Pastel and wash, 39 x 25 in (99.2 x 63.6 cm)
Ace. no. 1949.514
By his middle forties Renoir was successful enough to be able to afford to work
on projects for his own delectation in addition to his commissioned portraits.
One of the greatest of these was The Great Bathers (Les grandes haigneuses) now in
the Tyson Collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It was a work into

159
which the painter concentrated his entire knowledge and feelings and in which
he seemed to be trying to re-create not only Boucher but also Titian.
The difficulty with Renoir as a painter is that, though his paint surfaces are of
incredible loveliness even in his worst works - he had not been a china painter at
Limoges for nothing - to mention his taste, frequently leaves
his drawing, not
much to be desired. In this drawing his draftsmanship is not only adequate,
tough, it is brilliant, and his taste is unexceptionable. The image Renoir is
evoking, that of a young woman in a pool in the act of splashing a friend, is
trivial, both in the final finished work and in the reworking of the theme he

did many years later. That it seems so is only because Renoir was not the man
to turn his washerwomen into Demeters and his bathing girls into images from
Olympus; they stubbornly remain Limogeoises. In this great drawing - great
both in size and in execution - the image is one of a girl's body which will remain
forever as Renoir saw it: young, hardy, and infinitely graceful.
Bequest of Kate L. Brewster.

Georges Seurat (1859-1891) French

Trees on the Bank of The Seine, c. 1884/85
Conte crayon, 24J x 18^ in (62.0 x 47.1 cm)
Ace. no. 1955.184
This large drawing is a study for Seurat's masterpiece, Sunday afternoon on the
island of La Grande^Jatte, also in the Art Institute (see p. 92). The picture was
most carefully constructed by Seurat after many small studies for the final
version and such black and white studies as this for the various parts. Here one
may see that he has studied the tree forms he needed, but he has stopped these
forms where the figures were to impinge in the finished picture.
This drawing is austere in its simplicity, and Seurat's concept of form is

simple to the point of bareness. What

concerned with in this study as in
he is

all his studies is the representation of forms as they are seen emergent from dark'
ness, forms barely outlined but, rather, felt, as areas in light and ultimately in
colors. In this case he is not interested in landscape as such, but rather in land'
scape as an adjunct to a much greater whole. Seurat's aim was to understand
each piece of landscape and each figure so well that when he finally put them
together they together created not only a harmonious whole but a great
work of art.
Seurat has taken his rather difficult medium of conte crayon and made it

describe beautiful variations of tonality and the implications of form in space.

The drawing affords the viewer a close-up glimpse into the interior of Seurat's
work.
greatest
The drawing was acquired for the Joseph and Helen Regenstem Collection.

160
•

» .»,* ,,.»^.
 ,
r
Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) Dutch
Groue of Cypresses, 1889
Ink and reed pen over pencil, 25! x 18^ in (65.2 x 46.5)
Ace. no. 1927.543
This drawing counts as a very late work in van Gogh's pathetically short
career. Technically it is of great interest, for one's first impression is that it was
dashed off at breakneck speed. A consideration of how it was done suggests
that van Gogh was deliberate and self-conscious in his method. He first

sketched the whole scene in pencil, very lightly indeed. Then upon this lightly
achieved lay^in, he proceeded to execute the drawing with a reed pen and ink.
The evidence is that, thoughthe drawing was probably done relatively quickly,
itwas by no means an automatic production done without any consideration.
His measured strokes of the pen may have had some intuitive motivation, but
they were not accomplished either mechanically or without awareness. Rather,
they may be seen to be completely self-conscious and aware. He was transform^
ing the growth pattern of the cypresses for himself and, so, for his viewer. Nor

162
is it for nothing that Vincent had looked at Japanese prints, been deeply
moved by them, and learned from their example. The disposition of the
background landscape, the house, and the cloud patterns of the sky show just
how much Vincent had responded to the Japanese printmakers.
Gift of Robert Allerton.

Paul Cezanne (1839-1906)

906) French
Montague^ Sainte' Victoire

Watercolor on paper, 3ix20^ in (34.7x53.1 cm)

Ace. no. 1964.199
The great mountain in Provence was one of Cezanne's favorite subjects, and
one can trace the development and changes in his style by studying his success
sive views of the place. In fact, the Montagne^Sainte^ Victoire is a rather dull,
lumpish, gravelly piece of mountainside, but somehow Cezanne always
manages - even in his earliest, most tentative views - to lend the scene grandeur
and nobility. In this watercolor he not only makes the scenery noble - his
recreation of Poussin out of nature, in his own phrase - he also demonstrates
the precise nature of his style in his maturity: spots and touches of color laid
down to suggest the reality of light and air which envelops solid forms. He is as
concerned by the space around the objects he is rendering as he is with the
objects themselves; in his passion to communicate the solidity of the objects -
be they apples, rocks, or people - he equally had to communicate the emptiness
of space itself. It is the confrontation between the solid and the void, expressed
in terms of luminous color, that creates the magic of Cezanne's world.
Bequest of the fourth Marshall Field.
Winslow Homer (1836-1910) American
Gulfstream
Watercolor, n| 20yg in (28.9 / 51.0 cm)
Ace. no. 1933. 1241
Winslow Homer was one of the most influential of late nineteentlvcentury
American painters. Initially he earned his living as an illustrator - he covered
the Civil War for Harper's Weekly - but after 1875 devoted himself exclusively
to painting. Many of his pictures have a strong narrative quality which might
be a result of his journalist days. After a visit to England in 1881-82 he
returned to violent realistic paintings connected with the sea. Later he developed
an impressionistic watercolor technique.
There is a version of this work in oils (now in the Metropolitan Museum).
In the watercolor shown here the theme - a doomed man clinging to the deck
of a wrecked sailing vessel and menaced by sharks - is simple and compressed.

The image is reduced to itsand most abstract elements, so that one is

simplest
first aware of the two-dimensional pattern and only secondarily of the threes

dimensional shape of the listing boat and the beautifully rendered form of the
man, reclining on the deck rather like an antique river god finally one becomes
;

aware of the menacing form of the shark and thus of the narrative implications
of the picture.
Homer, more thanany other American painter, made watercolor his medium,
and it is as a watercolonst that he is at this best. He managed to avoid the merely

pretty and trivial - a danger of this medium - and did not fall into the trap of
adapting the techniques of oil painting to watercolor.
Mr and Mrs Martin A. Ryerson Collection.

164
Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) Spanish
Fernande Olivier, 1906
Charcoal, 24 x 18 in (61.0x45.8 cm)
Ace. no. 195 1. 210
Picasso in his rose period (so called from his prevailing use of warm beiges and
soft rose) achieved a gentle mode of expression which transformed the senti'
ment, not to say sentimentality, of his blue period into a kind of expression
which used simple studio episodes of nudes and figures put together with but
the simplest of narrative gestures. He also in this time did a number of impressive
portraits, many of his mistress, Fernande Olivier. These rose period portraits
are Picasso's first gesture towards a monumental style, and this portrait is a
remarkable example of this impulse towards monumentality. Fernande, who
was, if her photographs are an accurate guide, a rather plump, affable^seeming,
hulkish woman, is here transformed into an almost hieratic image with some/

thing of the qualities of a piece of painted wood sculpture. Picasso has already
begun to alter the facial structure for poetic license, and as a likeness it bears
more resemblance to his other pictures of Fernande than it apparently did to
Fernande herself.
Gift of Hermann Waldeck.
Umberto Boccioni (i 882-1916) Italian
Ines, 1909
Pencil, 15 x 15^ in (38.2 x 39.5 cm)
Ace. no. 1967.244
Umberto Boccioni, whom Marcel Duchamp called the 'Prince of Futurism',
was one of the leading exponents and the chief theoretician ofFuturistic painting.
The theory was that art should depict the dynamism and speed of modern life
and that this should be done by showing simultaneously several states which
actually occur consecutively in life.

Boccioni did not develop his theories until 1910 when, together with Balla,
Carra, Russolo, and Severini, he compiled his 'Manifesto ofFuturistic Painting'.
The present drawing, done in 1909, is still in the traditional style. Except for

66
some details - the repeated lines of the shading upon the jaw and the side of the
nose - this drawing could have been done in the nineteenth century. This is
particularly true of the handling of the eyes and the hair. It is an attractive and
probably true'to'life portrait, but it hardly suggests the kind of painting which
Boccioni was later to create.

Gift of Margaret Blake.

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) Spanish

Figure
Gouache on cardboard, 24J x 19 in (63.0 x 48.3 cm)
Ace. no. 1953.192
This figure is typical of Picasso's work of the years 1907-08. He had by then
discovered the forms of African tribal art, and thesehad an overwhelming
effect upon him. In the years immediately before this, he had been haunted by
the shapes of old Iberian sculptureand had invented, through their example, a
kind of archaistic formal expression which remains both beautiful and calm.
Then the effect of his Fauvist contemporaries, as well as the example of the
African tribesmen, transformed his expression.
What Picasso has done is to see forms in terms quite comparable to those of
the African carver. But it must be remembered that the process of seeing was
quite different for the Spanish master: he perceived the forms of his models in
terms of a traditional, anonymous, tribal expression, whereas the African
sculptor was seeing the forms of his concept in terms of three-dimensional
ideograms. Picasso was seeing the anatomy of sitters in terms of the sculptor's
realized ideograms, which is by no means the same thing.
The influence of this traditional and tribal art upon Picasso's style was
crucial, not to say explosive. Up to the moment of its impact he had been an
enormously talented minor figure, haunted by Toulouse-Lautrec, by the Pre^
Raphaelites, by his own divagations upon Puvis de Chavannes, and by his
reactions to Spanish village life. His reactions to African art, as shown in this
drawing (and best seen in his Demoiselles d 'Avignon), set off a visual explosion
which was the first of his transformations of Western art.
The drawing was given by Mrs Wolfgang Schoenborn and Samuel A.
Marx.

PlET MONDRIAN (1872-1944) Dutch

Composition, 191 3-14
Black chalk, 24J x 19 in (63.0 x 48.3 cm)
Ace. no. 1968.15

Mondnan began as an old-fashioned painter of scenery, but his style shows a

consistent development in the direction of increased abstraction. His removal

to Paris in 19 10 brought him into contact with Cubism; and with van
Doesburg he was a founder of the Dutch group known as de Stijl.
This drawing was done after he had been in Pans for three years and was
already under the strong influence of Cubism. But whereas his earlier works
had been highly geometric in their structure, especially when he was painting
trees, and whereas the Cubists always kept a reference to some real scene or

subject, Mondrian has here abandoned any reference to the external world.
He has, rather, given the spectator a structure of lines of varying weights and
lengths which might refer back to some visual experience but are, in fact, lines
adjusted to each other for their own What Mondrian has achieved, just
sake.
a few years afterKandinsky had done something similar in intention, is to
create a picture which is a visual structure of and for itself without any reference
to an episode of human experience. The drawing is not just abstract, it is

non'objective.
In this drawing Mondrian has broken down his picture surface into a
personal realm, and was well on the way to his abstractions of the twenties and
thirties.

The drawing was bought from the Grant J. Pick Memorial Fund.

168
 Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) Spanish
Nessus and Dejanira, 1920
Silverpoint on prepared paper, 8^x io| in (21.3 x io| cm)
Ace. no. 1965.783
This is a capital drawing very early in Picasso's Neo-classical phase. His stay
in Italy during the First World War seems to have impressed him, and his
encounter with Etruscan mirror/backs provided him with a revised attitude
towards line drawing. The only problem is that everything has always come to
Picasso with almost disastrous ease. It is the very ease with which he works that
seems occasionally to have given Picasso a pre^conscious motivation to try
something difficult, or, in this case, to make something colossally easy into
something hard. Accordingly, he has altered the anatomical structure of
Dejanira into a complete impossibility and yet quite imaginable. Further, he
has made Nessus seemingly out of movable marble. There is also in this drawing
a very early example of what was to recur many times in Picasso's work: a
strong element of the comic.
In his use of an ancient, even archaic, medium, Picasso has also returned
toan archaic style. This action is parcel to his rediscovery of a lost antiquity or,
more accurately, his invention of a highly personalized kind of antiquity which
never actually existed at all.

The drawing was bought for the Clarence Buckingham Collection.

.
-
fcdhi

-
Arshile Gorky (1904-1948) American
The Artist's Mother, 1936
Charcoal, 24J x I9g in (63.0 x 48.5 cm)
Ace. no. 1965.510
Gorky was pathetically late in finding himself as an artist. He was of Armenian
birthand came to the United States when still young. Throughout his career,
his work was an amalgam of many influences, and much of the time these
influences seemed undigested. Yet, no matter how obvious the influences
have seemed, there is a personal note in Gorky's work which is always com/
pelling. It is often a note of elegiac tenderness, but can also be one of demonic fury.
This drawing, which is a study of Gorky's mother, was done for his finest
early painting, c. 1935-36, which represents himself as a boy standing by his
mother. The picture, which exists in two versions, was done from a snapshot.
What Gorky did with his camera source was to transform it and to render it in
terms which are at once heroic and commonplace. The mother is clad in simple
Armenian country clothes. In Gorky's hands these become reminiscent of the
primordial raiment of an earth goddess, and also, not surprisingly, of something
left over from Byzantine times.

The drawing was acquired for the Worcester Sketch Collection.

17]
PHOTOGRAPHY

William Henry Fox Talbot (i 800-1 877) English

Lacock Abbey Cloisters, c. 1842
Calotype, 6^ x 8^ in (16.5 x 20.6 cm)
Ace. no. 1967.155
Fox Talbot was one of the earliest photographers, and this calotype illustrates
the brilliance withwhich he used the mysterious new medium. Unlike some
early photographers, he was not trying to reproduce the appearance and style of a
painting. What he was trying to do was to get representations through photo'
graphy which were valid and true. As he was both a man of taste as well as
sensibility, his results are of great beauty, because they record the truth of the
world of the Victorian gentry as it affected their eye. The viewer today can still,
thanks to Fox Talbot and his camera, know how the world looked to the eye
of a Victorian gentleman in the middle of the nineteenth century.
This print was brought from a gift of the BlunvKovler Foundation.

172
ORIENTAL ART

Late Shang or Early Chou Dynasties (i2th-ioth century bc)

Food vessel, called a Kuei Chinese
Bronze with patination, H. 9^ in (23.5 cm)
Ace. no. 1963.15
This vessel, which seems tobe transitional in date from the Shang to the Chou
period, has exceptionally handsome handles with zoomorphic heads which
suggest, in highly stylized form, the faces of bats. The vessel supposedly held
food, although it is by no means clear what kind, nor precisely for what purpose
it was intended. However, the uncertainty does not detract from the beauty of
the piece, nor, incidentally, does its present patination. But no matter how
much modern connoisseur admires the patination and discoloration of the
the
bronze, this is not how it was conceived nor intended to appear.
The vessel came with the collection of Dr Edith B. Farnsworth.

Shang Dynasty (before 1028 bc) Chinese

Wine vessel, called a Lei
Bronze with patination, H. 17J in (45.2 cm)
Ace. no. 1938.17

Lei are large bronze bowls or vases which, according to the ritual texts, were
used for wine or water. Pottery versions have been found and there is a par/
ticularly famous lei made of the characteristic kaolinic white stoneware of
Anyang in the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington.
The lei shown here is said to have been excavated at the site of the Shang

capital of Anyang. (It was here that the Shang bronzes were excavated in
first

1928 to 1934.) The handles at the neck and the loop nearer the base were
probably to facilitate pouring. On the inside of the lid there is a cicada cast in
high relief and the knob on the top has traces of an inlay within the interstices of
the ornament. Through chemical action from exposure to the soil the metal has
turned a cool silver-grey with a few touches of deposits of malachite and
azurite.
The piece is part of the Lucy Maud Buckingham Collection.

174
Second Half of Eastern Chou Dynasty (480-222 bc) Chinese
Covered wine vessel called a Ho
Bronze with patination, H. 10^ in (25.7 cm)
Ace. no. 1930.366

Ho are vessels in the shape of kettles or teapots and were probably used for pre/

paring wine or other liquids. Standing on three legs, this particular ho appears
to have been designed for heating the liquids, since it could be stood over a fire;

the hinged lid on would prevent evaporation.

the spout
There are various humanoid figures as decoration, as well as a monkey for
the lid knob, an elongated cat form to make the handle of the vessel, and a bird's
head forming the spout. The body is further ornamented with copper inlays
which would have made a contrast of pink metal against the silvery body of the
bronze itself.

The vessel is part of the Lucy Maud Buckingham Collection.

Han Dynasty (206 bc-ad 221) Chinese

Jar for wine storage, called a Hu
Bronze, H. 17^ in (45.2 cm)
Ace. no. 1927.315

Hu are among the largest Chinese bronze vessels. Their basic features are a
lowslung belly, sloping shoulders, a tall neck and a slightly flared and rather
narrow mouth. They usually have ring handles. They were wine vessels but

176
were sometimes used for storing food. There are also pottery versions of this
form.
The piece shown here is gilded, with silver^colored parts said to have been
created by coloring the parts to be silver with mercury. (The technique used is

not known for certain, nor is though it may have been

that used for the gilding,
the mercury gilding process which was standard practice throughout the world
until the end of the nineteenth century.) The predominance of dragon motifs
suggests that the piece was made for imperial usage. It seems once to have had
a lid.
The companion to this great vessel is in the Grenville L. Winthrop

Collection of the William Hayes Fogg Museum, Harvard University.

