Masterpieces from the Hermitage Museum Purchased by Andrew Mellon in 1931

About three dozen people gather in a grassy field to either side of a crumbling structure to kneel and pray before a woman and baby in the center of this horizontal painting. The woman, Mary, and baby, Jesus, have smooth, pale skin while the others have light or tanned skin. The structure has sand-colored stone pillars, a wooden triangular, pitched roof, and a straw floor. Mary, who has an elongated torso, sits facing us with her knees apart. She wears an azure-blue robe over a rose-pink dress. A shell-pink veil covers her head and body. Jesus sits on her left knee, his pudgy body angled to our left. He is nude except for a transparent cloth wrapped over one shoulder and the opposite hip. Mary’s left hand braces his torso. On Mary’s right, our left, Joseph, an older man, stands facing us. He clasps his hands at his chest and leans on a long stick. He has wrinkled skin, long, gray curly hair, and a full beard. Both Mary and Joseph tilt their heads to their right, our left, as they look down at Jesus. Joseph wears a golden yellow robe over a blue tunic. Joseph, Mary, and Jesus have faint gold halos. Behind them, a brown cow and gray donkey rest on the straw. People closest to Mary and Jesus kneel and bow their heads while the people to the left and right sides mostly stand. Three men kneeling closest to Mary and Jesus offer gifts, including a bronze vessel and a gold jar. One man has long dark brown hair and a beard, and wears a gold crown. Another man is bald with long gray hair and beard, while the third is cleanshaven with shoulder-length brown hair. These men wear robes in powder blue, carnation pink, or celery green with delicate silver and gold embelishments. Others in the crowd range in age from young and cleanshaven to older and bearded. They wear robes and tunics in shades of raspberry pink, butterscotch yellow, lapis blue, plum purple, or forest green. Several horses, their coats white or cinnamon brown, stand among the crowd, a few with riders. To our right, one horse rears its head and two others stand facing each other. Beyond the crowd, grassy green meadows and hills dotted with trees lead back to the horizon. A pale blue sky fills the top third of the composition.

Sandro Botticelli, The Adoration of the Magi, c. 1478/1482, tempera and oil on poplar panel, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.22

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Jean Siméon Chardin, The House of Cards, probably 1737, oil on canvas, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.90

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Shown from the hips up, a man with peachy skin and long, brown curly hair and goatee stands in front of a window opening onto a moonlit sky in this vertical portrait painting. His body faces our right and his right fist, closer to us, rests on his hip so his elbow juts toward us. Wearing a dark, wide brimmed hat, he turns his head to look over his right shoulder directly at us. His eyebrows are slightly raised over brown eyes, and he has a bumpy nose, a slight double chin, and pale pink lips that curve in the suggestion of a smile. He wears a golden yellow jacket with buttons along the sleeve we can see. The wrist of the jacket is trimmed with a wide, lace-edged cuff and a similarly wide, lace-trimmed collar lies over the armor breastplate that covers his chest. A marigold-orange sash is tied around the breastplate as well near the waist, and the goldenrod-yellow jacket drapes from a portly belly over his hips. He stands in front of a gray wall pierced with a rectangular window. The view has a veil of dark gray clouds over the moonlit sky.

Frans Hals, Portrait of a Member of the Haarlem Civic Guard, c. 1636/1638, oil on canvas, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.68

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Shown from the chest up, a young man with a plump, pale-skinned face hooks one elbow over the back of a wooden chair and looks at us in this vertical portrait painting. The man’s body faces our right as he turns his head over his right shoulder, closer to us, to gaze out with brown eyes under lifted brows. His nose ends with a round bump, and his round cheeks are flushed. He has a wispy mustache over full pink lips, which are parted. He wears a tall-crowned, brimmed black hat over a cloud of wavy, shoulder-length black hair. A lace-edged white collar spreads over an ink-black, satin coat. His right elbow is planted across the back of the chair, which has carved finials to either side. That hand is closed in a fist, which may hold something. The man’s hat casts a shadow on the right side of the taupe-gray wall behind him, where the artist has signed the painting with two monograms of his initials, “HF.” The brushwork is loose throughout, especially so in the man’s clothing.

