Etienne-François, duc de Choiseul

Stainville, Etienne-François, comte de

1719 - 1785

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The soaring, gilded vault of a central aisle of the inside of a church fills this horizontal painting. The ceiling of the nave curves up and away from us like a tunnel. It is lined with coffers, which have inset panels, decorated with gold. The light-filled nave angles down from the top center of the composition toward the lower left as it moves away from us. The white stone pillars supporting the barrel vault are intricately carved and decorated with pudgy, winged cherubs holding portraits of men, and aisles run parallel to the central nave to our left and right. In the side aisles, pink marble columns flank altars in chapels. At the far end of the church, the nave is interrupted where it opens into the light-filled crossing, before continuing beyond. Marking the space where the long hall of the church is intersected by a shorter arm to create a cross shape is a structure made of four twisting columns supporting a pointed canopy, all cast in bronze. Tiny men and women pray or gather in pairs and small groups along the nave. Some wear tattered clothing and others are elegantly dressed.
Giovanni Paolo Panini, Interior of Saint Peter's, Rome, c. 1754, oil on canvas, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, 1968.13.2

Interior of Saint Peter's, Rome

Giovanni Paolo Panini · c. 1754 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1968.13.2

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

Susanna Fourment and Her Daughter

Sir Anthony van Dyck · 1621 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1937.1.48