This piece came as part of the Lucy Maud Buckingham Collection.
Late Han Dynasty (ad 9-221) Chinese
Statuettes of Dancers
Painted pottery, H. 6^, 6^ in (15.8, 17.5 cm)
Ace. no. 1954.478
In early China it was usual for a man's wives, concubines, servants, horses, and
other animals to be buried with him when he died, since it was believed that,
in his new life after death, he would need all the people and things essential to
him in this life. Later, however, living sacrifices were replaced by clay models
which were cheap and readily available. Of course, these models, plus the
household goods which were often also buried with the deceased, constitute an
excellent historical record of the time.
These little figures with their traces of paint are reduced to almost completely
conventionalized and abstract shapes. It may be that they represent musicians
without their instruments rather than dancers, perhaps taking part in a funeral
ceremony. In spite of the stylization one can get some idea of the dress and
appearance of people at the time.

These were given by Russell Tyson.

178
Late Eastern Chou Dynasty (c. 600-200 bc) Chinese
Ring disc, called a Pi
Jade,D. 8 in (20.3 cm)
Ace. no. 1950.602
Among the most beautiful and sophisticated of all Chinese productions in jade
are the ring discs called/)/. They developed very early in Chinese culture and by
the time of the Late Chou period the quality of the surface carving as well as the
forms employed were of the most elegant. But the significance of the pieces is

not known. Pi refers simply to all perforated stone discs, other than rings,
bracelets or spindle whorls; it might have been a ritual object in connection
with the worship of the sun and moon; on the other hand, it might have been a
mortuary object, in which case its prototype was a tool, perhaps a disc'shaped
shaft'hole axe.
This pi is ornamented with a band of interlocked forms composed of
articulated reeds with alternating feline and bird heads. The inner zone is
composed of scak'like shapes. The character of the shapes is certainly partly
determined by the exigencies of cutting the jade, one of the most intractable
stones. This particular piece has the cloudy patterning and coloration which
was and is especially esteemed by Chinese connoisseurs.

The piece came as part of the Edward and Louise B. Sonnenschein

Collection.
Late Eastern Chou Dynasty (c. 660-222 bc) Chinese
Kneeling Prisoner
Steatite (?), H. 7J in (19.7
cm)
Ace. no. 1950.671
In the Far East, jade has always been regarded as a precious stone and the fact of
its preciousness has sometimes taken precedence over the forms into which it has
been rendered. In this carving, however, the forms themselves are more
important than the material out of which they are cut, although the dark color
of this piece is in itself of great beauty.
This piece is rendered with great simplicity and the relationships of the
various parts to each other and to the whole are perfectly harmonious. The
representation of the bound and submissive male figure is austere but touching
in spite of its impersonality, perhaps even by reason of it. Whether this was the
sentiment the artist intended to evoke and whether his contemporaries saw the
prisoner as an object for scorn rather than pity, we do not of course know.
The piece came as part of the Edward and Louise B. Sonnenschein
Collection.

180
 T'ang Dynasty (ad 618-906) Chinese
Tomb figure of a Horse
Glazed pottery, H. 30^ in (77.5 cm)
Ace. no. 1943.1136
Of all ceramic grave goods produced in ancient China, the most popular single
type among of a century, large-scale
collectors has been, for three-quarters
animals, particularly horses. This unique and particularly splendid
is a
example. It combines the techniques of glazed and fired coloring with that of
hand painting upon white slip. The glaze colors embody the typical T'ang
combination of brown, green, blue and yellow. Parts of the figure, especially
the ornaments of the trappings, appear to have been mold'cast and then applied.
The real charm of such figures is and truth of the
the extraordinary intensity
potter's observation of natural This horse with its finely trimmed mane
reality.

and cropped tail is observed in the process of bending down to its hoof. It is
remarkable for the accuracy of the anatomical detail; one sees the musculature
and bone structure observed as carefully as in a drawing by Leonardo.
This piece was given by Russell Tyson.

;;
T'ang Dynasty (ad 6i 8-906) Chinese
Standing Warrior
Painted pottery with traces of gilt, H. 38 in (96.5 cm)
Ace. no. 1943.1139
In contrast to the crude pieces shown on p. 178, this truly grand figure must be
considered as a piece of sculpture and was probably made for the tomb of an
important person. In its present state, with much of its paint and gilding gone,
it is rather hard to see just how noble the final surface forms must have been.
Perhaps only in the face, which still retains substantial traces of its painted
decoration, can one see just how luxurious a production this was.
The concept of the warrior or guardian figure is ancient in both East and
West, and in the T'ang period the image becomes a noble rather than a
horrendous one.
This piece was the gift of Russell Tyson.
 ^ 1 A

Unknown Painter, Sung Dynasty (ad 960-1279) Chinese

Palace Musicians
Handscroll, ink and colors on silk, i6\ 72^ in 42.0 184.2 cm
Ace. no. 1950. 1370
This scroll reveals the qualities of the typical Sung handscroll which illustrates

scenes of domestic life. The attitude towards the representation of space and the
forms seen within space is typically Chinese. It is important to remember that
throughout the political and cultural upheavals of Chinese history, a cultural
continuity did survive, so that, for the great part, changes in artistic style are at

most evolutionary, and only rarely cases of revolutionary innovation. The

natural habit of Chinese thought since the time of Confucius himself has been
essentially conservative and dedicated to the preservation of traditional values.
Thus, behind the traditions which this scroll embodies, lies the convention of
painting and representation in the T'ang period, and behind that epoch were
traditions which certainly went back to the Han dynasty. This does not mean
that styles did not change, for, of course, they did; but traditions changed vary
slowly.
The women represented on this scroll are seen with their attributes of
musical instruments. The method of perspective projection, pragmatically
Chinese in invention, is close enough to the Western method known as
isometric. That is, as forms recede into space they do not diminish in size but
are merely moved upward on the picture surface and at a constant angle. There
isno attempt to model in tone. Rather, the forms are presented flatly, defined
linearly, and rendered with flat tones of color.
The scroll was acquired for the Kate S. Buckingham Collection.

183
 +. - 1

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Ch'en Ju'Yen
A (active 1
.-~i-

340-1 3 80) Chinese

A Hermitage
Hanging scroll, ink on paper, 34^ -
19 in (88.3 / 48.3 cm)
Ace. no. 1961.222
From about ad iooo on, landscape as a category became a leading form of
pictorial expression in China.
The technique in this scroll is simple and consists merely of brushed'in
passages of various tones of grey ink. But the virtuosity of the brushwork, which
is expressed not only in linear touches but also in broad patches, is masterly.
What the artist has done is to set up, through the typically Chinese version
of isometric perspective, the scheme of an entire section of a mountainous land'
scape. The viewer can examine not only the rock formations with the foliated
bits but also the growth and even the species of various sorts of trees. More
impressive, because more simply done, is the feeling of a mountain pass in the

184
far distance. Only after careful scrutiny does one discover that the hermit on his
way to the hermitage is to be seen in profile perdu at the bottom center of the
picture. He is a tiny part of the picture, and, paradoxically, its entire reason for
being. The whole heart of the Chinese attitude towards the awesome aspect of
nature and man's relative significance may be noted in this small detail.
The scroll was bought for the Kate S. Buckingham Collection.

T'axg Yix (1470-1523) Chinese

Drinking at Night
Handscroll, ink on paper, 13 35 in (33.0 •
88.9 cm)
Ace. no. 1955.761

T'ang Yin was one of the most eminent painters of the Ming period. He
painted a variety of subjects, some of which, like the genre pictures of the pleasure
quarters of Suchou, were probably executed with the prospective buyer in mind.
His works were repeated in the earliest woodblock prints.
In this landscape, the artist has handled his medium with great skill and
subtlety. One can see the inviting pavilion standing in its grove on a hillside,
below which there is a small waterfall. The cloud layer with the moon just
shining through, and the paler streak of sky running right across the picture,
suggest a calm, damp evening. The whole picture is most evocative. Reading
the scroll as a handscroll should be read, section by section, is like wandering

through the landscape itself.

Severely limited though he was by the use of black ink on paper, the artist

has, by implication, managed to suggest the feeling of color as well as atmo'

sphere. This is a phenomenon which is rather rare in the West - one thinks of
Rembrandt's prints, or the black and white drawings of Manet or Tiepolo, for
something roughly comparable - but it was a normal occurrence in Chinese
painting.
The quality and importance of the painting is noted by the presence of the
various collectors' seals on the surface of the scroll.
This scroll was acquired through a gift of the Joseph and Helen Regenstein
Foundation.

*}I
$& c**
mm ,

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Ch'en ChI'Ju (1558-1637) Chinese

Cfl/Z/jW/j/jy

Ink on gilt>spattered paper 7^ 20^ in (18.5 x 51.5 cm)

Ace. no. 1941.1034
Chinese collectors have always valued elegant calligraphy not only for what it
says but for the elegance of the brushwork. The discipline and the freedom with
which fine calligraphy is done have always aroused intense admiration among
educated Chinese people, and certainly by the Ming dynasty it had become a
recognized craft expression in itself (not that the literary content was ever
ignored).
To Western eyes calligraphy beautifully done is one of the most appealing
and, at thesame time, awe-inspiring forms of Chinese pictorial expression. It
is the 'pure' character of the calligraphy which appeals to sophisticated Western

taste, and familiarity with calligraphy such as is found on this fan helps to

explain the popularity of certain American painters of the 1950s. However, it

must be remembered that no matter how extravagant the form of Chinese
calligraphy may have been, it always remained calligraphy, whose primary
function was the communication of ideas by way of simple writing. In other
words it was always expression for a specific purpose and never for itself alone.
The fact that it is an alien written tongue has given it an immunity from having
to mean anything extrinsically to a Westerner; to an educated Chinese the
written content, in fact, may be so compelling that the very beauty of the
calligraphy itself becomes irrelevant.
This fan was acquired for the S.M. Nickerson Collection in 1941.

186
LAN Yixg (i 578-1660) Chinese
Landscape
Album leaf, ink and color on paper, 12 16 in (30.5 40.8 cm
Ace. no. 1958.395

This little picture is one of a set of eight album leaves done deliberately in the
styles of other artists. They represent Lan's reaction to much earlier modes o(
expression, in this instance the aestheticism of the Late Sung dynasty manner;
but the various leaves, particularly this one, have independent importance as
works of art.
This is one of the purest examples of the scope of the traditional Chinese
method of painting in simple washes of ink with a few broad brushstrokes to
indicate, through the gentlest implication, the details of the landscape. It is a

mode which is actually extremely difficult, for there is a real temptation to fall

into mere mannerism, into calligraphic brushwork for its own sake, or simple
preciosity. But Lan has avoided each of these pitfalls, and even though this was
a kind of academic exercise, even, perhaps, a pastiche, it is a lovely evocation
not only of a past manner and master but also of the beautiful Chinese country'
side. The sense of speedily moving cloud and fog banks is lightly suggested, as

is the presence of the house beyond the copse.

This leafand the other seven in the series were bought for the S. M. Nickerson
Collection.

f 5.1
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I
Unknown Artist, Ch'ing Dynasty (1644-1912) Chinese
Carved Lacquer Box
Lacquer, D. 14 in (35.7 cm)
Ace. no. 1961.65
Chinese lacquer is the natural juice of the lac tree, a native originally of China,
today found also in Annam, Korea, and Japan. After preparation, its qualities
are an almost unbelievable resistance to water, as well as to heat and acidity. It

therefore excels as a protective envelope and as a vehicle for surface decoration.

The use of lacquer goes back at least as far as the Late Chou period, and
because of its preserving qualities, lacquer goods are usually in remarkably
good condition, even after having been buried in the earth for centuries.
When hard, lacquer can be cut, carved, or engraved with as much pre^
cision as ivory. This type of work reached its climax during the eighteenth
century, especially in the time of the Emperor Ch'ien Lung, although some of
the loveliest furniture ever made is that crafted in white lacquer during the Ming
dynasty in thefirst half of the seventeenth century.

This box represents just how luxurious an object can be fabricated from
lacquer. The color, cinnabar red, is of the most elegant, and the carving and
chiseling of the surface, into a breathtakingly complex surface which represents
a pattern of landscape, are of themost competent technical authority. This box
represents the kind of prototype of thousands of mass-produced cigarette boxes
of the last century.
Given by Mr and Mrs Philip Pinsof.
Ch'ing Dynasty (
1644-1912) Chinese
C :.:."

boo with painted details, H. 3- in 94c cm)

Ace no. 196". 346

Westerners, especially British and American, have ?;en so many pieces of

furniture of vaguely Chmese inspiration that a real piece of Chinese furniture is

always faintly surprising to them. It is one forgets how improbably

so because
fragile^seeming it can be in spite of its real toughness of construction. It may also
surprise because Chinese furniture - particularly of the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries - is frecjuendy very beautiful. This chair, one ofa pair, is no
exception. The Ch:r.; ; wen ipparendy the only Far Eastern people who sat
;

on stools or chairs rather than on the floor.; For all its apparent fragility, it is,
in fact, not only strongly built but designed to take the hardest of usage. It is

also built to be comfortable even in the context of formal living. It seems to have
all the qualities the Chinese considered essential in the making of rumiture:
functionahsm, simplicity, strength and symmetry.
The piece is not only ^t>:;r.ed in terms of the structural possibilities of
bamboo as a medium, but also in terms of variations in size of the pieces of

^
bamboo. The relation of small and tiny^scaled ornament to the larger areas
of the chair is skillfully accomplished, as is the organization of the various
parts of the chair.
WhenChinese furniture was done with a light touch, that touch was of
gossamer elegance, and this piece is a fine example of the mode. It may lack the

formal grandeur of a great white lacquer table of the Ming dynasty, but it has a
grace and elegance more than enough to compensate for its lack of bulk.
Given by Josephine P. Albright in memory of her mother, Alice H.
Patterson.

Koryo Dynasty (13th century) Korean

Vase
Pottery, H. 10* in (26.0 cm)
Ace. no. 1964.957
The Koryo dynasty (918-13 92) was founded half a century before the Chinese
Sung dynasty and lasted just over a century after it collapsed. Chinese influence
was strong, and Korean celadons owe their inspiration to the Yiieh wares of the
Chekiang province. In fact Korean potters may well have been taught by the
Chinese. Towards the end of the tenth century the celadons produced were
crude, but within a century the Koreans had mastered the technique. In the
twelfth century they invented the technique of inlaying different colored clays to
produce black and white decorations on their celadon wares. This type of ware
is unique to Korea, and here we have a fine example. Note that the artist has

used standard Chinese motifs - dragons, birds, stylized plants - but the pre/
sentation is unmistakably not Chinese. The cool grey^green of the celadon is
handsomely set off by the finely inlaid lines of dark grey and off'white.
The piece came as the bequest of Russell Tyson.

Koryo Dynasty (13th century) Korean

Ewer
Pottery, H. 10 in (25.5 cm)
Ace. no. 1964.950

This piece repeats the shape and surface of a bamboo ewer in the fictile material
not oftvhand a promising imitation. In fact, the piece is extremely elegant in
form and lovely in the color of its glaze. Perhaps its most attractive feature is the
design of the bamboo shoots carved upon it almost at random. This design
restates the facts of the bamboo tree and its uses in terms of real charm.
This piece was bequeathed by Russell Tyson.

190
Unknown Artist, Nara Period (ad 710-784) Japanese
Seated Bosatsu Figure
Lacquered wood, 24 x 17 in (61.0 x 43.3 cm)
Ace. no. 1962.356
During T'ang dynasty, Chinese influence spread throughout
the era of the great
Japan cities were built in Chinese style, and Chinese manners
the Far East. In
and modes became the standards of civilized behavior.
Bosatsu is the Japanese word for Bodhisattva - a being whose merit,
acquired through countless lives, is so great that he becomes a deity of bounteous
compassion, and whose wisdom is such that he is the essence of perfect know'
ledge. In this Bosatsu the Chinese inspiration is evident, yet the idol has an
uncomplicated sincerity which is typical of Japanese religious sculpture. In its

present state, with its gilded and painted surface cracked and coated with
encrustations of dirt and dried incense smoke, it is not easy to imagine it as it
originally was - the absolute elegance of the surface combined with the utmost
suavity and sophistication of form. Yet the statue still transmits a sense of
restrained power and compassion.
The piece was bought for the Kate S. Buckingham Collection.

Unknown Artist, Late Heian Period (9th century) Japanese

Seated Hachiman
Wood, H. 21 in (53.5 cm)
Ace. no. 1960.755
The Late Heian period, also known as the Fujiwara period from the name of
the powerful family, lasted from 898 to 1 185. From 894 all regular embassies to
China had stopped and Japanese cultural life developed along independent
lines. Buddhism, however, remained the main religion, although it was
to undergo considerable change and to become much less severe.
It is interesting to compare this figure ofHachiman, Shinto God of War,

depicted as Bosatsu, with the preceding figure which still has some of its paint.
This figure, in its stripped state, presents a more purely sculptural aspect for the
Westerner. But the beauty obtained from the pattern of the wood in relation
to the forms is accidental and not part of the artist's image, which was con/
sidered in terms of color and gilding upon the surface of the lacquer coating.
By visualizing the figure with its paint and gilding, it will be seen that it really
resembles the preceding figure to an astonishing degree. The similarity is partly
iconographic, but is also partly due to the conservatism in style over a century.
The wrapped robe represents the garment traditionally worn by Siddartha
(the early name of the Buddha) after his enlightenment. It is here rendered with
broad and flat folds.
This piece was bought through a gift of the Joseph and Helen Regenstein
Foundation.