Frans Hals, Portrait of a Young Man, 1646/1648, oil on canvas, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.71

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Adriaen Hanneman, Henry, Duke of Gloucester, c. 1653, oil on canvas, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.51

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A man hangs from a wooden cross at the top center of this vertical painting, with a woman standing at the foot of the cross to our left and a man to our right, all in front of a deep landscape with mountains along a river. All the people have light skin. The feet of the man on the cross, Jesus, line up with the tops of the heads of the people standing below. Jesus hangs by a nail driven through each palm, and his overlapping feet are nailed into a short platform that angles downward. He has shoulder-length brown hair and a short brown beard. His head tips forward, and his eyes are downcast or closed. He has a straight nose, high cheekbones, and his lips are closed. Blood trickles down his forehead from a ring of thorns around his head, from the nails in his hands and feet, and from a short gash over his right ribs, on our left. A white loincloth is wrapped around his hips, and the end of it flutters as if in a breeze to our left. The man’s body is lean but muscular. A slip of paper with the letters “INRI” has been affixed to a small panel on the cross above Jesus’s head. Below and to our left of the cross, a woman stands with her head bowed, looking down with her hands clasped in prayer. Her hair is covered with a tan-colored veil and she wears a gold-edged, navy-blue robe that covers her head and body. She and the cleanshaven, blond man standing to our right of the cross both have bare feet. The man looks up at the cross with his lips parted. His fingers are intertwined and then flipped, palms-down, with his arms straight. His raspberry pink-robe falls over one shoulder and around his hips, over a topaz-blue, ankle-length tunic. The dirt-packed ground on which they stand is lined along the bottom edge of the panel with plants and flowers. The golden-brown land dips beyond the people, leading down to a river that winds into the distance. A castle-like structure perches on cliff-like outcroppings high along the left edge of the painting, and buildings at the foot of that outcropping line the river. Two people walk and one person fishes off a bridge near the town. A few boats, one with full sails unfurled and another possibly with oars out to row, float in the river beyond, which is flanked in the deep distance by mountains painted blue in the haze. The horizon comes about halfway up the composition, crossing the painting just beneath Jesus’s feet. The sky above deepens from pale yellow along the horizon to robin’s egg blue where a few wispy clouds create streaks along the top edge.

Pietro Perugino, The Crucifixion with the Virgin, Saint John, Saint Jerome, and Saint Mary Magdalene, c. 1482/1485, oil on panel transferred to canvas, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.27.a–c

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A woman and two children, all with pale skin and flushed cheeks, sit together in a landscape in this round painting. The woman takes up most of the composition as she sits with her right leg, to our left, tucked under her body. Her other leg, on our right, is bent so the foot rests on the ground, and that knee angles up and out to the side. She wears a rose-pink dress under a topaz-blue robe, and a finger between the pages of a closed book holds her place. Her brown hair is twisted away from her face. She has delicate features and her pink lips are closed. She looks and leans to our left around a nude young boy who half-sits and half-stands against her bent leg. The boy has blond hair and pudgy, toddler-like cheeks and body. The boy reaches his right hand, on our left, to grasp the tall, thin cross held by the second young boy, who sits on the ground next to the pair. This second boy has darker brown hair and wears a garment resembling animal fur. The boy kneels facing the woman and looks up at her and the blond boy. The trio sits on a flat, grassy area in front of a body of water painted light turquoise. Mountains in the deep distance are pale azure blue beneath a nearly clear blue sky.

