René Gimpel

French, 1881 - 1945

Explore Selected Works

Shown from the chest up, a pale-skinned, clean-shaven man wears furs and fine fabrics in this vertical portrait painting. He is angled to our left and looks down in that direction with brown eyes under slender brows. His shoulder-length, dark brown hair is topped by a soft black cap adorned with a gold medallion-like badge over the temple closer to us. The man has a long, pointed nose, his pale pink lips are closed, and his jawline is darkened by a five-o-clock shadow. He wears a white shirt with a wide, square neckline under a vest or low-cut doublet striped with black and gold. A voluminous black overcoat is lined with tawny-brown fur and edged with gold, L-shaped bands over the shoulders. He holds the sides of the coat together low on his chest with his right hand, to our left. The sleeve looks like black velvet over a translucent white cuff, and the man wears a gold ring with a gray gem on that index finger. A brown band across the bottom of the picture could be a narrow ledge in front of the man or a board or slab oriented vertically, like a frame. A small piece of white, creased paper appears to be affixed to the front of the board with red wax, a glimpse of which is shown along the top edge. A scarlet-red curtain hangs behind the man across the left two-thirds of the composition. A rectangle on the dark wall to our right could be a window opening or a painting. There we find a hilly landscape with trees, buildings, and water. Close to us in that distant view, a man wearing robes and on horseback rides away from a man carrying a lance and running after the horse.
Bartolomeo Veneto, Portrait of a Gentleman, c. 1520, oil on panel transferred to canvas, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1939.1.257

Portrait of a Gentleman

Bartolomeo Veneto · c. 1520 · oil on panel transferred to canvas ·  Accession ID  1939.1.257

A small child stands facing us on a sun-dappled path that runs up the center of a garden dominated by towering yellow and burnt-orange sunflowers in this loosely painted, vertical scene. The light comes from our right so long, sea-green and plum-purple shadows cross the peach-colored path. The path is wide at the bottom center of the canvas and narrows as it reaches the steps of a house, beyond the garden. Close to us, four blue and white porcelain urns line the path, separating it from the grassy banks to either side. The urns are filled with tall stems with coral-pink and cardinal-red flowers. The child stands about halfway back along the path, where the garden transitions from grass to the banks of tall sunflowers. A few strokes in front of the child could be a small dog. Behind the child, a woman and another child stand on the steps. The woman wears a cornflower-blue and white dress, while both children have bare legs and wear white clothes and yellow hats. All three have indistinct facial features and peach-colored skin. The house spans with width of the composition. It has an amethyst-purple roofline with two chimneys, and the petal-pink walls have mango-yellow highlights. Windows are covered with blue latticework. Above the house, fluffy white clouds float against a vibrant blue sky. The artist signed and dated the painting at the lower right in dark blue, “Claude Monet 80.”
Claude Monet, The Artist's Garden at Vétheuil, 1881, oil on canvas, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection, 1970.17.45

The Artist's Garden at Vétheuil

Claude Monet · 1881 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1970.17.45

Bibliography

1963

  • Gimpel, Rene. Journal d'un collectionneur: marchand de tableaux. Paris, 1963.

2009

  • Kostyrko, Diana. "From Fragonard to Kennard: René Gimpel, art dealer." Art Monthly Australia 217 (March 2009):33-35.

2011

  • Gimpel, Rene. Journal d'un collectionneur: marchand de tableaux. Paris, 2011.