P. & N. de Boer Foundation

Explore Selected Works

We look slightly down onto five plates, bowls, and dishes filled with oysters, raisins, prunes, figs, and sweets along with a wine glass and decanter, a stack of round, wooden boxes, and two seashells arrayed on a wooden tabletop against a dark background in this horizontal still life painting. Closest to us to our left, eleven glistening oysters on the halfshell are arranged on a round, iron-gray dish. Also close to us, to our right, a white porcelain bowl with a wide, flaring lip is painted with blue flowers, and it is piled with breads, rolls, and pastries. Two shells sit near that bowl: one shimmering, spiraling, ivory-white shell with brown marks sits to our left and an elongated, white shell with a ruffle along its length sits in the lower right corner of the panel. Between and behind these two dishes is a vessel with a pedestal foot and a wide, shallow bowl, filled with white almonds and rods that have been covered with white sugar. In the back left, a dark gray bowl holds raisins and other dried fruit along with an object that could be a slice of bread or cheese. Opposite it, a similar dish holds brown figs that more closely resemble chestnuts. To the back right, the lid of one of the three round, shallow boxes stacked along the right edge of the composition leans against the pile. The inner lid is covered with quince paste, which resembles apricot preserves. One glass goblet with a wide bowl is nearly filled with amber-colored liquid in the back left corner, beyond the dried fruit. A glass decanter, also filled with gold-colored wine, sits to our left of the pedestal-footed vessel holding the sugared sweets, at the center of the composition. The still life is brightly lit from our left.
Osias Beert the Elder, Dishes with Oysters, Fruit, and Wine, c. 1620/1624, oil on panel, Patrons' Permanent Fund, 1995.32.1

Dishes with Oysters, Fruit, and Wine

Osias Beert the Elder · c. 1620/1624 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1995.32.1

A young man with tanned, peachy skin sits at a table pulling his mouth wide with both hands in this vertical painting. On the far side of a wooden table, he faces us with elbows splayed wide. He has hooked the first finger of each hand into the corners of his mouth to stretch his open lips into a long, goofy line. He has wide-set eyes and a wide nose. His brown hair sticks out from under a tall, fuzzy brown hat, which has a knife secured by the blade in a loop to our left. The man’s iron-gray jacket has coffee-brown sleeves with the white of his shirt showing at the cuffs. A putty-gray jug accented with washes of rust-red and a glass filled with an amber liquid sit on the table before him. Soft light from the upper left gleams white on these smooth surfaces. A dark mass visible under the table is presumably the tops of his legs. The top right corner of his wooden chair is visible over his right shoulder, on our left, and he is set against a dove-gray background. The scene is loosely painted so brushstrokes are especially visible in the man’s face and hands.
Adriaen Brouwer, Youth Making a Face, c. 1632/1635, oil on panel, New Century Fund, 1994.46.1

Youth Making a Face

Adriaen Brouwer · c. 1632/1635 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1994.46.1

Gherardo Cibo, Rocky Landscape with a Natural Arch, c. 1575, pen and brown ink with brown wash, heightened with white gouache on blue laid paper, Wolfgang Ratjen Collection, Purchased as the Gift of Diane A. Nixon, 2007.111.58

Rocky Landscape with a Natural Arch

Gherardo Cibo · c. 1575 · pen and brown ink with brown wash, heightened with white gouache on blue laid paper ·  Accession ID  2007.111.58

This round portrait painting shows the head, face, and the top of the shoulders of a young, blond boy with pale, peachy skin and flushed cheeks, facing our right in profile against a tan background. Light comes from behind us and to our left, so the boy’s cheek, jawline, and ear are brightly lit as he looks straight ahead, to our left. He has long, dark eyelashes, a turned-up nose, and his full, coral-pink lips are closed. The cheek we see is deeply flushed along the curve, near the nose and mouth. His short, light brown hair is highlighted with gold strands where it catches the light. A long tendril falls down past his chin on the far side of his face. He wears a fitted jacket, perhaps of brown velvet, stitched along the seams in a lighter golden color. The narrow, white ruff encircling his neck above the jacket is pleated to create a pattern of figure-eights. The background is lighter to our right and deepens to a brownish olive green to our left. The portrait is somewhat loosely painted with visible brushstrokes.
Judith Leyster, Young Boy in Profile, c. 1630, oil on panel, Gift of Mrs. Thomas M. Evans, 2009.113.1