Raphael, The Alba Madonna, c. 1510, oil on panel transferred to canvas, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.24

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Raphael, Saint George and the Dragon, c. 1506, oil on panel, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.26

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Shown from about the waist up, a light-skinned man with sagging jowls and a double chin wears a fur garment and hat, a large teardrop pearl earring, and gold chains in this vertical painting. In front of a cracked gray stone wall, the man's body is angled to our right but he turns his face to look at us with brown eyes under a furrowed brow. He has a bulbous nose, and his lips are slightly parted under a wide, wispy mustache. His brown hair is mostly hidden under the tall dark brown fur hat, which is wrapped with a gold chain with a gold medallion at the front. The chestnut-brown fur coat looks especially fuzzy along the neckline, which is also encircled with a thick gold chain. A gold, crown-shaped pendant with a black brush hangs over his right shoulder, closer to us. He holds a gold-tipped cane with his right hand, his thumb extended along the cane. The artist signed and dated the work in the upper right corner,

Rembrandt van Rijn, A Polish Nobleman, 1637, oil on panel, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.78

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Shown from the lap up against a dark background, a pale-skinned woman wearing a black dress looks out at us in this vertical portrait. Soft light coming from our left highlights her oval face, the peach blush on her cheeks, and her crisp white collar, cap, and cuffs. Her brown hair is pulled back under the cap that flares slightly over her ears and the wide, lace-trimmed collar covers her shoulders. She has dark eyes, a straight nose, and her pink lips are slightly parted. Her left arm, on our right, rests on a table covered with a rose-red patterned carpet next to two pieces of fruit, perhaps apples, and a book fastened with metal clasps. She rests her other arm on the arm of the wooden chair and holds a deep pink carnation the same color as the carpet. She wears a ring on the third finger of each hand. The artist signed the work with black paint against the dark background near the upper right corner: “Rembrandt. f.1656.”

Rembrandt van Rijn, A Woman Holding a Pink, 1656, oil on canvas, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.75

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A pale-skinned young girl leaning over a low fence and holding a broom gazes in our direction in this vertical painting. Her red hair is pulled back from her round face, and she has large hazel eyes under thin brows, a petite nose, and her coral-red mouth is slightly open. She is shown from the chest up, behind a wooden partition that spans the width of the painting. She wears a loose, ivory-white shirt under a garment with pumpkin-orange straps on the shoulders and chest. She leans forward with her elbows hooked over the partition as she holds a long-handled broom to her chest. A wooden pail with a bronze handle is overturned to the right of the broom. A blocky brown object to our left is difficult to make out. A dark brown semicircular object close to us in the center of the composition resembles the mouth of a well. Soft light from the upper left illuminates the girl and the left side of the caramel-brown wall behind her and throws the right side into shadow. A signature near the lower left looks like it had been painted on the inner edge of the well. It reads, “Rembrandt f. 1651.”

Rembrandt Workshop (possibly Carel Fabritius), A Girl with a Broom, probably begun 1646/1648 and completed 1651, oil on canvas, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.74

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A pale-skinned woman sits in a pool of light against a deeply shadowed background in the bottom half of this vertical painting. She sits in the center of the composition, in a heavy wooden armchair next to a bed, which is flanked by two men. The woman wears a rose-pink, fur-trimmed robe draped over a white chemise. A pearl necklace and gold bracelets gleam at her throat and wrists, and her chestnut-brown hair is partially pulled up while curls fall to her shoulders. She looks to her left, our right, at a shadowy bearded man. He wears a turban wrapped in a gold chain, a cloak patterned with shades of bronze, olive green, and rust red, and a sword hangs from his belt. He stands facing our left, stooping slightly to rest his right arm, farther from us, on her chair, and his hand brushes her shoulder. The woman's mouth is open and brow furrowed as she points to the bed with her right hand, to our left. Her other hand holds up the loose neckline of her chemise to cover her chest. The bed is angled slightly away from us, to our left. It is covered with white linens and a mustard-yellow coverlet. A burgundy-red cloth or garment is draped over a bedpost at the foot of the bed. A younger man stands on the far side of the bed with his body angled to our right. He wears an olive-green tunic. A broad, scarlet-red sash is tied around his waist, and a bunch of keys hangs from it. Shoulder-length, light brown hair frames his face. His head tilts slightly to our right, and his hands are clasped at the waist, holding what looks like a black cap. A faint light him behind him creates a soft halo around his body. The top half of the painting is swallowed in deep shadow. The artist signed and dated the painting in the lower right, “Rembrandt. f. 1655.”

