Search Results

Title

Corner Decoration of a Painted Ceiling

Artist

Flaminio Innocenzo Minozzi

Physical Description

The viewer is presented with an illusionistic rendering of a corner an ornate celiing. Architectural moldings, windows, and a still life in the corner with a globe and measuring instruments suggest that this might have been intended for a library

Artist Life Dates

1735-1817

Century

18th-19th century

Object Creation Date

1735-1817

Accession Number

1959/2.77

Medium and Support

pen and brown ink with watercolor

relevance

rank 32.82626

Primary Keywords

ceilings

globes (cartographic spheres)

plans (drawings)

rendering

studies (rooms)

Title

Vanitas (Still Life), with globe, skull, candle, tazza, and covered cup

Artist

Willem Claesz Heda

Physical Description

This remarkable still life depicts a table crowded with, among other things, a gilded covered goblet, a wide saucer-shaped silver tazza, a celestial globe painted with images of the constellations, a skull wearing a laurel wreath, and an extinguished candle, all rendered in exquisite detail with careful attention paid to the effects of light and texture. While the arrangement of objects may appear casual, the composition is artfully balanced along two diagonal axes centered on the two cups that lie crossed on the table. The repetition of ovoid shapes throughout the painting and the monochrome tonality with its restricted range of hues and values, a hallmark of Heda's style, assures the seamless integration of the sundry objects into a unified whole.

Artist Life Dates

1594-1680

Century

17th century

Object Creation Date

1633-1635

Accession Number

1965/2.55

Medium and Support

oil on panel

relevance

rank 32.48770

Primary Keywords

baroque

candlesticks

cups

globes (cartographic spheres)

skull (skeleton component)

vanitas

Title

Fame and Erato, Muse of Love Poetry

Artist

Sebastiano Conca

Physical Description

Two women accompanied by a pair of putti appear seated in the foreground of this painting. On the left sits a winged woman crowned with a laurel wreath and wearing a long white robe and a vivid ocher-colored mantle. She leans on a globe while cradling a large book in her right arm to which she points with her left hand. In her right hand she holds a compass. A putto peeks from beneath her mantle, and a viol is visible beneath the globe. The other woman sits on a cloud. She wears a golden crown and a richly colored blue mantle. She grasps a lyre with her left hand and leans toward the woman seated next to her, gesturing in the direction of the book with her right hand. A second putto stands near her left shoulder holding a gold circlet in his left hand. The background is filled with glimpses of neoclassical architecture, including fluted columns and a facade with a row of Ionic columns supporting an entablature.

Artist Life Dates

1680 - 1764

Century

18th century

Object Creation Date

circa 1725

Accession Number

1987/1.159

Medium and Support

oil on canvas

relevance

rank 31.83109

Primary Keywords

allegory

books

compasses (drawing instruments)

globes (cartographic spheres)

lyres

oil paintings

putti

Title

St. Christopher carrying the Christ Child

Artist

Artist Unknown, England

Physical Description

A standing, bearded figure of St. Christopher, broken off at the knees, holds the Christ child on his right shoulder while leaning upon a staff in his left hand. The child, whose head is encircled by a halo, wears a long cloak over his robe and rests his left hand upon an orb in his lap. The red and brown polychromy is a later addition.

Century

15th century

Object Creation Date

circa 15th century

Accession Number

1961/1.178

Medium and Support

alabaster with polychrome and gilding

relevance

rank 31.83109

Primary Keywords

alabaster (mineral)

christianity

england (country)

globes (cartographic spheres)

rivers

staffs (walking sticks)

Title

Sheet of Figure Studies

Artist

Pietro Testa

Physical Description

This sheet contains studies of fourteen figures in various stages of elaboration. Several of the figures are represented standing while gazing upward, including a man with an outstretched arm on the left edge of the sheet, a woman standing before a column near the center, and a man with a cross over his shoulder in the upper right corner. Two summarily sketched seated figures in the lower left corner appear to develop ideas for a similar figure placed at the foot of a column in a more detailed study near the middle of the sheet. In the upper left quadrant of the sheet appears a monk kneeling beneath a tree with a figure holding a staff standing behind him. Marked off by an octagonal frame along the lower edge is a seated female figure pointing upward with her right hand and holding a globe in her left.

Artist Life Dates

(Lucca, Italy, 1612 - 1650, Rome, Italy)

Century

17th century

Object Creation Date

1635-1640

Accession Number

2008/2.199.4

Medium and Support

pen and brown ink on laid paper

relevance

rank 31.20050

Primary Keywords

drawing (image-making)

figures (representations)

globes (cartographic spheres)

rome (inhabited place)

studies (visual works)