Unknown Artist, Kamakura Period (i 185-1392) Japanese

Guardian Figure
Painted wood with paste inlays, H. 36^ in (92.8 cm)
Ace. no. 1958.120
This figure of a supernatural warnor/guardian represents the activist motif in
Japanese sculpture. The preceding figures, which represent contemplative
images, are rendered to suggest serenity and inwardness. But the Japanese
sculptor was also quite capable of portraying a figure of violence or power. The
emphasis here is upon musculature heavily developed, with the implication of
power that such development implies. There is the sense of bulk and mass as
well, with a careful definition of aspects of anatomy. (Especially notable are the
bulging arteries of the upraised right arm.)
If the feeling of weight and hulking form is defined by the proportions of the
figure, the feeling of motion is implied only in the billowing ends of the sash
and wavy locks of the hat. Motion is also suggested by the gesture of the
the
figure which implies that moment of inaction which precedes a violent action.
The painted surface was designed not only to increase the ornamental sense
of the statue but also to enhance its evocative aspects. The piece in its present
state, still covered with dirt and the coagulated and dried incense smoke, makes
it hard to realize that the figure was designed to be ferocious in all its implications.
The piece was bought for the Kate S. Buckingham Collection in 1958.

194
»sMk
Unknown Artist (14th century) Japanese
Shika Mandara
Hanging scroll, watercolor, ink and gilt on silk, 49! x 20 in (125.5 "
5°-9 cm)
Ace. no. 1960.314
A mandara is a diagrammatic representation of Buddhist theology - mysteries
which words cannot express are revealed in visual form. The mandaras were
essential in the ritual of certain Buddhist sects.

It is possible to see Chinese prototypes in this scroll, but the character of the
lines and forms is peculiarly Japanese. The ornamental quality and the refine^
ment of the image are typically Japanese; notice the pipe^stem thinness of the
legs of the deer and the linearity of its antlers. The size of the animal in relation
to the landscape details is also of interest - it is quite clear that this is an ideal,

conceptual image and not a piece of naturalistic observation.

The scroll was bought for the Kate S. Buckingham Collection.

196
Unknown Artist (14th century) Japanese
The Priest Kobo Daishi as a Child
Hanging scroll, watercolors, ink and gilt on silk, 34^ 19^ in (86.6 49.0 cm)
Ace. no. 1959.552
Kobo Daishi (774-835) was the founder and exponent of the Shingon or True
Word sect of Buddhism. In this picture he is shown as a child of five or six when
he dreamed that he knelt upon a lotus and desired to converse with all the
Buddhas. The child's face has some of the characteristics of a portrait, even
though the image must be thought of as an ideal evocation rather than simple,
observed portraiture.
The concept of the image with its placement within a circle and its divorce
from ordinary reality is particularly Japanese, as is its relationship to the calli'
graphy which is placed within a field far above the image itself. Especially
Japanese, too, is the breaking up of any sense of three/dimensional reality into

197
a flattened and highly decorative scheme. This flattened and two-dimensional
world does not imply a rejection of solid forms in space, but, rather, a statement
about them in terms of image and concept instead of merely observed fact.
The use of color for decorative impact is appealing, even though the hues
and touches are obviously no longer as bright as they were when the scroll was
new. It is basically a luxurious and rich image which is evoked, and this
luxurious elegance is, again, typically Japanese.
The scroll was bought through a gift of the Joseph and Helen Regenstein
Foundation.

Sessox Shukei (1504- i 5 89) Japanese

Landscape of the Four Seasons
Six-Told screen, ink and color on paper, 6i| -
133 in (155.9 3 37-9 cm)
Ace. no. 1958.167
Sesson, an individualistic, self-taught artist is associated with places in the
provinces of Hitachi and Iwashiro in the northern part of Japan.
 This screen (like its companion) portrays a monumental vista of mountains
framing a harbor with its shipping and village life. Like the great Chinese
landscape painters before him, the artist has observed not only the reality of the
landscape but also the attendant phenomena of weather - the movement of
cloud banks and patches of fog, as well as the forms of the mountain structure
and those of the trees, are all delineated. Photographs of Japanese scenery will
show how accurate and completely observed this scene is.
The screen was a particularly grand object of decoration, especially within
the context of the rather austere Japanese house where its luxury could be
appreciated to the full. The fact that screens were viewed only occasionally
added to their impact. Their scale provides the closest analogy to large-scale
easel painting as it is known in the West. Actually, the screens are formed from
repeated scrolls which are laid out so that decoration on a monumental scale
becomes possible.
The screen and its mate were bought from a gift of the Joseph and Helen
Regenstein Foundation.
Shojo Shokado (15 84-1 63 9) Japanese
Plum and Bamboo
Hanging scrolls, ink with touches of color on paper, 46 12 in (1 16.9
30.5 cm)
Ace. no. 1964.283 a and b
This elegant pair of hanging scrolls represents a particularly Japanese frag/
mentation of reality- the concentration on a small fragment of experience, while
taking into consideration both material fact and episode.
In this case the material fact consists of a branch of prunus blossoms and the
shafts of bamboo plants with a little foliage just visible. The episode is that of a
small bird flying below the bamboo foliage. It is this savoring of a tiny episode
which is a characteristic of Japanese feelings about all experience.

200
 The technical mastery of the difficult medium is of the highest; the handling
of the ink to produce both the subtle gradations of tone and the softness of effect
is exemplary, as are the restraint and authority in the pair.
The scrolls were bought through a gift of the David T. Siegel Foundation.

Hoitsu (1761-1828) Japanese

Mandarin Ducks in theSnow
Twofold screen, color and gilt on paper, 67^ x 64^ in (171.1 X 164.5 cm )
Ace. no. 1957-244
By the period in which Hoitsu painted this twcfold screen, the earlier styles,
which were still essentially naturalistic in the intensity of observation, had yielded
to a more consciously stylized method which, though naturalistic in its intent,
had become flatly decorative. The sense of a late spring which has suddenly
covered the early blooming is still preserved, but it is stated without the con'
tinuing sense of wonder at natural phenomena which before had been a
characteristic of Japanese pictorial expression. The snow, the flowers seen
through it, the carefully noted ornithological details of the ducks are still
present, but one no longer feels that this presentation is a primary aim of the
painter. Rather, he has subordinated these details to make them a part of a greater
whole which is frankly decorative and elegant in its concept and in its motivation.
The decorative quality is emphasized through the use of the gold'flecked

background which, as with Sienese medieval panels, suddenly kills any

of the whole scene in favor of a static reality for itself alone.
illusionistic quality
For sheer luxury of effect it is hard to surpass a screen such as this one.
Gift of Robert Allerton.

Kiyonobu I ( 1 664-1 729) Japanese

The Actor Takii Hannosuke as a Wakashu, c. 17 10
Colored woodblock print, 22x11^ in (55.9 x 29.2 cm)
Ace. no. 1925. 1736
Kiyonobu I was a member of the Torii family, who traditionally designed the
billboards of the Kabuki theater (Kabuki being the more realistic and exciting
popular form of theater as opposed Noh).
to the aristocratic
This print, which is plausibly attributed to Kiyonobu on stylistic grounds,
was executed about 1710 and represents an actor, Takii Hannosuke, as a
wakashu wearing a sword and carrying a large straw hat. The brilliance of the
concept, is matched by the completely realized sense of what the tools of the
wood-engraver can accomplish. The forms are rendered in purely flat (though
textured) areas, but these areas are adjusted perceptively not only to recall the
flowing ink of the brushed lines on the woodblock but to suggest with the most
powerful conviction the movement of a highly trained actor at work in a
profession devoted to completely stylized movement and expression.
Though the art of the Japanese printmaker was a popular one, it did pre^
servemuch of the luxury and elegance of the painter. The tightening and
simplification which employed merely
the printmaker forced him to make his
work clearer in its and more economic in its expression than would
intention
have been the case had he executed it as a painting. But no matter what the
degree of simplification and stylization, the aim of the artist was always a clear
and direct evocation of local reality as he saw it.
Clarence Buckingham Collection.

202
Sugimura Jihei (active 1680-1697) Japanese
Lovers
Woodblock print, 10 14- in (25.5 36.3 cm)
Ace. no. 1967.375
The woodblock print technique can be traced back to the T'ang dynasty
in China when it was used for printing black and white iconographical
pictures. In Japan during the Fujiwara period woodblocks were used for
decorative papers which formed backgrounds for Buddhist texts. By the sevens
teenth and eighteenth centuries the Japanese had developed the art to perfection.
This print clearly illustrates the economic way in which the Japanese
printmaker achieved his goal. Behind each print there lay, of course, a brush
drawing, or in any case, the memory of one, and it is easy to see that the sharp
and smoothly flowing lines are derived from the equally smooth and flowing
flourishes of the brush which would have been placed on the woodblock itself.
But it is not merely the technical excellence and accommodation of the
pictorial concept to the medium which makes the print so impressive. For
beyond the structure and pictorial substance is the humanistic content and
simple narrative observation which compels even an alien audience of a far
different time from that of the artist. The languidly sensual attitude of the man
and the woman is admirably conveyed as is the luxury of their surrounding
which is indicated only by a superb screen. Probably the most beguiling touch
is the clear and convincing portrayal of a calico cat with a somewhat scrawny

but playful calico kitten.

The print was bought for the Clarence Buckingham Collection in 1967.
Anchi Kwaigetsudo (active 171 0-1720) Japanese
Standing Beauty
Colored woodblock print, 2i|x 11^ in (55.4 X 29.2 cm)
Ace. no. 1925. 1741
This print is even smoother and more limpid in its character than theKiyonobu.
It also evokes a physical presence, but it is a physical presence which is appre/
hended within the terms of an enveloping, luxurious, and stiff costume.
One of the slightly unexpected details is the male figure in a garden which is
embroidered upon the lining of the kimono on the subject's lower right side.
He may well be a poet, in which case the cursive script all over the dress
represents fragments of poetry. Pictures within pictures occur, of course, in
medieval and Renaissance European art and, occasionally, in such later works

as Monet's The Kimono which repeats in that artist's terms exactly the same
thing as seen in this print.
The effect of luxury is only part of the charm in Another and
this print.
equal part is the sense of a particular moment and space which is
in time
evoked with real intensity. And yet these prints were essentially articles produced
in volume rather than precious, individual objects.
Clarence Buckingham Collection.

205
Torii Kiyonaga (1752-1815) Japanese
Party at the Nakasuya, c. 1783
Colored woodblock print,
15J/ 20 in (3 8.8 x 50.9 cm)
Ace. no. 1925.2295
Torii Kiyonaga became the head of the fourth generation of the Torii family
(see p. as such he had to carry on the job of designing signboards and
202) and
However, his greatest achievements were his prints of famous beauties.
playbills.
This diptych was done around the year 1783 and represents an informal
social gathering. As with most other examples of the craft of the Japanese print/
maker, the viewer has a seemingly casual arrangement of the external world
which is, in fact, most carefully composed as a work of art. The spotting of the
dark areas is done to achieve an optical balance of the flat areas as well as to
reinforce the effect of the patches of color and the blacks of the patches of hair.
Again, as in other Japanese prints, the real importance, beyond mere matters
of artistic quality, lies in the faithful sense of observed reality. These prints were
intended to be completely realistic evocations of the observed, factual world,
with the meanings of that world to be understood in terms of eighteenth/
century Japan. In earlier European art, a rough parallel may be recalled in
Botticelli's Epiphany in Florence, which is also closely observed from the point
of view of natural fact, but done in terms of the most subtle organization. It is

this reordering of natural experience into purely visual terms, and in terms
adapted to the pnntmaker's craft, which gives Japanese prints their authority.
Clarence Buckingham Collection.
Toshusai Sharaku (active 1794-1795) Japanese
The Actor Morita Kanya VIII
Colored woodblock print, 12^ x x 24.8 cm)
9J in (31.8
Ace. no. 1934.232
Toshusai Sharaku is believed to have been a Noh actor at the court of Edo

(Tokyo). He made about 140 actor portraits- all within the span often months
(from May 1794 to February 1795). His portraits are remarkable for their
intensity - compare the contortion of the face in this portrait with the composed

207
expression of the face in Kiyonobu's picture on page 203. He presented these
figureswith the most searching scrutiny, obviously clearly and accurately
observed. But even in the apparent accuracy of his observation, Sharaku
always treated the faces as part of an impressive, even startling piece of two'
dimensional design. The paradox is that in his emphasis on the particular

reality of the visage, the artist emphasized the unreality of the image, its arti'
part of a world of make-believe.
ficiality, its

This particular print is an admirable specimen of the artist's style and shows
his talent for characterization. The gesture of the man is implied through the
folds of his kimono, and the jut of his jaw
emphasize the force of the
serves to
obviously clutched hands. The whitened masked images of the
face evokes the
theater and accentuates the expression of the eyes and eyebrows; the skull-cap
reemphasizes the effect. The final impact of the print is achieved through the
use of the close-up technique, that is, the figure is related to no environment
(Sharaku never gave his portraits backgrounds), merely to himself and his
craft and, so, to the spectator.

Clarence Buckingham Collection.

Kitagawa Utamaro (1753-1806) Japanese

Geisha and her Maid
Colored woodblock print, 15 < 10 in (38.2X 25.4 cm)
Ace. no. 1968.158

In this print it is possible to see not only Utamaro's remarkable technical refine^
ment and accomplishment but also his compelling sense of design structure.
One is presented with a fragment of reality which is not merely a fragment of
forms set kind of indefinite space, but also a fragment in time itself; for
into a
there is a clear emphasis on the chance event of the shower of rain through which
the women must move and are indeed moving.
Utamaro's special paradox in this print is his own intensely felt amalgam of
the two' and three-dimensional aspects which are cut, as it were, from context
and fused into his own individual kind of reality. But this emphasis upon a
tiny fragment of simple experience is not just part of Utamaro's repertory, it is
part of the whole Japanese outlook upon life itself and savoring of experience.
The sense of magic lies in his accomplishing of this fusion not only through
simple and direct representation, but also through rigorously schematized and
stylized devices. That is, rain does not normally appear as lines of direction, but
intellectually the spectator recognizes the reference so that they epitomize the
very wetness of a summer shower.
The print was given by Gaylord Donnelley.

208
PH^H^ k!
Kitagawa Utamaro (1753-1806) Japanese
The Hour of the Wild Boar, 1 o p.m. to 1 1 p.m.
Colored woodblock print, 15 x 10 in (38.2X 25.5 cm)
Ace. no. 1925. 3061
Utamaro ranks not only as one of the most famous of all Japanese printmakers
but also as one of the most distinguished. This print illustrates his virtues and
his technical facility. What he managed to do was to refine the technique of the
craftsman to a state it had not previously reached in the printmaker's art. But
the point about Utamaro's refinements is that they are not visible in themselves
but only as a means to the enhancement of the artist's aim.
The subtle adjustment of the weight of the line, as well of its character, is a
device which the artist has used in this print to express the niceties of detail in
the costume and the headdress. It is the extraordinary care with which these
technical adjustments are made that makes the viewer respond to the sense of the
women actually at work as well as to the details of their physical presence.
Clarence Buckingham Collection.

Torii Kiyonaga (1752-1815) Japanese

Women landing from a Pleasure Boat
Colored woodblock print, 1 5^ y 10^ in (39.5 x 26.0 cm)
Ace. no. 1925.261
This print is a triptych. The device was used to accommodate the scale of the
blocks of wood on ordinary occasions and, pre^
available to the craftsmen
sumably, to make production easier. In this instance, it makes for a particularly
spacious design with a remarkably intense sense of open space more or less in
normal terms, as Western eyes are used to interpreting the visible, real world.
The standard techniques of Oriental rendering seem to be at the minimum here,
and the result is one which emphasizes direct observation of the real world as it
was experienced at the end of the eighteenth century in Japan.
Clarence Buckingham Collection.

2^
YOSHITOSHI (1838-1892) Japanese
Japanese Girl in Western Dress, 1888
Colored woodblock print, Hi 9§in (36.3 x 24.5 cm)
Ace. no. 1968.149
This stylish print illustrates the impact of the West upon the traditional world
of Japan and gives a foretaste of what was to happen in Japan in the decades
after the Second World War when Japan was to become rapidly Westernized
and in the process jettison much
of its traditional appearance. This print is
dated 1888. What is to be seen is a Japanese lady wearing a European costume
and hat of a style in vogue approximately ten years before the date of the print.
Note that - contrary to Western etiquette - she is not wearing gloves.
The print embodies all the traditional Japanese methods of incising,
coloring, and, even, seeing : the cut-off image with the blooming irises, the
woman's pose, and the inscriptive panels are all in the Japanese pictorial
tradition. The only thing which is not native is the costume itself; but while it is

carefully even lovingly, observed, the artist has managed to present it and its

wearer in such Japanese terms that one must look twice to notice that it is not a
kimono and standard Japanese coiffure which is rendered here. This print
demonstrates how difficult it is to translate aesthetic experiences, not only from
tongue to tongue, but from world to world.
This print came from the Japanese Print Purchase Account.