Rembrandt Workshop, Joseph Accused by Potiphar's Wife, 1655, oil on canvas transferred to canvas, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.79

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Shown from the waist up, a bearded man with a tanned, peachy complexion wears a turban and voluminous robes and looks out at us in this vertical portrait painting. Lit strongly from the left, the man’s brow is slightly furrowed over brown eyes, and his gray beard is trimmed. His turban is accented with a gold chain and feather, and his fur-lined robe is clasped over a burgundy-red garment with another gold chain. His right hand, on our left, grasps a sash that wraps around his waist, while his other hand rests on a wooden staff. The gray background behind the man deepens into shadows at the corners. The artist’s signature is painted to our left near the man’s upper arm. The first letter “R” is missing so it reads “embrandt ft.”

Rembrandt van Rijn and Workshop (Probably Govaert Flinck), Man in Oriental Costume, c. 1635, oil on linen, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1940.1.13

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A woman with pale, peachy skin wearing elegant gold and ink-black garments sits in front of a stone portico in this vertical portrait painting. Her red armchair is angled to our right, but the woman turns to look at us under cocked brows. She has high, rosy cheekbones and a long straight nose. Her pink lips curve up in a smile framed by the faint suggestion of dimples. Her brown hair is pulled back under a gold band or net, and a gold earring hangs from the ear we see. Her gold dress has a fitted bodice with a line of buttons down the front and puffy, brocaded sleeves. She wears the bodice over a white chemise, which comes nearly to the double strand of pearls worn like a choker around her neck. Frothy white lace surges up to encircle the back of her neck, and more lace stretches back along her forearms from the cuffs of her gold dress. The black cloak she wears over the dress splits over the sleeves and flares up behind the neck, echoing the lace. A long gold chain weaves back and forth across the open front of the black cloak, which is patterned with black on black. The woman wears a ring on her right hand, which rests in her lap and holds a white flower. The cloak stops at the woman’s knees to reveal a gold and red striped skirt. The woman’s other hand, farther from us, rests along the arm of the chair and holds an ostrich' feather fan with a silver handle. A scarlet-red curtain in the upper left corner above the chair gives way to a view into a courtyard lined with a portico along the right side. The portico has three openings separated by wide, horizontally ribbed columns. Ornamental shells, creatures, and people are carved into the face of the portico, and bright green trees are just visible through the openings. Gray and white clouds sweep across a vivid blue sky around the woman’s head.

Sir Anthony van Dyck, Isabella Brant, 1621, oil on canvas, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.47

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Shown from about the hips up, a young, pale-skinned man with curly brown hair stands facing and looking at us, wearing a plum-purple coat under a golden yellow cape in this vertical portrait painting. The man’s oval face is angled a little to our left so he looks out from the corners of his gray eyes. His left eyebrow, on our right, is slightly arched. His skin is smooth and his cheeks lightly flushed. He has a long, straight nose, his pink lips are closed, and there is a faintly painted suggestion of a goatee. Wavy bangs fall across his forehead, and he has curly, chin-length hair. He stands with his right hand, on our left, on his hip, and in his other arm, he holds a wooden staff with a pewter-gray, metal, scoop-like hook at the top. White lace trims the high neck of his garment and the cuffs of his sleeves. Light reflecting off the plum-purple coat suggests a soft material, possibly velvet. Crisp reflections on the deep, butter-yellow cape fastened over one shoulder suggest satin. An emerald-green cloth hanging from the top right corner of the painting falls behind the man’s shoulder. Behind the cloth and to our left, a craggy, rocky outcropping opens to a view of a landscape with a green valley and topaz-blue mountains in the distance. Bands of golden light illuminate the cloudy sky above. The work is inscribed with yellow lettering in the lower right corner to read, “Philip Lord Wharton 1632 about ye age of 19.” The artist’s name is painted in the lower left: “P. Sr Ant: vandike.”