Young Boy in Profile

Judith Leyster · c. 1630 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  2009.113.1

A tall goblet made with a spiraling nautilus shell on a gold and silver stem, a blue and white lidded, porcelain bowl, an orange, a cut lemon, and a bunched up, woven rug are gathered on a tabletop in front of a black background in this vertical still life painting. Light falling on the objects from our left contrasts sharply with the deep shadow beyond, which makes some details difficult to make out. The objects might be gathered on a silver tray. At the center of the composition, the flagon is made with a shimmering, ivory-colored nautilus shell with its wide opening facing up. The stem is made of gold bands coiling around a silver figurine, which is nearly lost in shadow. To our right, a white porcelain bowl has a rounded bottom and tall sides. It is painted with blue designs around a raised relief showing two people in crimson-red and harvest-gold garments. A utensil sits in the bowl to our right, and the lid, which has a finial in the shape of an animal, rests angled upward, partially in the bowl and partially on the stem of that utensil. A translucent, cylindrical knife handle protrudes toward us, angled to our right, in front of the bowl. A rug with a geometric pattern of rust red, tan, and pine green is bunched next to the bowl, along the right side of the painting. To our left of the nautilus cup, an orange with a stem and green leaves sits next to a bright, glistening lemon at the foot of the cup. Between the two pieces of fruit, the vivid yellow lemon rind has been peeled into a long, curling strip that curves off the front edge of the table.
Anonymous Artist, Still Life with Nautilus Cup, 1665/1670, oil on canvas, Gift of Robert H. and Clarice Smith, 1974.109.1

Still Life with Nautilus Cup

Anonymous Artist · 1665/1670 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1974.109.1

Shown from the lap up, a pale-skinned woman wearing a long gown and wide-brimmed hat sits in front of a low stone wall in this vertical portrait painting. The woman takes up the lower right quadrant of the composition. Her body faces our left, and she looks off in that direction so we see her in profile. She has large eyes, a delicate nose, round, flushed cheeks, and a pointed chin. Her blond hair is pulled back under a black covering at the back of her head. The underside of her hat brim is steel gray, and a carnation-pink feather droops over one side. The rounded, straw-yellow crown is just visible above the grim. A gold and pearl earring dangles from the ear we see, and a smoke-gray, translucent cloth is tied around her shoulders. The bodice of her dress is coral red on the upper chest and patterned with gold stripes and leaves against brown on the torso and elbow-length sleeves. The white garment she wears underneath is gathered in puffs just under the elbows, beyond the end of the brown sleeves. Her apricot-orange skirt has a sheen, suggesting satin, and a translucent white apron is tied around the waist. She holds a hoop, about the diameter of a human head, in both hands. She adds colorful flowers to the hoop and more blossoms lie in her lap. Her far elbow rests on the stone wall that spans the bottom third of the painting. The front face of the wall is carved in low relief with a sunflower, roses, and other flowers. A crack runs down through the top of the wall and curves toward the woman. A stone fountain rises from the ledge to our left. A tall base is topped by a stylized fish with water trickling from its open mouth. Also part of the carved fountain, the head of a small child standing astride the fish is cut off by the top edge of the panel. Shadowy trees nearly fill the space beyond the wall, but a clearing is visible through a small gap near the woman’s face. There, a man sitting on the grass wraps his arms around the woman sitting next to him. A dome, towers, and rooflines are nickel-gray in the deep distance beyond. The artist signed the work as if he had carved the wall near the woman to read, “G. Schalcken.”
Godefridus Schalcken, Woman Weaving a Crown of Flowers, c. 1675/1680, oil on panel, The Lee and Juliet Folger Fund, 2005.26.1

Woman Weaving a Crown of Flowers

Godefridus Schalcken · c. 1675/1680 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  2005.26.1