212
Chola Period (907-1053) Indian
Standing Figure of Brahma
Pink granite, H. 54 in (137.2 cm)
Ace. no. 1965.452
Of all Oriental art perhaps the most diffv

cult for the Western mind and taste to

assimilate is that of Brahmin India. In the
first place the theology it illustrates, with
its specialized and precise iconography, is a
largely mysterious quantity for the
Westerner. In the second place its forms,
conceived as they are strictly to illustrate
iconographic meanings, are often arbi'
trary and austere to the Western eye.
Finally, there is always about Hindu arti'
facts the sense of the particular Hindu
ethic and attitude towards life. After all, a
culture which has produced the concept
of suttee as the noblest of conjugal gestures
will necessarily seem alien to minds reared
in post'Classical or post'Christian tradi'
tions.
This figure, which represents the chief
member of the Hindu Trinity (Brahma,
Vishnu, and Shiva), is large in size and
sure in its technical mastery of stone'
cutting. It is imbued with a spirit which
seems particularly Indian and contemph'
tive.It is now bereft of its color which

might have reinforced the sense of an anti'

natural, supernatural, divine image.
The piece was bought for the Kate S.
Buckingham Collection.
Unknown Artist (nth century) Indian
Figure of Shiva Nataraja
Bronze with patina, H. 28 in (71.2 cm)
Ace. no. 1965.1130
The bronzes from south India are the most accessible form of Indian sculpture
to Western eyes. Of these bronzes the most appealing are those which represent
a dancing Shiva. The divinity is portrayed as wearing a diaphanous loincloth
with embroidered streamers, a feathered and jeweled headdress. He stands on a
recumbent dwarf, symbolizing ignorance, who is placed upon a lotus bed.
Around the dancing god is a jeweled ring from which flames have sprouted.
The image is one of fantastic grace and elegance, and the concept of motion is
intensely suggested, even though merely anatomical and physiological reality
is by no means naturalistically observed. It is the conceptual rather than

apparent truth which the sculptor has evoked.

Technically, this piece is executed with consummate craftsmanship. The
casting is of the best, and the piece, like all such bronzes, is solidand not hollow.
The holes in the base were made for inserting carrying poles, for the piece was
designed to be carried in procession.
The impression which the observer keeps with him is that of motion and the
concept of motion. The difference between motion visualized as a concept
rather than as an actual happening in time can best be realized if one recalls

the drawings Rodin did of Isadora Duncan in action. The fact is that a static
image cannot truly portray the appearance of movement, but can suggest the
concept of the movement.
The figure was bought for the Kate S. Buckingham Collection.
Mughal Indian
Procession in a palace, leaf from a royal manuscript o{
theShalvjehan Nameh, c. 1650
on paper, 14 J
Ink, color, and gold X 8^- in (37.5 x 22.0 cm)
Ace. no. 1975-555

The manuscript paintings of India, Rajput or Mughal, are among the most
splendid of any civilization. The style is based on a synthesis of careful naturae
listic observations combined with a decorative splendor which seems to have
been a constant tradition of the sub-continent. This manuscript comes from
the apogee of the Mughal style, the mid'seventeenth century. While the work
isdone for Mughal royal usage there is, all the same, the strong flavor of indi'
genous art.

The miniature is part of the Kate S. Buckingham Collection.

^5
CLASSICAL AND DECORATIVE
ARTS

The Chicago Painter (mid'5th century bc) Greek

The Chicago Vase, c. 460-440 bc
Terracotta, H. 14J in (37.5 cm)
Ace. no. 1889.22
Greek pottery contains the principal surviving evidence of Greek painting.
However, the exigencies of the medium, which required, basically, a purely
flat and linear style, do not necessarily give much real evidence of how con/

temporaneous Greek painting actually appeared.

While Greek pottery varied greatly in quality and in style from place to
place, the finest of it was work made to order for luxurious custom. The piece
illustrated here is such an example. It is a fine example of the potter's craft, with
the elegant subtlety of shape which always characterized Greek pottery, even
in the crudest pieces.
While collectors have long admired Greek pottery for its shapes, the primary
is in the decoration on the pot. Many of the vase painters are known
interest here

by name, and the entire craft has been studied enough during the last seventy^
five years for other individual personalities to have been identified, even though
their names are unknown. The painter of this vase is one of such, and it is from
this vase that he has been identified as the Chicago painter. His work is the
epitome of the High Classical style, expressed with virile strength and
consummate grace.
Gift of Philip D. Armour and Charles L. Hutchinson.

216
Unknown Sculptor (end of the 4th century bc) Greek, Attic
Figure of a Youth from a Gravestone
Marble, H. 32 in. (81.3 cm)
Ace. no. 1960.70
This handsome, three/quarter^length figure of a young man is part of an Attic
Greek tombstone made at theend of the fourth century bc. It embodies the
virtues of classic sculpture at the end of the classic era and at the beginning of the
Hellenistic period, although it is still basically Classical in flavor. It is,

obviously, only a fragment, albeit a beautiful one, and

must have been at
there
least one other figure seen in connection with this one, as well as an architectural

setting; the whole thing was, originally, painted. As the color is gone and the
figure is somewhat weathered it is hard to imagine the impact it had for the
patron who commissioned it.
The Greek view of death appears to have been a relaxed one, and the grave
monuments are sensible and matter/of/fact in their presentation of the facts

218
about the dead; there no lack of feeling, but that feeling is never in the least
is

sentimental. The touching

thing about this fragment is the image it gives of a
young man still in his teens and in the prime of physical condition.
The piece was bought from a gift ofthe Silvain and Arma Wyler Foundation.

Rome Italian
Gallienus, c. ad 260
Marble, H. I3§ in (34 cm)
Ace. no. 1975.328

Roman imperial portraits developed a glamor which

is quite different from the

austerely uncompromising - frequently - character of late repub'

unflattering
lican and even early imperial portraits. The former must frequently have been
worked from life^masks, and the resulting heads have an immediacy of effect
which was no doubt even more striking when the painted surfaces were intact.
What late imperial portraits lose in pictorial candor they gain in splendor,
richness, and stylization. This, of course, is the logical consequence of the
habit of deifying dead emperors, which by Gallienus's time turned them into
figures of a mystery religion.
This elegant head was bought from the income of the Katherine Keith
Adler Memorial Fund.
Northern France French
Virgin and Child Enthroned, 1240
c.

Ivory, once partly gilt, 8| x 3^ in(22.6 x 9.5 cm)

Ace. no. 1971.786

This grand object seems much larger than it is, and after seeing it one recalls it

as at least a foot high. It is in fine state: only the Virgin's right forearm, the tips
o( her Crown, and a few other minor bits are gone. The pattern of the fine
decorated crocheted arabesques remain on the side of the throne and were
presumably done in burnished gilt. There would have been other touches of
color, in the pupils of the eyes, the lips, and on the clothing. The costumes are
naturalistic, but the forms are heavy and monumental in relationship to one
another. Presumably it was made as a devotional object for the use of a very
rich client.
It was bought from the Kate S. Buckingham Fund Income.

220
School of the Ile de France French
Head of a Prophet or an Apostle, c. 1200
Limestone, H. 17 in (43.3 cm)
Ace. no. 194441
This battered but still noble, monumental head is of the highest interest as it
is said to have come from one of the great monuments of French medieval art,

the cathedral of Pans, Notre^Dame.

The piece was removed apparently in the nineteenth century in the time of
the French architect Viollet^le^Duc, who was a great figure no matter how
modern taste regards his ideas of restoration and preservation. It happens that
some of his restoration removals actually saved objects which would by now
have totally disintegrated in the polluted atmosphere of modern Paris.
It is remember that this
well to piece would have been painted and gilded,
so that the totalimage was intended to give a divine impression of majestic
splendor. The color and texture of the natural cut stone would have been in'
visible. Most sculpture up to the time of Michelangelo was meant to be seen
painted and not in its raw state. What the modern viewer so values by way of
cutting and adjusting to the material was obviously taken for granted by the
medieval craftsman, to whom the modern notion of the beauty of the natural
material would have been incomprehensible. After all, the church itself was
meant to have limewash and color upon it, a notion which makes the total
Gothic concept of form more understandable even if the attitude towards
material now seems alien.
The piece was acquired for the Lucy Maud Buckingham Collection.

Lower Saxony German

Monstrance of St Christina, c. 1473
Silver, 8 J X.5J in (22.2 x 14.0 cm)
Ace. no. 1962.90

This monstrance (ostensorium) for a finger relic of St Christina dates from the
second half of the fifteenth century, was made in Lower Saxony, and was part
of the Guelph Treasure. It is rather a 'standard' piece of late medieval silver •
smithery, and the engraved image of St Christina parallels the earliest engraved
prints. The object is not only elegant but beautiful, and it, as well as other
objects in the Art Institute from the Welfenschatz, give some notion of what was
lost in England at the time of the Reformation and during the Commonwealth,
and also in Rome itself during the sack of 1527.
The piece was given by Mrs Chauncey McCormick.

222
* '^^Jr*'

tct
Giovanni Minelli dei Bardi (1460-1527) Italian
Virgin and Child, 1520
c.

Terracotta with traces of paint, H. 57^ in (146.8 cm)

Ace. no. I933- 1303

This piece is by a sculptor whose career is essentially in the High Renaissance.

The forms are heroic, and the traces of antique models are clearly visible in the
head of the Virgin and the sternness of her gaze, which definitely evoke Roman
republican busts. A
logical influence on Minelli would have been that of
Donatello, whose work for the high altar of the Santo in Padua he presumably
knew. The great work was in bronze, and there is something of the character of
that medium in this terracotta work, as though this piece might have been
translated into bronze; this would have been an easy task, for the few patches of

224
ornament, such as the Virgin's embroidered cuff, seem visualized for rendering
into chased metal.
The was executed at a time when sculptors still painted their work -
piece
and they continued to do so for more than a century. There are still substantial
traces of the original paint, which was probably added by a specialist and not by
Giovanni himself. But the piece could quite easily also have been rendered into
marble. The main point is that it is conceived in terms which are purely
sculptural, that is, forms set against each other in space so as to exclose and define
more bits of space.
The statue came with the bequest of Martin A. Ryerson.

Alessandro Vittoria (1525-1613) Italian

St Luke, c. 1570
Terracotta, H. 23^ in (58.7 cm)
Ace. no. 1953.330
Alessandro Vittoria was the most important
of Late Renaissance or Mannerist sculptors
in Venice. A pupil of Sansovino, he was
famous for his portrait busts and small
bronzes as well as for his monumental
works.
This figure and its three companions
are detailed models for a set of the four
Evangelists presumably to be executed on a
monumental scale. The actual statues made
from these models have still not been identic
fied.

The bull seen at the Evangelist's feet is

the beast traditionally associated with St

Luke. The face of St Luke recalls Roman
portrait heads, while the pose of the figure
evokes Michelangelo. The surface is lively,
the more so since the paint of the Victorian
era has been removed. In this piece and its

pendants, one has an immediacy of effect

and an insight into the sculptor's methods
which is most striking.
The piece was bought for the Lucy
Maud Buckingham Collection.
 -t'V

t v
-

w:n

Unknown Artist Bohemian

Beaker: Allegory of the Ages of Man, c. 1600
Green glass with enameled decoration, H. 12^ in (31.0 cm)
Ace. no. 1927. 1012
This vessel or beaker was presumably designed to hold beer or, perhaps, wine.
It is a characteristic production of the latest phase of the Renaissance in Bohemia
or the earliest phase of the Baroque. The rather heraldic character of the decora^
tion is derived in part from the nature of the enameling medium and its

exigencies and, in part, from the example of wood engravings.

The moral overtones of the concept of the Ages of Man, from ages ten to one
hundred, have a cautionary value and represent a kind of traditional view in
the heart of the Counter^Reformation. However, while the iconography is of
great interest to the historian, it is the decorative quality which makes the piece
so greatly appealing to the collector. The makes the survival
material, of course,
of such objects rather rare, although, as they were never cheap and were thus
treated with great more of them have survived than might at first be
care,
expected. The charm of the beaker lies in the color of the glass - a lovely glowing
green - and in the color and brisk and sprightly character of the ornament. That
the ornament has humanistic interest adds to its value and intensifies its impact.
This beaker is a fine example of an object which can be called folk art but
which was so expensive that, though it may not actually have been made to
order, it was nevertheless comparable to bespoke merchandise.
Julius and Augusta N. Rosenwald Collection.

226
Cornelius Vanderburgh American
Caudle Cup, c. 1683
Silver, H. 5^ in (14.0 cm)
Ace. no. 1955.651
This cup was made in New York in the last quarter of the seventeenth century.
The basic spun and hammered, while the handles are cast. The form is
body is

Late Baroque, and it illustrates how colonial art usually displays a time-lag
between its own date and that of its prototypes in the home country. In this
case the prototype was Dutch (or, perhaps, English) silver of a generation or
even half a century earlier.

charm of the piece lies in its simplicity and the very slight crudity
Part of the
of the handles, where the coarseness of detail lends vigor, and the bearded motifs
reflect the enameled or jeweled forms of Augsburg silver of almost a century

earlier. Like most colonial art this piece is also truly provincial; that is, it is

made away from the determinant source but it has absorbed the source to the
extent that it has become a common idiom. The quality of the engraved arms

is high indeed, especially in the draftsmanship of the mantling.

This cup demonstrates how slowly basic concepts of form tend to change
in silver or other metalwork. This may be attributed, in part, to the taste of a
conservative public, but also, perhaps, to the craftsman's discovering a good
thing and seeing no need for change, particularly if he belongs to a traditionally
oriented society.
Gift from Dr and Mrs C. Phillip Miller.

227
 s

>

Paul de Lamerie (1688-1751) English

The Tredegar Cup, 1739- 1740
Silver, 14 / 13^ in, 6-^ in diameter at lip (35.5 33.2 cm, 16.5 cm)
Ace. no. 1974.530 a and b

This loving cup in the highly ornamental style, called the Tredegar Cup, is
one of the superlatively fine works typical of this French silversmith, a long'
time refugee in England. Lamerie, indeed, was the finest smith in London
during the second quarter of the eighteenth century. He was as responsible as
anyone for the adaptation of the Kegence style for English use. While the form
and concept are French, by the time this piece was made a subtle feeling of
Englishness had come into Lamerie's work.
The piece was bought from a gift of Eloise W. Martin and a gift from the
Harold T. Martin Charitable Trust.

228
CapodI'Moxte Ware Italian
Ewer, c. 1745
Soft'paste porcelain with coloring and gilt, H. 12 in. (30.5 cm)
Ace. no. 1957490a
CapO'di'Monte ware is comes from the factory at Capcdi'
so called because it

Monte, near Naples, which was from 1743 to 1759 under the
in operation
patronage of Charles, King of Naples. This kind of porcelain is typically a
glassy soft'paste, extravagantly decorated with reliefs.
This ewer, with its matching basin, is the epitome of the Neapolitan Rococo
style. The shell theme is typical of the Rococo and here, not only are there various
realistic shell shapes and coral as decoration, but the whole jug evokes the

form of a shell. There are no angles, no straight lines, and the whole piece has a
kind of smoothness as though all jagged edges had been worn away by the
sea tides. Surprisingly the piece, which could so easily have been vulgar and
ridiculous, is graceful and elegant. This may be due to the fact that the potter
seems to have kept the actual function of the ewer in mind - it pours without
dripping and the handle is comfortable to the grip and secure - and this imposed
a certain discipline which prevented his imagination running amok.
Given by the family of Professor Alfred Chatain in his memory.

229
Richard Gurney and Thomas Cook English
Covered Cup, c. 1757-58
Gold, H. 8 in (20.3 cm)
Ace. no. 1957.455

This elegant covered cup how, even in the case of a luxury product,
illustrates

there can be a time-lag concerning taste. By the time the piece was made in
London, the first wave of Neo'classicism had swept over French taste, and was
already being felt in England. The honvblowing triton holding up the whole
piece is a reflection of Bernini's style; but where an Italian goldsmith would
have emphasized the form of the triton figure by increasing its scale, the conser^
vative British craftsman reduced it normal scale of a connective knob.
to the
The result is that the little figure seems crushed by the volume above it, and this
makes the whole piece seem much larger by contrast.
The shellwork ornament and gadrooning has been applied to a basically
simple vasiform shape, and the great handles go back almost a century in their
form and scale. Their size was dictated by their practical function, but they,
like the tiny triton figure, serve to increase the illusion of great size.

The cup was bought for the Buckingham Collection.

230
JeaN'Henri Riesener (1734-1806) French
Commode, probably 1791-92
Mahogany, gilt bronze, and marble, 373X655X22^ in (95. 9X 155. 7X 56.5
cm)
Ace. no. 1972.412

This commode is a superb piece of furniture which epitomizes the Louis XVI

combination of ornamentation in inlaid wooden arabesques and the

style in its

luxurious gilded mounts. Contrary to law and custom at the time, Riesener
frequently made his own, and these seem no exception. The dating may
presumably be established by the absence of a royal monogram and, instead,
the use of a garland. One may posit that Riesener had the piece in hand when
the decree forbidding royal cyphers was promulgated and so finished it off as
it now is. In a very short time the style would have changed. There is evidence

to believe the piece was owned by William Beckford at Fonthill Abbey.

It was bought from the income of the Wirt D. Walker Fund and the Major

Acquisitions Fund.
Martin Guillaume Biennais (1764-1843. Retired 1819) French
Pair of Sauciers en Plateau
Silver gilt, H. 1 \\ in (29.2 cm)
Ace. no. 1966.114a and b
Biennais is reputed to have been Napoleon's favourite goldsmith. According to
tradition he owed this enviable position to the fact that he supplied the Emperor
with a necessaire de voyage prior to his departure for the Egyptian campaign and
trusted him to pay for it on his return.
This splendid pair of sauce-boats belongs to a large set of tableware made for
Napoleon's sister, Pauline Borghese, presumably from specifications by
Percier and Fontaine, the imperial architects who supplied many of Biennais's
best designs. They bear the Borghese arms. They were probably made between
the end of the eighteenth century and the first decade of the nineteenth and reflect
the interest in Classical art and archaeology typical of the Empire style. The
mythological creatures are reminiscent of Egyptian forms and the lions on the
base and the lion's feet add to the grandness and nobility of the pieces. Biennais,
like most court jewelers, was not only a superb craftsman with the best of staff
under him, he was also particularly attuned to the demands of exalted taste.
The pieces, which had belonged to Edith Rockefeller McCormick, were
given by Mrs Charles V. Hickox.