Sir Anthony van Dyck, Philip, Lord Wharton, 1632, oil on canvas, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.50

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Shown from the knees up, a pale-skinned woman wears a wide, pleated collar and a black gown in this vertical portrait painting. Her body is angled to our left, and she looks at us from the corners of her light brown eyes. She has low brows, a straight nose, and her thin lips are closed. Her hair is pulled back under a pearl-white headdress at the back of her head, and a few tendrils curl alongside her face. Pearls hang from the ear we can see. The figure-eight pleats of the collar are as tall as her neck so her chin rests on it, and it is nearly as wide as her shoulders. A gold-colored corset comes down in a long U shape over her belly. Her black dress has puffed shoulders, and white lace extends back from the cuffs of the long sleeves. The full, black skirt flares out from her waist. She wears gold bracelets on both wrists. Her left arm, to our right, hangs down in front of her, and she wears a ring on the third finger of that hand. The back of a chair is at her other elbow, which is bent so she can rest a loose fist against her corset. She wears a gold ring on that index finger. The sides of the back of the chair are studded with brass bosses, and a gold-colored finial is at the front. The background is earthy brown.

Sir Anthony van Dyck, Portrait of a Flemish Lady, probably 1618, oil on canvas, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1940.1.14

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A young girl stands next to and holds the hand of an elegantly dressed woman sitting in a wooden armchair near stone columns, in front of a crimson-red curtain pulled up to reveal a distant landscape view in this vertical portrait painting. The child and woman have smooth, light skin, and the fabric of their dresses has a silken sheen. To our right, the woman sits with her knees angled slightly to our left, and she looks at us with dark blue eyes under faint brows. Her brown hair is pulled back from her high forehead under a hair covering set with pearls. Her pointed chin is slightly pulled back, and her pale pink lips are closed. A teardrop-shaped pearl hangs from the ear we can see, and she wears two strands of pearls like a choker, above a thick, pleated lace ruff. The fabric of the long-sleeved bodice has a gold-on-gold pattern, and is lined with a row of buttons down the front. Filmy lace cuffs extend back over her forearms from her wrists. Her full, floor-length skirt is scarlet red with a gold, brocade-like pattern, and has silvery-gray stripes down the front and around the lower hem. The cloak she wears over the dress has a black-on-black floral pattern. Three thick gold chains hang across her bodice, and she wears a square-cut, gray stone set in a gold ring on the third finger of her left hand. To our left, the young girl stands next to the wooden arm of the chair and holds the woman’s hands with both of hers. The child looks at us with gray eyes, and her pale pink lips are parted in a slight smile. Her light brown hair is pulled back under a gray band, perhaps of fur, around her head, over an apricot-colored head covering that matches her dress. The tight-fitting, long-sleeved bodice is striped with bands of alternating gold and pink geometric designs against the apricot-peach background. A lace-edged collar lies across her shoulders. A red, oval pendant hangs from her three-standed pearl necklace, and she wears three pearl bracelets on one wrist. A thick gold chain falls across her chest and around one hip. The floor-length, full skirt has buttercup-yellow and shell-pink highlights on the coral-colored background. Behind the pair, the red curtain has been pulled up so it seems to flutter behind the woman’s head, in front of stone columns that frame a distant landscape view with trees. A blocky structure, presumably a building, sits on the far distant, hazy horizon. Light pours down in streaks from steel-gray clouds against a pale blue sky.