^j
after Thomas Hope English
Circular Table, c. 1810
Unstained mahogany inlaid, with gilt ornaments, H. 28^ in (72.5 cm)
Ace. no. 1964.346
Thomas Hope of Deepdene was one of the principal arbiters of English
Regency taste. His publication o( designs for furniture determined to some
degree the course of English Neo-classical furniture. He was himself a great
collector of Classical antiquities; with impeccable taste and a remarkable flair

for presentation, he established for clarity and serenity of expression in interior

decoration what both Soane and Nash did for architecture.
This table is reproduced from a design published by Hope, and it is a work
of real luxury by a master^craftsman who was capable of carving, chiseling, and
using rich inlays of both wood and mother-of-pearl. It is not only an elegant
table, but also a work of sculpture. The fact that it is conceived in sculptural
terms, as well as in terms of a beautifully inlaid surface enhanced with gilded
ornament, may seem surprising, especially as the contrast of the handsome
unstained wood and the goldwork is so striking. But sculptural form the table
certainly has, and of the simplest sort: a disc set upon a truncated concave
pyramid.
The table was given through the generosity of Mrs Henry C. Woods.

233
TEXTILES

Unknown Artist (late 1 3th-early 14th centuries) German, lower Saxony

Embroidered Square: The Last Supper
Linen and silk, 14^ < 15 in (36.3 38.2 cm)
Ace. no. 1907.765
This panel may have formed part of an altar frontal or a dossal, or been part of
the embroidered edging or orphrey of an altar cloth. It is certainly only part of
a larger piece showing from the life of Christ. What has survived
further scenes
demonstrates the style of Early Gothic embroidery techniques and the nice
adaptations of designs to the exigencies of the embroiderer's craft, so that, for

example, there is no attempt - hardly feasible at the scale of the piece - to show
the folds of the garments or the tablecloth. Rather, there is a clear rendering of
the patterns of the fabrics which combine to make a pleasant overall pattern
and emphasize the decorative function of the design.
But for all the stylization employed, the designer has managed in a typically
Gothic way to emphasize the reality of the scene through the use of carefully
observed details. An example of this is the gesture of the figure at the spec/
tator's right, or the gesture of Christ in handing the communion host to the

apostle at the near side of the table.

The pieceis a veritable repertory of the stitches used by embroiderers at this

time, all of them chosen for their suitability for the fabric - thin linen - and its
ornamentation.
The embroidery was acquired through exchange.

234
Unknown Artist Spanish, presumably made in Burgo de Osma
Dossal and Antependium : Scenes from the Life of Christ, c. 1468
Silver and gold, silk on linen, Dossal: 62^ / 77^ in (159.5 196.9 cm), Ante^
pendium: 30^ 79^ in (77.5 201.3 cm)
- -

Ace. no. 1927. 1779

This set of embroidered panels is one of the rare complete ones to survive from
the Spanish Middle Ages. It was made for Don Pedro de Montoya, Bishop of
Osma, and may have been a portable set intended for his episcopal visits; on
the other hand it may have been a particularly luxurious set for use on special
feast days.

The set consists of a dossal - the piece designed to hang behind the altar -

and an antependium - which hung in front of the altar. The padded parts of
the embroidery of the dossal imitate the kind of wooden framing and small pin'
nacles of painted wooden altarpieces, and the same kind of architectural motif
is repeated on the antependium, presumably to imitate the carving or sculpture

of the altar itself. The Latin inscriptions on this piece may have been restored
and a translation of them is: 'Remember, O
man, that Jesus suffered these
pains for you' and 'The Lord indeed is risen and appeared to Simon'. The
embroiderers used sequins and seed pearls as well as gold thread and stuffing
and a great variety of stitches. It is clear that there is a strong Flemish influence,
but the embroiderers' names are not known (they were presumably men, as
embroidery was always done by men at this period).
Although these pieces are very valuable owing to their rarity and luxury,
they are based on Spanish provincial designs of the end of the Middle Ages.
These panels were bought by Charles Deering at the end of the First World
War and were given to the Museum by his daughters, Mrs Richard E. Daniel'
son and Mrs Chauncey McCormick, in 1927.

236
Unknown Artist (early 16th century) Italian
The Annunciation
Tapestry of silk, wool, gold, and linen, 46 > 72 in (116. 9 X 182.9 cm)
Ace. no. 1 93 7- 1 099

Tapestry is one of the oldest of weaving techniques. This piece was woven for
Francesco Gonzaga Fourth, Marquess of Mantua, who was a great patron of
the arts. The actual weaving was done by a northern craftsman - Flemish or

French - whose name is now lost. But the weavers usually worked from car^
toons and it seems probably that the artist who provided it in this case was the
greatest painter of Mantua, Andrea Mantegna. Since Mantegna died in 1506,
the tapestry must have been designed before this date; it was presumably woven
before 15 19, the date of the marquess's death, perhaps also before 1506. The
design has also been attributed to Mantegna's brother-in-law, Gentile Bellini,
the senior and somewhat less gifted brother of Giovanni Bellini.
This tapestry came to the collection on the death of Mrs Martin Ryerson in
1937.
 *?X* ~f*>.

1111
i
mm

*w
Opus Anglicanum English
Cope, late 15th, early 16th century
Cope: 56^-x 115 in (143.0X 292.0 cm)
Linen strip: 21^x97^- in (55.8x248.8 cm). 8jx 8 in (22.3x20.3 cm)
Ace. no. 1 971. 3 12 a and b

This cope, of brown silk voided velvet, embroidered in multicolored silks,

metal threads, and sequins, is in unfaded condition (as the surface beneath the
hood shows) and may have what is its original lining of blue holland. English
medieval embroidery, called opus anglicanum, consistently the most splendid
of the Middle Ages, was produced in well-run shops by male embroiderers.
This magnificent processional vestment is in admirable state and shows only

too clearly what was lost in the Reformation. When this vestment was cleaned
it was found that the orphrey band was stuffed with a fragment of painted and
stencilled linen wall'hanging from around the turn of the fourteenth century.
The garment was bought from the Grace R. Smith Textile Fund.

239
PRIMITIVE ART

Teotihuacan Culture (ad 400-700) Mexico

PaintedWall Decoration
Adobe with lime and Indian red pigment, 36|x 25^ in (93.0 X 63.9 cm)
Ace. no. 1962.702
Wall-painting was a highly developed art, much practised among the ancient
American civilizations. One of the great surviving sites for such wall-painting
is the area of Teotihuacan, just outside Mexico City. The history of Teotihuacan
painting shows a gradual increase in the depiction of scenes with aqueous
symbolism, presumably executed as the climate became increasingly drought'
ridden. The irony is that the very process of making the wall/paintings, which
covered all the surfaces of the buildings, required the burning of enormous
quantities of limestone, and the wood fires needed for the purpose gradually
depleted the forests, only to hasten the desiccation and further to disturb the
natural balance of the climate. Ultimately, in the eighth century, the lack of
water seems to have brought about the final collapse of the culture.
This decoration portrays an elaborately dressed man scattering water and
seeds over a field of maguey (American aloes). He is rendered in beige and
black touches on a field of intense earth red.
Primitive Art Purchase Fund.
Maya Culture (late 8th, early 9th century ad) Mexico or Guatemala
Wall Panel
Stone, L. 17 in (43.3 cm)
Ace. no. 1965.407
Mayan stone reliefs usually occur as stelae which seem to have been set up
periodically to commemorate specific time lapses; they show elaborately dressed
figures accompanied by glyphs translatable into precise dates. A
rarer sort shows
complex ceremonial scenes; these were used as architectural ornaments set into
the walls of buildings. The one illustrated here belongs to the latter category.

Two men are shown wearing rich costumes with ornaments of feather, jade,
animal, and bird'forms as well as richly woven and tasseled belts. They
skirts
also wear knee^pads and wrist'guards, and the recumbent figure has a thick
yoke about his waist. These details seem to indicate that they were participants
in a ceremonial ball'game. The stepped form on the left represents a part of the
ball-court structure, and directly above it is the ball itself, presumably enlarged
to many times its normal size. The panel at the top right where the glyphs once
were is now abraded, and decipherment is not possible.
By stylistic analogy with pieces of known provenance, it seems clear that
this piece came from the upper Usumacinta River area and was done during
the dynamic phase of the Late Classic period, ad 751-81 i. It is now known
that this relief belongs to a set of eight, of which three are devoted to glyphs, and

241
the remaining four show single figures in similar ball'game costume. The entire
set could have ornamented a ball'Court area, though the fine preservation sug'
gests an original site within a building. The piece represents the greatest period
of Mayan art.

The carving was bought from the Ada Turnbull Hertle Fund.

Maya Culture, Late Classic Period (V. ad 700-900)

Cylindrical Vessel Mexico or Guatemala
Painted, fired clay, H. 8^ in (21.4 cm)
Ace. no. 1966. 161
The scenes shown on Mayan painted ceramics are tantalizing, for they are of
ceremonies and events whose meaning can only be guessed. This superb
specimen presents two almost identical scenes, each surrounded by a frame of
decorative glyphs. One scene (shown in the photograph) presents a cross'
legged central figure leaning towards a tnpodal bowl containing an offering,
perhaps of food. The glyph appearing between his lips and the offering indicates
speech, just like the 'balloon' of the modern comic strip. Facing this figure is

another seated figure in profile pointing to the offering. The other panel (not
shown here) is similar: the central figure is shown offering a small object to his
companion; between them there is a small, cylindrical covered vessel.
A plausible interpretation of the scenes depicted is that they show the
meeting and exchange ofgifts between important Mayan personages. Elaborately
painted vessels such as this were made to accompany burials, and perhaps the
two scenes relate to important episodes in the life of the dead man, represented
by the central figure. The large oval form behind each figure is considered to
represent a ceremonial jaguar skin.
 This vessel, in superb condition, was made between the eighth and the
tenth centuries and came from an important site, still unidentified, in Guatemala
or southern Mexico. It is important not only for representation of an ancient
its

ritual or ceremony, but also, artistically, for the imbalance in the poses of the
human figures; this was a specifically Mayan contribution to pre^Hispanic
American art.

The piece was bought from the income of the Ada Turnbull Hertle Fund.

Aztec Culture (after ad 900) Mexico, Veracruz

StandingMale Figure, the god Xipe
Terracotta with traces of pigment, H. 23^ in (59.1 cm)
Ace. no. 1960.905
The god Xipe belonged to the pantheons of the Teotihuacan, Zapotec, and
Mixtec cultures. He is frequently shown in Aztec times. Xipe was the patron of
the guild of Mixtec goldsmiths. But he is mainly known as the god responsible
for the annual renewal of vegetation and growth of flowers, a kind of
for the
male, Aztec Persephone. The piece shown typical, and its symboliza^
here is

tion of nature's regeneration is more gruesomely graphic than any notion of

Persephone.
Xipe is always depicted with two layers of skin. The outer layer is the
flayedand partly sewn integument from a victim sacrificed by cutting out his
heart. The renewal of nature is symbolized by the removal (in a ceremony) of
the outer skin to reveal the new beneath it.
Xipe was much represented in stone, and there are many smaller figures of
him in clay. This one is among the very largest surviving to be made of terra'
cotta. The piece was made in Veracruz. At Remojadas, in that state, there was
a long'lasting tradition of figurative sculpture in ceramic which originated in
the Classic period, and it is possible that this fine work was made there.
The sculpture was given by Florene May Schoenborn and Samuel A. Marx.

Mochica Culture (ad 500-700) Peru

Portrait Vessel with a Stirrup Spout
H. 14 in (35.7 cm)
Terracotta,
Ace. no. 1955.2338
True portraiture is uncommon in pre^Hispanic America. Most of its figurative
art represents supernatural deities or typical, important figures from the priestly
establishment. Although some of these likenesses can be taken as highly
idealized portraits, any sense of a specific individual is almost always missing.
But the potters of the Mochica culture, who worked on the northern coast of
Peru between 200 B c and A d 700 did create notable exceptions, and their
productions always give the impression of depicting an individual personality.
The illustrated piece dates from the sixth through the eighth centuries -
the late period - and depicts an important personage wearing an elaborate
textile headband. The smallest details have been rendered with the greatest

care, and the strong Indian character of the head has various features still visible
among the Indians of the highlands of Peru.
Sculptures such as this one were made from two-piece moulds, the spout
and bottom being added when the body was taken from the mould. Painted
and modelled details were then added and the whole subsequently fired in an
open kiln. The vessel was apparently made to be buried with the man represented.
This piece came from the collection of Eduard Gaffron, and was bought
from the Buckingham Fund in 1955-

244
Bakota People, Gabon (late 19th century) Africa
Reliquary Figure
Wood, copper, brass, bone, twine, and hide, 24 x 12 in (61.0 x 30.5 cm)
Ace. no. 1975.125

These figures marked the funerary baskets in which the exhumed bones of a
distinguished personage were kept. The figure apparently symbolizes the
concept of ancestorhood rather than depicting the person over whose bones it is

placed. The convexity and concavity of the head suggest the quality of the
individual spirit. Such pieces were of enormous importance to disparate
artists like Picasso, Brancusi, and Modigliani, and represent the first wave of
exoticism in the twentieth century.
This one was bought from the Samuel A. Marx Fund.

Made by the Bambara tribe Africa, Mali

Pair of Antelope Headpieces
Wood, metal, shell, H. 31^, 38^ in (79.3, 98.5 cm)
Ace. no. 1965.06,07
By reason of their elegant, graceful forms, antelope carvings from the Bambara
tribe rank among and admired expressions of West African
the most popular
sculpture. Designed as headpieces to be set upon cloth or basketwork caps,
they were worn during ceremonial dances which were held in honor of a
mythical anthropomorphic antelope called Tji Wara. The Bambarans
believed Tji Wara had taught them the science of cultivation, and danced in
his honor on such occasions as the clearing of a new field or the beginning of the
rainy season. pairs of performers, one of whom
The dances were executed by
wore male antelope, the other that of a female (here identified
the ensign of a
by the baby on her back). The dancers also wore long costumes of vegetable
fibre. Their actions imitated motions of playing animals, and to this end the

dancers used two canes for support and elevation.

Intact pairs of headdresses are rare. The forms and also the surface detailings
and the precise use of brass tacks, metal strips, and cowne^shell necklaces are

H7
evidence that these headdresses form a pair. This open/work type of headdress
is customarily thought to have been made in the Segou area of the Bambara
country.
These were bought from the income of the Ada Turnbull Hertle Fund.
 APPENDIX
This section of the book illustrates in black and white more works from the
holdings of painting and sculpture. It is hoped that from these the reader
will get a still clearer idea of the scope of the Collections.
 VenetO'Riminese Virgin and Child with Scenes from the Life of Christ c. 1325 30

Flemish School Lamentation c. 1490 Lucas Cranach the Elder The Crucifixion 1533 (38?)

25O
Master of the "Female Half Figures Mary Magdalen
c. 1525

Perugino Baptism of Christ c. 15 10

Rimpatta Virgin and Child, Five Saints and Donor c. 1500 Massys Man with a Pink 1510-20

251
 " ~j£~~vL
1
^STi^ -4; ~>-*iC

£ «^ tt Ik ^3b>

U^ , 1

Attrib. to Maler Zu Schwaz C/imf bearing the Cross c. 15 15

Mabuse Madonna and Child c. 1520 Isenbrandt Madonna and Child c. 1510-40

252
 ' '
}
P-W
v;.':./- ,

X.
C& ^ 1
V

:
-J:-'

Attrib. to Scheel Madonna and Child with Saints c. 1525

Master of the Historia Nativity c. 1510-20 Lo Spagna St Catherine of Siena

c. 1 5 16

^53
 Gerung The Judgment of Paris 1536 Bronzino Presumed portrait of Francesco de' Medici c. 1560

Moretto Mary Magdalene 16th C.

Vasari Mystical Vision of S.Jerome c. 1550 Pontormo (follower) Virgin, Child, and Infant
St John 1 6 th C.

254
Van HemessenjM<//f/j c. 1560 Moroni Lodovico Madruzzo c. 1560

Luca Cambiaso Venus and Cupid 1570-75 Attnb. to Jacopo da Empoli Widow of the
Medici Family 16 17th C.

255
 Veronese Creation of Eve c. 1570

Juan Sanchez Cotan Still' Life c. 1602

Cecco del Caravaggio The Resurrection c. 1600

256
Pourbus the Younger Mark de' Medici 1616
 Velazquez The Servant 1618-22

Strozzi An Et 630

Blanchard Virgin, Child with SSJohn and Anne 1630 31

Follower of Zurbaran
Stills Life: Flowers and Fruit c. 1633-44

258
Turchi Venus and Cupid c. 1630

259
 Ruisdael Ruins of Egmond 1650 60

Van Soest Portrait of Dr John Bulwer 17th C. Terborch The Music Lesson 1660

Mola Homer Dictating c. 1650

260
Steen The Family Concert 1666 Watteau The Dreamer 18th C.

261
 Chardin The White Tablecloth c. 1737

Longhi Lady at her Toilet c. 1740 David Portrait oj Madame Buron 1769

Giuseppe Cades Meeting oj Gander,

Count of Antwerp, and his Daughter
Violante 1 8th C.

262
 Goya The Hanged Monk c. 1810 Goya General Jose Manuel Romero c. 18 10

Stuart Major General Henry Dearborn 181 Sully Anna Milnor Klapp 181^

Gericault After Death 1818-19

263
 Delacroix Arab Rider Attacked by Lion 1849 Gerome Portrait of a Lady 1851

_jiiJr^

1 *
'1fcy
,4H

'%

Consuble Stoke^by^Nayland 1836

264
lanet Race track near Paris 1 864

Homer Croquet Scene 1866

Manet Be) with Pitcher c. 186:

26 5
 FantirvLatour Portrait of Edouard Manet 1867 Corot Wounded Eurydice 1868-70

FantirvLatour Still'Life: Corner of a Table 1873

266
Corot Interrupted Reading c. 1870 Sargent Mrs Charles Gifford Dyer 1880

Courbet The Rock of Hautepierre c. 1869

267
 mmm-
Degas The Bathers c. 1890-95

268
 Toulouse-Lautrec Moulin de la Galette 1889

Whistler Arthur Jerome Eddy Sargent Mrs George Swinton 1896 Pissarro Girl Sewing 1895
1894

269
 Vlaminck Houses at Chatou 1903
VMM
Picasso Head of the Acrobat's Wife 1904

Rousseau The Waterfall 1910 Glackens Chez Mouquin 1905

Derain The Last Supper 191

270
 8 3

m®m&gt

Miro Portrait of a Woman (Juanita Obrador) 191 Marc Bewitched Mill 1 91

Feininger Villace Street 1929

j.w -I'
 Bonnard La Seine a Vernon
1930

Albright That Which I Should Have

Done I Did Not Do 1931-41

O'KeefTe Cow's Skull with Calico Roses 193

272
Beckmann Self'Portrait 1937 Magritte Time Transfixed 1939

Dali lnuentions of the Monsters 1937

273
 Bte Balthus Patience 1943

Delvaux The Village of the Mermaids 1 942

274
Hopper Nighthawks 1942

Blume The Rock 1948

275
 Gorky The Plough and the Song No. 2 1946

Picasso Nude Under a Pine Tree 1959

276
Wyeth The Cloister 1949
 1 &

Mill lljlil De Kooning Excavation 1950

F& VSr '^£*i '^*f «*•**» *N Strife*''* ^i

Pollock Grayed Rainbow 1953

277
 Dubuffet Genuflexion oj the Bishop 1963

278
 INDEX OF ILLUSTRATIONS

The Art Institute of Chicago 6 Bazille, Frederic, 1 841-1870: Self'Portrait,

1865. Oil on canvas. 425X28! in (108.6x72.0
Albani, Francesco, 578-1660: Virgin and
i
cm) 79
Child adored by Saint Francis. Oil on copper.
125X95 in (32.3x24.8 cm). Cyrus McCormick Beckmann, Max, 1 884-1950: Self' Portrait, 1937.
Fund 259 Oil on canvas. 755X35 in (192.5x88.9 cm).
Gift of Mr and Mrs Philip Ringer 272
Albright, Ivan Le Lorraine, 1897: That
b.
Which I Should Have Done I Did Not Do, 1 931-41.
Biennais, Martin Guillaume, 1764-1843:
Oil on canvas. 97 x 36 in (246.5 x 91.5 cm) 272
Pair of Sauciers en Plateau. Silver gilt. H. 115 in

Anchi Kwaigetsudo, active 1710-1720: Stand' (29.2 cm) 232

ing Beauty. Colored woodblock print. 2ifx n2 in
Blanchard, Jacques, 1600-163 8: Virgin, Child
(55.4x29.2 cm) 205
withSS. John and Anne, 1630-31. Oil on canvas.
Aztec Culture (after ad 900): Standing Male 37X 48 in (94X 122 cm). Gift of Sam Salz 258
Figure, the god Xipe. Terracotta with traces of pig/
ment. H. 234 in (59.1 cm) 243 Blume, Peter, b. 1906: The Rock, 1948. Oil on
canvas. 58 x 74 in (147.4 X 188.0 cm) 275
Bakota People: Reliquary, late 19th century.
Wood, copper and brass sheeting, bone, twine, and Boccioni, Umberto, 1882-1916: Ines, 1909.
hide. H. 24 in, W. 12 in (61.0X 30.5 cm) 246 Pencil. 15X I5 2 in (38.2X 39.5 cm) 166

Balthus, Balthasar Klossowsky, b. 1910: Bohemian, unknown artist: Beaker: Allegory

Patience, 1943. Oil on canvas. 63! x 645 m (161. ox Ages of Man, c. 1600. Green glass with
of the
163.9 cm). The Joseph Winterbotham Fund 273 enameled decoration. H. 12^ in (31.0 cm) 228
Bambara Tribe: Pair of Antelope Headpieces. Bonnard, Pierre, 1867-1947: La Seine a Vernon,
Wood, metal, shell. H. 315, 385 in (79.3, 98.5 cm)
1930. Oil on canvas. 425X425 in (108.OX 108.0
248 cm). Clyde M. Carr Fund 272
Bartolommeo, Fra, 1475-15 17: Landscape:
Botticelli, Sandro, 1444-15 10: Madonna and
Hermitage upon a Pen and ink on paper.
Hill.
Child with Angels, c. 1490. Tempera on panel.
11^3- x 83 in (29.0x21.7 cm) 143
D. 13I in (334 cm) 3i
Bassano (Jacopo da Ponte) c. 15 10-1592:
Madonna and Child and infant St John the Baptist, Boucher, Francois (1703-1770): Pense'tAl aux

c 1565-68. Oil on canvas. 29 x 335 in (73.7X Raisins?, 1747. Oil on canvas. 3 if x 27 in (80.0X
cm) 68.5 cm) 63
84.5 40

Batoni, Pompeo Girolamo (1708-1787): Jose Boudin, Eugene, i 824-1 898: Approaching Storm,
Muhoz, Duque de Florida Blanca, 1777. Oil on 1864. Oil on panel. 14^ 22^ in (36.6 x 57.9 cm)
canvas. 394 X29I in (99.5 x 75-3 cm) 64 78

279
Breenbergh, Bartholomeus, 1599-1655/59: Catena, Vincenzo di Biagio,
c. 1470-153 i:

Oil on panel. 14 x 8§ in (35.7x21.4

Resurrection. Virgin and Child with Saint. Oil on panel. 25! x
cm). Frank H. and Louise B. Woods Fund 259 3 3^ in (65.4 x 84.1 cm). Gift of Chester D. Tripp
251
Breton, Jules, 827-1 906: The Song oj the Lark,
i

1884. Oil on canvas. 435 x 33^ in (110.6x85.8 Cezanne, Paul, 18 39-1906: The Basket of
cm) 91 Apples, 1890-94. Oil on canvas. 25! x 32 in
(65.4X 81.3 cm) 99
Bronzino (Angelo Allori), 1 502/3-1 572.
Presumed Portrait oj Francesco de' Medici, c. 1560.
Bathers, c. 1900. Oil on canvas. 20^x24^ in
(51.3x61.7 cm) 103
Oil on panel. 38|x 30 in (98.5x76.3 cm). Gift of
Edgar Kaufmann, Jr
Mme Cezanne in a Yellow Chair, 1890-94. Oil on
254
canvas. 3 i|x 255 in (81. ox 64.8 cm) 102
Brueghel the Elder, Pieter, c. i 525-1569: Montagne'Sainte'Victoire. Watercolor on paper.
The Hare Hunters, 1566. Etching. 8§xni in I3§x 20^111(34.7x53.1 cm) 163
(22.0X 29.2 cm) 130 The Vase of Tulips, 1890-94. Oil on canvas. 23^x
1 6§ in (59.6x42.3 cm) 101
Burgkmair, Hans, 1473-153 1: Maximilian 1 on
Horseback, 1508. Woodcut printed in black ink and Chagall, Marc, b. 1887: The Praying Jew (The
gold upon vellum. 12^ x 9 in (31.8 x 22.8 cm) 129 Rabbi of Vitebsk), 1914. Oil on canvas. 46 x 35 in
Butinone, Bernardino (before 1436-after (1 16.9 '88.9 cm). The Joseph Winterbotham
Collection 271
1507): Flight into Egypt, c. 1480. Egg tempera on
panel. 10^- / 8j^ in (25.9 X 22.1 cm) 30 Chardin, JeanvBaptiste Simeon, 1699-1779:
Cades, Giuseppe, 1750-1799: Meeting of Gautier, The White Tablecloth, c. 1737. Oil on canvas.
Count of Antwerp, and his Daughter Violante. Oil on 37|x48| in (95.9x123.8 cm). Gift of Annie
canvas. \\\/ 1^\ in (37.2x70 cm). Worcester Swan Coburn to the Mr and Mrs Lewis Larned
Sketch Fund 262 Coburn Memorial Collection 262

Caillebotte, Gustave, 1 848-1 894: The Place

Ch'e.n Chi'Ju, 1558-163 7: Calligraphy. Ink on
de {'Europe on a Rainy Day, 1877. Oil on canvas. gilt'spattered paper. 7^x205 in (18.5x51.5 cm)

83^x io8| (212. 2X 276.2 cm) 186

95

Cambiaso, Luca, 1 527-1 585: Venus and Cupid,

Ch'en Ju'Yen, active 1340-13 80: A Hermitage.

1570-75. Oil on canvas. 42§x 37^ in (107.7X Hanging scroll, ink on paper. 343 x 19 in (88.3

95.9 cm). A. A. Munger Collection 255 48.3 cm) 184

Canaletto (Antonio Canal), 1697-1768: Chicago Painter, mid'5th century bc: The
Ruins of a Courtyard. Pen, brown ink, and grey Chicago Vase, c. 460-440 bc. Terracotta. H. 14! in
wash over graphite, n^x 8^ in (29.2 x 20.6 cm) (37.5 cm) 217
150 Ch'ing Dynasty, 1644-1912: Chair. Bamboo
CapO'DI'Monte Ware: Ewer, c. 1745. Soft' with painted details. H. 37 in (94.0 cm) 189
paste porcelain with coloring and gilt. H. 12 in Carved Lacquer Box. Lacquer. D. 14 in (35.7 cm)
^30.5 cm) 229 188

Caravaggio, Cecco Del, active 1st quarter Chirico, Giorgio De, b. 1888: The Philosopher's
17th century: The Resurrection, c. 1600. Oil on Conquest, 191 4. Oil on canvas. 495 x 3 94 in (125.8
canvas.1333/ 783 in (3 39.1 x 199.5 cm). Charles x 100.3 cm). The Joseph Winterbotham Collect
H. and Mary F.S. Worcester Collection 256 tion 271

Carpaccio, Vittore, c. 1450-c. 1522: A Young Chola Period, 907-1053: Standing Figure of
Nobleman. Brushed grey ink heightened with white, Brahma. Pink granite. H. 54 in (137.2 cm) 213
iox 7§ in (25.5 x 19.4 cm) 142
Constable, John, 1776-18 37: StokcbyNay
Cassatt, Mary, i 844-1 926: The Bath, 1836. Oil on canvas. 495X 66% in (125. 8x
land,

c. 1891-92. Oil on canvas. 39^x26 in (100.3 x 168.8 cm). Mr and Mrs. W.W. Kimball Collect
66.1 cm) 105 tion 264

280
Copley, John Singleton, 1738-1815: Mary J.Beveridge in memory of her mother Abby Louise
Greene Hubbard, 1764. Oil on canvas. 50^ x 39I in Spencer (Mrs Augustus Eddy) 262
(127.7X 101.3 cm) 59
Degas, Edgar, 18 34-1917: The Bathers,
Corinth, Lovis, 1858-1925: Self'Portrait, 1917. c. 1890-95. Pastel on paper. 441x45^ in (11 3.4
Oil on canvas. i8f x 14! in (46.2 x 37.1 cm) 118 1 15.7 cm). Gift of Nathan Cummings 268
Dancers preparing for the Ballet, c. 1880. Oil on
Corot, JeaN'Baptiste Camille, 1796-1875:
canvas. 29^x235 in (74. ix 60.5 cm) 88
Interrupted Reading, c. 1870. Oil on canvas. 36^ x
Harlequin, 1885. Pastel on paper. 22^x25^ in
25! in (92.8 x 65.5 cm) 267
(57.3 x 64.8 cm). Bequest of LoulaD. Lasker 268
View of Genoa, 1834. Oil on paper, nfx i6§ in
The Millinery Shop, c. 1882. Oil on canvas. 39^x
(29.5x41.7 cm) 70
43§ in (99.5 x 1 10.3 cm) 89
Wounded Eury dice, 1868-70. Oil on canvas. 22 x 163
Woman in a Rose Hat, 1879. Pastel, tempera and oil
in (56.0 x 41.5 cm). Henry Field Memorial Collect
on canvas 3 3|x29§ in (85.8x75.3 cm). The
tion 266
Joseph Winterbotham Collection 268
Correggio (Antonio Allegri) 1494-15 34: c.
De Kooning, Willem, b. 1904: Excavation,
Virgin and Child with St John the Baptist, probably
1950. Oil on canvas. 8o£x ioo£ in (203.5 x 254.5
1515. Oil on panel. 25^ x 19I in (64.2X 50.4 cm)
cm). Mr and Mrs Frank G. Logan Purchase Prize,
37
Gift of Mr Edgar Kaufmann, Jr and Mr and Mrs
Cot an, Juan Sanchez, 1 561-1627: StilULife, Noah Goldowsky 277
c. 1602. Oil on canvas. 26|x 34! in (67.7x88.3
Delacroix, Eugene, 1798-1863: Arab Rider
cm). Gift of Mr and Mrs Leigh B. Block 256
on panel. 18 x 14! in
Attacked by Lion, 1849. Oil
Courbet, Gustave, 1819-1877: Mere Gre'goire, (45.8 x Palmer Collection
37.5 cm). Potter 264
1855. Oil on canvas. 5o|x i%\ in (128.9x97.2 The Lion Hunt, 1861. Oil on canvas. 30^ x
cm) 74 38| in (76.5x98.5 cm) 72
The Rock of Hautepierre, c. 1869. Oil on canvas.
Delaunay, Robert, 1882-1941: Champ de
315X 395 in (80.2X 100.3 cm) 267
Mars, Red Tower, 191 1. Oil on canvas. 64X 512
the

Cranach the Elder, Lucas, 1472-155 3: The (162.6X 130.9 cm) in

Crucifixion,1533 (38;). Oil on panel. 47^- x 32^ in
Delvaux, Paul, b. 1897: The Village of the
(121. ix 82.6 cm). Charles H. and Mary F.S.
Mermaids, 1942. Oil on panel. 41 x 49
(104.2X in
Worcester Collection 250
124.5 cm). Gift of Mr and Mrs Maurice E. Culberg
Eve tempted by the Serpent, c. 1530. Oil on panel.
274
42|x 14I in (107.7 x 36.6 cm) 38
Derain, Andre, 880-1954: The Last Supper,
1
Dali, Salvador, b. 1904: Inventions of the
191 1. Oil on canvas. 89^x 113^ in (226.7x288.4
Monsters, 1937. Oil on canvas. 20^ x 30! in (51. ix
cm). Gift of Mrs Frank R. Lillie 270
78.4 cm) 273
Dubuffet, Jean, b. 1901: Genuflexion of the
Daumier, Honore, 1808-1878: Fatherly Disci'
Bishop, 1963.Oil on canvas. 86|x 118 in (220.4
pline.Pen and ink wash over pencil. 10x7! in
299.7 cm). The Joseph Winterbotham Fund 278
(25.5 x 20.0 cm) 155
The Three fudges. Pen and ink over pencil and Eakins, Thomas, i 844-1916 Addie, Woman in :

watercolor. nfx i8§ in (29.8x46.8 cm) 154 Black, 1899. Oil on canvas. 24x20 in (61.0X
50.9 cm) 108
David, Gerard, c. 145 5-1523 Lamentation at the
:

foot of the Cross, c. 1511. Oil on panel. 21^ x 24^ in Eastern Chou Dynasty, second half, 480-
(54.7x62.4 cm) 35 222 bc Covered wine vessel called a Ho. Bronze
:

with patination. H. io£ in (25.7 cm) 176

David, JacqueS'Louis, 1748-1825: Mme
Pastoret and her Son, c. 1791-92. Oil on canvas. Eastern Chou Dynasty, late, c. 660-222 bc :

52|x 39I in (133.1X 100.0 cm) 65 Kneeling Prisoner. Steatite (»), H. 7% in (19.7 cm)
Portrait of Madame Buron, 1769. Oil on canvas. 180
25§x 21^ x 54.7 cm). Gift of Mrs Albert
in (65.2 Ring disc called a Pi. Jade. D. 8 in (20.3 cm) 179

281
Empoli, Jacopo da (Jacopo Chimenti), (47.7x31.8 cm). Charles H. and Mary F.S.
Attrib. to, c. 1 554-1640: Widow of the Medici Worcester Collection 254
Family. Oil on canvas. 87x485 in (221x122.6
cm). Frank H. and Louise B. Woods Purchase
Glackens, William J., 1870-1938; Chez
Mouquin, 1905. Oil on canvas. 48^- x 363 in (122.3
Fund 255
x 92.1 cm). Friends of American Art Collection
FantiN'Latour, Henri, 18 36-1904: Portrait of 270
Edouard Manet, 1867. Oil on canvas. 46 x 352 in
(1 16.9 x 90.2 cm). Stickney Fund 266 Gorky, Arshile, 1904-1948: The Artist's Mother,
Still Life: Corner of a Table, 1873. Oil on canvas. 1936. Charcoal. 24! ><19^ in (63.0 x 48.5 cm) 171
385X49^ in 125. 1 cm). Ada Turnbull The Plough and the Song No. 2, 1946. Oil on canvas.
(97.2 '