Sir Anthony van Dyck, Susanna Fourment and Her Daughter, 1621, oil on canvas, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.48

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A partially nude woman with pale, peachy skin sits to our left looking into a mirror held up by a nearly nude, winged child to our right in this vertical painting. The woman’s body is angled to our left but she looks across her body to our right. She holds her left hand to her chest, and her right hand grips the fur-lined edge of the scarlet-red, velvet fabric that drapes over that upper arm and around her hips. Her blond hair is coiled up in rows of pearls, and she has dark eyes, a straight nose, and her pale pink lips turn up in a subtle smile. A teardrop pearl earring hangs from the ear we can see, and she wears rings and gold bracelets. The child-like figure to the right stands on a gold-striped cushion facing away from us as he holds up the rectangular, black-framed mirror. He has small silver wings and a sash of golden yellow hangs from one shoulder around the opposite hip. A second child reaches from behind the mirror to hold up a ring of laurel leaves. A forest-green curtain is gathered in the upper left corner and the beige wall beyond falls into shadow to our right.

Titian, Venus with a Mirror, c. 1555, oil on canvas, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.34

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A woman and winged angel, both with pale, peach skin, are situated in a church interior in this tall, narrow painting. To our left, the angel has long, blond, curly hair, smooth skin, and is smiling. The wings are outlined in royal blue, and they blend from blue to green to yellow to crimson. The angel holds one hand, closer to us, up at chest height with the index finger subtly pointing upward. Holding a long scepter in the other hand, the angel angles their body toward the woman to our right. The angel wears a gold jewel and pearl-encrusted crown and a jeweled long, voluminous robe in scarlet-red and shimmering gold brocade. The neck and along the opening down the front are lined with pearls and jewels. The angel looks toward the woman, who wears a royal-blue dress tied with a red belt at the high waist. Her long brown hair is tied back but one tendril falls over her left shoulder, to our right. She kneels facing us with her raised hands facing outward. Her head is tipped a bit to our left, and she looks up and into the distance to our right with lips slightly parted. She kneels behind a book lying open on a low table. A vase of white lilies and a red cushion lies on the floor in front of the table, close to us. The floor is decorated with people and scenes outlined in black and set into square panels, as if inlaid with wood. The church behind and above the people has a row of tall, narrow arches with bull’s-eye glass windows. A walkway lined with columns runs above the arches, and sunlight comes in through arched windows under the flat wood ceiling. A white dove flies toward the woman on gold lines from a window at the upper left of the painting. Latin words painted in gold capital letters are exchanged between the people. The angel says, “AVE GRA PLENA.” The letters of the woman’s response are painted upside down and backward: “ECCE ANCILLA DNI.”

Jan van Eyck, The Annunciation, c. 1434/1436, oil on canvas transferred from panel, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.39

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Shown from the shoulders up, a man with a flushed complexion, wearing a crimson-red cap and garment, looks at us from the corners of his eyes in this vertical portrait painting. He is brightly lit from behind us and the mahogany-brown background is deep in shadow. The man’s shoulders angle to our right, and he turns his head slightly to look at us with brown, deep-set eyes under arched brows. His wispy, auburn-brown goatee is tinged in silvery gray. His nose is slightly bulbous, and his thin lips are tightly closed in a straight line. Wrinkles and jowls give his face a paunchy look. His tall, flat-topped, fez-shaped hat covers his hair. A white, nearly translucent collar curls up along his neck and flares out to points at his collar. Rose-pink highlights on his red cape suggest it is a shiny material, like silk, and it is fastened with several small, dark buttons down the front.

Circle of Diego Velázquez, Pope Innocent X, c. 1650, oil on canvas, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.80

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Veronese, The Finding of Moses, probably 1570/1575, oil on canvas, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.38

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Masterpieces from the Hermitage Museum Purchased by Andrew Mellon 1930-1931