Hertle Fund 266 5i|x 6i|in(i3i.8x 155.9 cm). Mr and Mrs Lewis
Lamed Coburn Fund 276
Feininger, Lyonel, 1871-1956: Village Street,
1929. Oil on canvas. 3i|x 39^ in (80.8x101.0 Goya y Lucientes, Francisco, 1746-1828:
cm). Gift of Mr and Mrs Sigmund Kunstadter 27 Beware of that Step!, c 1805. Brush in grey and black

Flemish School, 15th century: Lamentation, c.

wash on white paper. io| x 7^
in (26.4 x 18.2
cm) 153
1490. Oil on panel. i6|x 11^ in (42. 6x 28.6 cm).
Capture of Maragato by Fray Pedro, c 1807. Oil on
Max and Leola Epstein Collection 250
panel. 1 i 5 x 1 5^ in (29.2/ 38.5 cm) 67
Fox Talbot, William Henry, 1 800-1 877: The Hanged Monk, c. 1810. Oil on panel. i2yg-x
Lacock Abbey Cloisters, c. 1842. Calotype. 6 2 x 85 in 15^ in (31 -
39-2 cm). Robert A. Waller Fund
(16.5 x 20.6 cm) 173 263
Portrait of General Jose Manuel Romero, c. 18 10.
Gauguin, Paul, 1 848-1903 : The Day of the God, Oil on canvas. 4I5X 37! in (105.5 y 8 3-5 cm)
1894. Oil on canvas, 27^ x 35! in (69.6 -
90.5
263
cm) 97
Women at the River (Auti te Pape), 1893-95- El Greco (Domenico Theotocopuli), 1541-
Colored woodcut, 8x14 in (20. 3x35.7 cm) 1 3 1614: The Assumption of the Virgin, 1577. Oil on
canvas. 158X 90 in (401.4X 228.7 cm) 41
Gericault, Theodore, 1791-1824: After Death,
1818-19. Oil on canvas. 17^x22 in (45.1x55.9 Greek, Attic, unknown sculptor, end of 4th
cm). A. A. Munger Collection 263 century bc: Figure of a Youth from a Gravestone.
Marble. H. 32 in (81.3 cm) 218
German, anonymous engraver, 15th century:
Man of Sorrows, 1465-70. Hand'colored wood'
c.
Gris, Juan, 1887-1927: Portrait of Picasso, 1912.
cut. 155X 105 in (40.1 x 26.7 cm) 127 Oil on canvas. 293 x 36| in (74.3 x 93.7 cm) 115

German, Low, anonymous printmaker, 15th

Guercino (G.F. Barbieri), 1 591-1666: The
Man of Sorrows with Four Angels, c. 1470.
century:
Entombment, 1656. Oil on canvas. 56/ 85^^(142.2
Dotted metal cut print, 1 3 x 9| in ( 3 3 .0 x 2 5 . 1 cm)
x 216.6 cm). Wilson L. Mead Fund 261
128

German, Lower Saxony, late nnVearly 14th Gurney, Richard and Thomas Cook : Covered

centuries: Embroidered Square: The Last Supper. Cup, c. 1757-58. Gold. H. 8 in (20.3 cm) 230
Linen and silk. 14^/ 15 in (36.3 x 38.2 cm) 235
Han Dynasty, 206 bc-ad 221: Jar for wine
Monstrance of St Christina, c. 1475. Silver. 83 x
storage called a Hu. Bronze. H. 1 -]\ in (45 .2 cm) 1 77
5 2 in (22.2 x 14.0 cm; 223

Gerome, Jean/Leon, 1824-1904: Portrait of a Han Dynasty, Late, ad 9-221: Statuettes of

Lady,85 1. Oil on canvas. 363X29^(92.8x73.7
1
Dancers. Painted pottery. H. 6\, 6| in (15.8, 17.5
cm;. Silvain and Arma Wyler Foundation, Re^ cm) 178
stricted Gift 264
Harnett, William Michael, 1 848-1 892 :Jw.rt

Gerung, Matthias, c. 1500-c. 1568/70: The Dessert, 1891. Oil on canvas. 22^x 26% in (56.6
Judgment of Paris, 1536. Oil on panel. i8|x 122 in 68.0 cm) 107

282
Heian Period, Late, unknown artist, 9th Japanese, unknown artist, 14th century: The
century: Seated Hachiman. Wood. H. 21 in (53.5 Priest Kobo Daishi as a Child. Hanging scroll, water'
cm) 193 colors, ink and gilt on silk. 34! x 19^ in (86.6
49.0 cm) 197
Hobbema, Meindert, 1638-1709: The Watermill
with the Great Red Roof, c. 1670. Oil on canvas. unknown artist, 14th century: Shika Mandara.
32 x 43^ in (81.3 x 109.6 cm). Gift of Mr and Mrs Hanging scroll, watercolor, ink and gilt on silk.
Frank G. Logan 261
49§ •
20 in (125.5 '
50.9cm) 196

Hoitsu, 1761-1828: Mandarin Ducks in the Snow. Kamakura Period, unknown artist, 1185-
Twcfold screen, color and gilt on paper. 67^ x 1392: Guardian Figure. Painted wood with paste
64^ in (171. 1 x 164.5 cm ) -201 inlays. H. 36^ in (92.8 cm) 195

Homer, Winslow, 1836-1910: Croquet Scene,

Kandinsky, Wassily, 1 866-1944: Improvisation
1866. Oil on canvas. is|x26yg- in (40.3x66.2
with Green Center (No. 176), 1913- Oil on canvas.
cm). Friends of American Art Collection 265
434 x 472 in (109.9 x 120.6 cm) 113
Giilfstream. Watercolor. n|x20yg- in (28. 9X
51.0 cm) 164 Kirchner, Ernst Ludwig, 1880-1938: The
The Herring Net, 1885. Oil on canvas. 29^ x 47^ in Woodcut 19-nr x 15^ in (50.0
Blacksmith, 191 7-
(75.OX 120.6 cm) 106 40.1 cm) 139

Hope, Thomas (after): Circular Table, c. 18 10.

Kitagawa Utamaro, 1753-1806: Geisha and
Unstained mahogany inlaid, with gilt ornaments.
her Colored woodblock print. 15/ 10 in
Maid.
H. 285 in (72.5 cm) 233
(38.2x25.4 cm) 209
Hopper, Edward, 1 882-1976: Nighthawks, 1942. The Hour of the Wild Boar, 10 p.m. to 1 1 p.m. Colored
Oil on canvas. x6o 8 in (84.3 x 152.7 cm) woodblock print. 15 > 10 in (38.2 x 25.5 cm) 210
3 3tV
275
Kiyonobu I, 1664-1729: The Actor Takii Hanno-
Indian, unknown artist, nth century: Figure suke as a Wakashu, c. 1710. Colored woodblock
of Shiva Nataraja. Bronze with patina. H. 28 in print. 22 x 1
2 in (56.0 x 29.2 cm) 203
(71.2 cm) 214
Koryo Dynasty, 13th century: Vase. Pottery. H.
Ingres, J.A.D., 1 780-1 867: Charles Gounod,
1 o\ in (26.0 cm) 191
1841. Pencil on paper, iiy^- x 9iV m (30.0 x 23.0 H. 10
Ewer. Pottery. in (25.5 cm) 191
cm) 157
Amedee- David, Marquis de Pastoret, 1826. Oil on Lamerie, Paul de (1688-175 1): 'Tredegar Cup',
canvas. 39|x 32^ in (99.5 x 82.0 cm) 69 1739-40. Silver. H. 14, W. 13^, Diameter at lip

6yg- in (35.6, 33.3, 16.36 cm) 228

Isenbrandt, Adriaen, active 1510, d. 1551:
Madonna and Child, c. 1510-40. Oil on panel. Lan Ying, 1 578-1660: Landscape. Album leaf, ink
I5^x 12 in (38. 8x 30.5 cm). Mr and Mrs Martin and color on paper. 12 X 16 in (30.5 X 40.8 cm)
A. Ryerson Collection 252 187

Italian, unknown artist, 14th century: Cruci- Lawrence, Sir Thomas, 1769-1830: Mrs Jens
fixion, probably 1 390-141 5. Tempera on panel. Wolf, 1803, 1815. Oil on canvas. 50§ X 40^ in
20 93 in (50.9x23.5 cm) 24 (128.0 X 102.2 cm) 68

unknown artist, early 16th century: The Annun- Longhi, Pietro, 1702-1785. Lady at her Toilet, c.
ciation. Tapestry of silk, wool, gold, and linen. 1740. Oil on canvas. 22§ x ij\ in (56.9x43-9
46 x 72 in (116. >' 182.9 cm) 238 cm). Flora Erskine Miles Fund 262

ANONYMOUS NORTH ITALIAN ARTIST, 15th Cen^ Lo Spagna, Giovanni di Pietro, c. 1450-1528:
tury (?): Profile Portrait of a Man, c. 1450 (?). St Catherine of Siena, c. Oil on panel. 41^
1 5 16. 19
Silverpoint on prepared surface. 93 x 6| in (24.8 x in (104.8X48.3 cm). Mr and Mrs Martin A.
17-5 cm) 141 Ryerson Collection 253

283
Mabuse (Jan Cossaert), c. 1478-c. 1535: Master of the Female HalF'Figures (flem>
Madonna and Child, c. 1 520. Oil on panel. 21 1 5 ^ in ish), c. 1500-1530: Mary Magdalen, c. 1525. Panel.
(53. 5 40.4 cm). Charles H. and Mar)- F. S. 20 2 14I in ^52.4 37.5 cm). Max and Leola
Worcester Collection 252 Epstein Coll ection 251

Magritte, Rene, 898-1967: 1 Time Transfixed, Master of Moulins, active c. 1500: Annunciation.
1939- Oil on canvas. 5-3 38^ in 146. 1 97.5 Oil on panel. 29 20 in ^73.7 < 50.9 cm) 34
cm) 273
Master of the Historia: Nativity, c. 1510-20.
Maler zu Schwaz, Hans, Attnb. to, c.
Oil and tempera on panel. 46^ •
293 in (118. 8

1479 80-c. 1530: Christ bearing tlie Cross, c. 15 15. Oil -4.3 cm . Wilson L. Mead Fund 253
and tempera on panel. 13^ 22 -j^- in (33.- 57 6 Matisse, Henri, 1 869-1954: Apples, 1916. Oil
cm). Charles H. and Mar)' F. S. Worcester on canvas. 46 88.9 cm) 116
35111(116.9 -

Collection 252 Batfiers by a River, 1916-1-. Oil on canvas. 103

Mancini, Antonio, 1 852-1930: Resting. Oil on 154 in ('261.8 391-2 cm 117

1921. Oil on canvas. 52
canvas, 38^ n\
(57.9 < in < 97-9 cm). Gift o(
Interior at Nice, •
35 in

Charles Deering McCormick, Brooks McCormick,

'132.2 •
88.9 cm 121

and Roger McCormick 269 Maya Culture, late Sth, early 9th centuries ad:
Wall Panel. Stone. L. 17 in 43.3 cm) 241
Manet, Edouard, 1 8 3 2- 1 8 8 3: Boy with Pitclier, c.
Late Classic Penod, c. ad -00-900: Cylindrical
1862. Oil on canvas. 22^
20 in (56.6 50.9 cm). -

I essel. Painted, fired clay. H. 8^ in 21.4 cm 242

Bequest of Katharine Dexter McCormick 265
Tk Mocking of Christ, 1865. Oil on canvas. 75 1 Memling, Hans, c 1433-1497: Madonna and Child
58^ in (190.8 148.3 cm) 76 with Donor, c. 1485. Oil and tempera on panel.
Portrait of Berthe Morisot, 1874. Watercolor on paper. 13^ •
1O2 in (34-4 -26.7 cm;; 133 iof in
8 63 in (20.3 •
16.5 cm) 158 '35 27 cm 28-9
Race Track Near Paris, 1864. Oil on canvas. i~j
Millet, Jean Francois (1814-1875): Horse, c.
33^ in ^43.9 •
84.5 cm). Potter Palmer Collection
265
1 841. Oil on canvas, 65^ "3 m (166.4 '
: 96.8

Carp, 1864. Oil on canvas. 2%^ cm) 73

Still' Life with 363
in - - 92.1 cm) 77 Minelli dei Bardi, Giovanni, 1460-1527:
Virgin and Child, c. 1520. Terracotta with traces of
Manfredi, Bartolommeo, i 587-1620: Cupid
Cliastised, 1605-10. Oil on canvas. 69X5 if in
paint. H. 57I in '146.8 cm) 224
c.

-
1 13c. 6 cm 43 Miro, Joan, b. 1893 : Portrait of a Woman (Juanita
Obradorj, 191 8. Oil on canvas. 27$ 24^ in
Marc, Franz, 1 880-1916: Bewitclied Mill, 191 3-
''69.5 62.0 cm). The Joseph Winterbotham
Oil on canvas. 51^ * 353 m (130.6 - 90.8 cm) 271
Collection 271
Martorell, Bernardo, active 1427-1452: St Mochica Culture, ad 500-700: Portrait Vessel
George killing the Dragon, c. 1438. Tempera on panel.
with a Stirrup Spout. Terracotta. H. 14 in (35.7 cm)
56 ' 38 in (142.3 -
96.5 cm 27

Massys, Quentin, 1465 66-1520: Mm with a

Mola, Pier Francesco, 16 12-1666: Homer
Pink,1510-20. Oil on panel. 17^ X u 2 in (43.9
Dictating, c. 1650. Oil on canvas. 28 38 in (71.2
29.2 cm;. Gift of John J. Glessner 25 H. and Mar)- F. S. Worcester
96.5 cm). Charles
Collection 260
Master of Amiens, active after 1475: St Hugh of
Lincoln, c. 1480. Oil on panel. 46^ <20m(ii; Mondrian, Piet, [872-1944: Composition, 191 3—
50.8 cm) 33 14. Black chalk 24! i9in(63.ox 48.3 cm) 169

Master of the Bigallo Crucifix: Crucifix, c. Monet, Claude, 1840-1926: The Beach at

1260. Tempera on panel. 75 1 < 50^ in ^191.5 X SaintcAdresse, 1867. Oil on canvas. 293 393 •
in
127.7 cm 21 (75.0/ 101.0 cm) 80

284
Old SainULazare Station, Paris, 1877. Oil on canvas. The Frugal Repast, 1904. Etching printed in blue.

2 j^x 31^ in (59.6 x 80.2 cm) 82 1 8|x 15 in (46.2 x 38.2 cm) 136
The River, 1868. Oil on canvas. 3if x 395 in (81.0 Fernande Olivier, 1906. Charcoal. 24 x 18 in (61. ox
x 100.3 cm) 81 45.8 cm) 165
Figure. Gouache on cardboard. 2^x 19 in (6 3. ox
Moreelse, Paulus, 1571-1638: Portrait of a 48.3 cm) 167
Lady, c. 1620. Oil on panel. 28^x zi\ in (71. 5X Head (Woman with Helmet of
of the Acrobat's Wife
57.6 cm). Max and Leola Epstein Collection 257 Hair), 1904. Gouache on paperboard. i6§x 12^ in
(42.9 x cm). Gift of Kate L. Brewster
3 1 .2 270
Moretto da 1498-1554: Mary
Brescia, c.
'Man with a Pipe, 1915- Oil on canvas. 515X 35^ in
Magdalene, second quarter 16th century. Oil on
(130.3x89.5 cm) 112
canvas. 64^x17! in (163.9x45.2 cm). Gift of
Mother and Child, 192 1. Oil on canvas. 565 x 64 in
William Owen Goodman 254
(143.5 x 162.6 cm) 120
Moroni, Giovanni Battista, c. 1525-1578: Mother and Child, fragment. Oil on canvas. 55^*
Lodovico Madruzzo, c. 1560. Oil on canvas. 79|x 165 in (141.OX 42.0 cm) 120
46 in (202.6X 1 16.9 cm). Charles H. and Mary Nessus and Dejanira, 1920. Silverpoint on prepared
F S Worcester Collection
. . 255 paper. 83 x of in (21.3 x 27.0 cm)
1 170
Nude Under a PineTree, 1959. Oil on canvas. 72 x 96
Mughal : Procession in a palace, leaf from a royal ms. in (182.9X 244.0 cm). Grant J. Pick Collection
of the Shah'Jehan Nameh, c. 1650. Ink, color, and 276
gold on paper. 14^ x 8^- in (37.5 x 22.0 cm) 215 The Old Guitarist, 1903. Oil on panel. 48 £ x 32^-
in (122.3 x 82.4 cm) 109
Nara Period, unknown artist, ad 710-784:
Sylvette (Mile D.), 1954. Oil on canvas. 515X 385
Seated Bosatsu Figure. Lacquered wood. 24 x 17 in
in (130.9x97.2 cm) 123
(61.0x43.3 cm) 192
Pisanello, 1395-1455/56: Studies of the Eastern
Northern France: Virgin and Child Enthroned,
Patriarch, 1438. Pen and brown ink on paper.
c. 1240. Ivory, once partly gilt. 8|x 3! in (22.6
7^ x 105 in (19.1x26.0 cm) 140
9.5 cm) 220
Pissarro, Camille, 1830-1903: Girl Sewing,
O'Keeffe, Georgia, b. 1887: Cow's Skull
1895. Oil on canvas. 25! X2if in (65. 2X 53.8 cm).
with Calico Roses, 193 1. Oil on canvas. 3 5§x 24 in
Gift of Mrs Leigh B. Block 269
(91.1x61.0 cm) 272
Place du Havre, Paris, 1893- Oil on canvas. 23§x

Opus Anglicanum: Cope, late i5th-early 16th 28jf- in (60.1 X73.5 cm) 98
century. Velvet, silk, metal thread, and sequins.
Pollock, Jackson, 1912-1956: Grayed Rainbow,
56^- x 115 in (143.0x292.1 cm) 238
1953. Oil on canvas. 72X 96 m ( 182. 9 x 244.0 cm).
Gift of the Society for Contemporary American
Paolo, Giovanni di,c. 1403-1482/3 St John the :

Baptist in Prison, c. 1450-60. Tempera on panel.

Art 277
27 x 14^ in (68.7 x 36.3 cm) 26
Pontormo, Jacopo, 1494-1557 (follower):
Perugino, Pietro, c. 1452-1523: Baptism of Virgin, Child and Infant St John. Oil on panel.
Christ, c. 1 5 10. Oil on canvas, io^x i6| in (26.7 32^x225 in (82.0x57.3 cm). Charles H. and
42.6 cm). Mr and Mrs Martin A. Ryerson Collect Mary F. S. Worcester Fund 254
tion 251
POURBUS THE YOUNGER, FRANS, I $69-1622:
Piazzetta, Giovanni Battista, 168 3-1754: Marie de Medici, 1616. Oil on canvas. 394 x 30^ in
Pastoral Scene, c. 174c. Oil on canvas. 75^ x 56^ in (99.8 x 77.5 cm). Gift of Kate S. Buckingham
(191. 8x 143.0 cm) 57 257

Picasso, Pablo, 1881-1973: Daniel-Henry Kahn- Poussin, Nicolas, 1 594-1665: St John on Patmos,
'Her, 1910. Oil on canvas. 39§ X 28§ in (100.6 c. 1650. Oil on canvas. 40X 535 in (101.7X 135-9
72.8 cm no cm) 48

285
Rembrandt van Rijn, 1606-1669: Noah's Ark. The Triumph of the Eucharist, 1626-27. Oil on panel.
Reed pen and wash. 7| x 9^ in (20.0/ 24.2 cm) 12^x12^ in (31.8x31.8 cm) 45
145 Rltsdael, Jacob Van, 1 628/9-1 682: Ruins of
T/if Presentation in the Temple, late 1650s (?). Etching
Egmond, 1650-60. Oil on canvas. 38I/5I5 in
and drypoint. yk S
6 H in (19.1 •
16.2 cm; 131
(98.9/ 129.9 cm). Potter Palmer Collection 260
Presumed Portrait of the Artist's Father, c. 163 1. Oil on
panel. 32I/29I in (83.5^75-6 cm) 52 Sargent, John Singer, 1856-1925: Mrs Charles
Young Girl at an open Half"Door, 1645. Oil on Gifford Dyer (May Anthony), 1880. Oil on canvas.
canvas. 40^ •
3 3^ in (102.OX 84.2 cm) 53 24! / 1 73 in (62.7/ 43.9 cm). Friends of American
Art Collection 267
Reni, Guido, 1575-1642: Salome with the Head of Mrs George Swinton, 1896. Oil on canvas. 90/ 49 in
John the Baptist, probably 1638-39. Oil on canvas. (228.7/ 124.5 cm). Win D.Walker Fund 269
975 '
682 in (248.5 ' 173.0 cm) 47
Scheel, Sebastian, Attrib. to, c. 1479-15 54:
Renoir, Pierre Auguste, 1841-1919: Child in Madonna and Child with Saints, c. 1525. Oil and
White, 1883. Oil on canvas. 243/ 193 in (61.7/ tempera on panel. Center 54^/39^ in (138.5/
50.4 cm). Mr and Mrs Martin A. Ryerson Collect 100.3 cm); wings 54^/ 163 in (138.5/42.6 cm).
don 268 Mr and Mrs Martin A. Ryerson Collection 253
Lady at the Piano, 1875. Oil on canvas. 363 x 293 in
Sesson Shukei, 1 504-1 589: Landscape of the Four
(93.4/74-3 cm) 84
Seasons. Sixfold screen, ink and color on paper.
Nude ( study for The Great Bathers), 1884-85. Pastel
6i|/ 133 in (155.9/ 337.9 cm) 198-99
and wash. 39/25 in (99.2 X 63.6 cm) 1 59

On the Terrace, 1881. Oil on canvas. 39^ x 3 if in Seurat, Georges, 1859-1891: Sunday Afternoon
(100.3/ 81 cm) 87 on the island of La Grande Jatte, 1884-86. Oil on
The Rowers' Lunch, c. 1880. Oil on canvas. 2\\/ canvas. 81 / i2of in (205.7/ 305.8 cm) 92
25I in (54.7/ 65.5 cm) 86 Trees on the Bank of the Seine, c. 1884-85. Conte
Two little Circus Girls, 1879. Oil on canvas. $ij/ crayon. 24I/ 185 in (62.0/ 47.1 cm) 161
38fin (130.9/ 98.5 cm) 85
Shang Dynasty, before 1028 bc: Wine vessel
Reynolds, Sir Joshua, 1723-1792: Lady Sarah called a Lei. Bronze with patination. H. 173 in
Bunbur}' Sacrificing to the Graces, 1765. Oil on (45.2 cm) 175
canvas. 94 - 60 in (238.9/ 152.5 cm; 60
Late Shang or Early Chou Dynasties,
Riesener, JeaN'Henri (1734-1806): Commode, i2th-ioth centuries bc: Food vessel called a Kuei.

H. Bronze with patination. H. 93 in (23.5 cm) 175

c. 1 79 1. Mahogany, gilt bronze, and marble.

37?, W. 653, D. n\ in (95-9, 165.7, 5 6 6 cm ) 2 3 -

Shojo Shokado, 1 584-1639: Plum and Bamboo.
Hanging scrolls, ink with touches of color on
Rimpatta, Antonio, last quarter i5th-early 16th
paper. 46/ 12 in (116.9/ 30.5 cm) 200
centuries: Virgin and Child, Five Saints, and Donor.
Oil on panel. 493/47 in (125.1/ 119.4 cm). Sisley, Alfred, 1839-1899: Sand Heaps, 1875.
Clyde M. Carr Fund 251 Oil on canvas. 2 13/ 28|in(54.i/ 73.4 cm) 83

Robert, Hubert, 173 3-1 808: Villa Medici, Spanish, unknown artist, 14th century: The
Rome, 1785. Oil on panel. \z\/ iof in (31.5/ Ayala Altarpiece, 1396. Tempera on panel. Altar'
26.4 cm) 62 piece 993 -
251! in (253.6- 639.4 cm;; Ante^
pendium33^ 102 in ^85. 2 -
259.2 cm) 25
Rome: Gallienus, c. ad 260. Marble. H. 133 in
(34 cm) 219 unknown artist: Dossal and Antependium Scenes :

from the Life of Christ, c. 1468. Silver and gold, silk

Rousseau, Henri, 1844-1910: The Waterfall, on linen. Dossal 623 > 773 in (159.5 196.9 cm);
1910. Oil.45§/ 59 in (116. 3 / 150.0cm) 270 Antependium 30^/793 (77.5/201.3 cm) 237
Rubens, Peter Paul, 1 577-1640: Holy Family Steen, Jan, 1626- 1679: The Family Concert, 1666.
with St Elizabeth and St John the Baptist, c. 1615. Oil on canvas. 34^/ 393 in (86.6/ 101.0 cm).
Oil on panel. 46 / 3 5^ in (1 16.9 / 90.2 cm) 44 Gift ofT.B. Blackstone 261

286
Strozzi, Bernardo, i 581-1644: An Episcopal Torii Kiyonaga, 1752-1815: Party at the Naka^
Saint, c. 1630. Oil on canvas. 5i^x 39I in (130.3X suya,c. 1783. Colored woodblock print. 155X 20 in

100.0 cm). Alexander A. McKay Fund 258 (38.8 x 50.9 cm) 206
Women landing from a Pleasure Boat. Colored wood--
Stuart, Gilbert, 1755-1828: Major General
block print. I5 2 x io^in(39.5X 26.0 cm) 211
Henry Dearborn, 1811-12. Oil on canvas. 28|x
22^- in (71.5 x 57.3 cm). Friends of American Art Toscano, Meliore: Virgin and Child Enthroned, c.

Collection 263 1270. Tempera on panel. 32^ x i8| in (82.0

47.7 cm) 22
Sugimura Jihei, active 1680-1697: Lovers.
Woodblock print. 10 x 14^ in (25.5 x 36.3 cm) Toshusai Sharaku, 1794-1795:
active The
204 Actor Morita Kanya VIII. Colored woodblock
print. 1
2 x 9! in (31.8x24.8 cm) 207
Sully, Thomas, 178 3-1 872: Anna Milnor Klapp,
Toulouse-Lautrec, Henri de, 1864-1901:
1814. Oil on canvas. 36^x 28^ in (92.1 x 71.5 cm).
Gift of Annie Swan Coburn to the Mr and Mrs
At the Moulin Rouge, 1892. Oil on canvas. 48§x 55^
Lewis Larned Coburn Memorial Collection 263
in (122.9 x L40.4 cm) 96
Elsa, The Viennese, 1897. Colored lithograph.
Sung Dynasty, unknown painter, ad 960- 22|x 153 (58.2X 40.1 cm)
in 134
1279: Palace Musicians. Handscroll, ink and colors Moulin 1889. Oil on canvas. 35 x 39!
de la Galette,
on silk. i6^X 72^ in (42.0 X 184.2 cm) 183 in (88.9X 101.3 cm). Mr and Mrs Lewis Larned
Coburn Memorial Collection 269
Tang Dynasty, ad 618-906: Standing Warrior.
Painted pottery with traces of gilt. H. 38 in (96.5 Turchi, Alessandro, 1 578-1649: Venus and
cm) 1 82 Cupid, c. 1630. Oil on canvas.
4 5|x 62f in (1 16.2 x
Tomb figure of a Horse. Glazed pottery. H. 305 in 1 59. 1 cm). Charles H. and Mary F.S. Worcester
(77-5 cm) 181 Collection 259

Tang Yin, 1470-152 3: Drinking at Night. Turner, J.M.W., 1 775-1 851: Valley of Aosta -
Handscroll, ink on paper. 13^ 35 in (33.0x88.9 Snowstorm, Avalanche, and Thunderstorm, 1836-37.

cm) 185
Oil on canvas. 36X 485 in (91.5 x 122.6cm) 71

Teotihuacan Culture, ad 400-700: Painted Vanderburgh, Cornelius: Caudle Cup,

Wall Decoration. Adobe with lime and Indian red c. 1683. Silver. H. 52 in (14.0 cm) 22 7

pigment. 36f x 25! in (93.0 x 63.9 cm) 240 Van Gogh, Vincent, 185 3-1 890: Bedroom at

Aries, 1888. Oil on canvas. 283 X 36 in (73.0

Terborch, Gerard, 1617-1681:
The Music
91.5 cm) 93
Lesson, c. 1660. Oil on canvas. 25
in (63.6X x 19!
Grove of Cypresses, 1889. Ink and reed pen over
50.0 cm). Demidoff Collection, Gift of Charles
pencil. 25§x 185 in (65.2 x 46.5 cm) 162
T. Yerkes 260
Self Portrait, 1886-88. Oil on cardboard. i6 2 > 133
Tiepolo, Giovanni Battista, 1696-1770: The in (42.0x33.7 cm) 94
Baptismof Christ. Oil on canvas. I3|xi7| in Van Hemessen, Jan Sanders, c. 1500-after
(33.3x44.4 cm) 261
1575: Judith, c. X
1560. Oil on panel. 393 30^ in
The Death of Seneca. Pen, brush, and sepia wash. (99.8 x 77.2 cm). Wirt D. Walker Fund 255
I32 x 9i in (34.4x24.2 cm) 148
Madonna and Child with St Dominic and St Hyacinth, Van Ostade, Adriaen, 1 61 0-168 5 : The Family,
1740-50. Oil on canvas. 108 x 54 in (274.4 x *37-2 1647. Etching. 6|x6^-( 17.5 x 15.4cm) 133

cm) 55 Van Soest, Geraerd, c. i 600-1 681: Portrait of

Ubaldo and Guelpho surprising Rinaldo and Armida in Drjohn Bulwer. Oil on canvas. 393? x 3 34 m (100.3
the Garden, c. 1740. Oil on canvas. 732 x 102^ in x 129.9 cm). Alexander A. McKay Fund 260
(186.9X 259.5 cm) 56
Vasari, Giorgio, 1511-1574: Mystical Vision of
Tiepolo, Giovanni Domenico, 1727-1804: S.Jerome, c. 1550. Oil on panel. 65! x 47^ in (166.1
Christ in the House ofjairus. Pen and ink with grey X 120.6 cm). Charles H. and Mary F. S. Worcester
and brown wash. i8|x 15 in (48.0 x 38.2 cm) 151 Collection 254

287
Velazquez, Diego Rodriguez de Silva y, Chatou, 1903. Oil on canvas. 32 x 39§ in (81.3 x
i 599-1660: Isabella of Spain, c. 1632. Oil on canvas. 1 01. 3 cm). Gift of Mr
and Mrs Maurice E. Culberg
49|x 40 in (126.4X 101.7 cm) 49 270
The Servant, 1618-22. Oil on canvas. 2lf X 41^ in
Watteau, Antoine, 1684-1721: The Dreamer.
(55. 7X 104.5 crr0- Robert A. Waller Fund 258
Oil on cradelled panel. 9^x 6^ in (23.2X 16.5 cm).
St John in the Wilderness, 1619-20. Oil on canvas.
69X 60 in (175.3 x 152.5 cm). Gift of Mrs Richard
Mr and Mrs Lewis Lamed Coburn Fund 261
The Old Savoyard. Red and black chalk. 143 x 8| in
E. Danielson 257
(36.3x22.5 cm) 147
VenetO'Byzantine, unknown artist: £m- Studies of Figures from the Italian Comedy. Red, black,
throned Virgin and Crucifixion, 13th century. Tenv
and white chalk, io^x 15! in (26.0 x 39,8 cm) 146
pera on wood. Each panel 1 i^x 8| in (29.2x22.2 Whistler, James Abbott McNeill, 1834-
cm) 23 1903: Arthur Jerome Eddy, 1894. Oil on canvas.
82|x 36| in (209.1x93.4 cm). Arthur Jerome
VenetO'Riminese, Attrib. to the Master of the
Eddy Memorial Collection 269
Haniel Tabernacle: Virgin and Child with Scenes
from the Life of Christ, c. 1325-30. Tempera on Wood, Grant, i 892-1 942: American Gothic,
panel. 25^x37 in (64.2x94.0 cm). Denison B. 1930. Oil on beaverboard. 29^24! in (76.0X
Hull Restricted Fund 250 63.3 cm) 125

Veronese, Paolo, 528-1 588: Creation of Eve,

1
Wyeth, Andrew, b. 191 7: The Cloister, 1949.

1570. Oil on canvas.

Tempera on board. 32x41 in (81.3 x 104.2 cm).
c. 31IX403 in (81.OX 102.2
cm). Charles H. and Mary F. S. Worcester Collect Gift of Mrs Joseph Regenstein 276
tion 256 Yoshitoshi, 181S-1S92: Japanese Girl in Western
Dress, 1888. Colored woodblock print. 143X
Villon, Jacques (Gaston Duchamp^
9§ in (36.3 x 24.5 cm) 212
Villon), 1875-1963: The Set Table. Drypoint
etching, n^x 15 in(28.6x 38.2 cm) 137 Zurbaran, Francisco de, 1 598-1664:
St Roman, 1638. Oil on canvas. 97x63 in (246.5 x
Vittoria, Alessandro, 1525-1613: St Luke, 160. 1 cm) 51
c. 1570. Terracotta. H. 23^ in (58.7 cm) 225 Zurbaran, follower of: Still Life: Flowers
and Fruit, 1633-34. Oil on canvas. 32^ x 42! in
c.

Vlaminck, Maurice de, 1876-1958: Houses at (82.6 x 108.6 cm). Wirt D. Walker Fund 258

288
Among the important art museums and galleries in the United States, the Art

Institute of Chicago, founded in 1 879, is one of the most distinguished. Art lovers
throughout the world know that it houses Seurat's tantalizing masterpiece A
Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte and El Greco's Assumption
(the master's first great Spanish commission), yet the full variety and quality of the

Institute's contents are by no means as widely familiar as they deserve to be. Dr

Maxon's book describes and illustrates this great collection, which ranges from
early Italian and Flemish paintings to Kandinsky and Picasso; from ancient Greek
sculpture to textiles and the decorative arts. The Institute contains magnificent

examples of the work of the F tssionists, together with the work of many
other artists of outstanding importance: Botticelli, Rubens, Poussin, Velazquez,

Rembrandt, Tiepolo, David, Turner. The collection also includes a fine group of

French eighteenth- and nineteenth-century drawings and some of the world's

most important prints, among them the only print by Brueghel executed by his own
hand, and the Frugal Repast, the most famous print of Picasso's Blue Period. The

ititute is also rich in examples of Oriental art, nany of which are described,

including masterpieces fi le uarence gham collection of Japanese

prints and an extraordmar mpressive display of ancient Chinese ritual bronzi

John Maxon
obtained his Doctorate of Philosophy in the History of Art from Harvard Universit

He has been Director of the Museum of Art at the University of Kansas, and Direct*

of the Museum of Art at the Rhode Island School He is now Vic

President for Collections and Exhibitions at the Art In icago Dr Maxoi

is a specialist ie history of sixteenth-century Venetian painting, and has alsi

worked in the fields of American architecture and Buddhist sculoti

Thames and Hudson

30 Bloomsbury Street, London VVC1 B 3QP