George V, King of Hanover and 2nd Duke of Cumberland

British, 1819 - 1878

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Water laps at a curving shoreline in front of a steep sandy dune carpeted in grass, shrubs, and trees in this horizontal landscape painting. The dune takes up the lower right quadrant of the composition. A few broken tree trunks are overgrown with vines and plants across the top and down the sloping side of the dune facing us. A red brick wall cuts through the vegetation up the side of the dune and disappears into the shrubbery at the top. The twisting branches and canopies of three large trees reach into the upper right quadrant of the composition. The vegetation stops abruptly along the sheer edge of the dune where it faces the water. The land curves like a backward capital letter C so it almost reaches the left edge of the painting along the horizon, which comes a quarter of the way up the composition. A cow and three more animals, perhaps sheep or more cows, graze or lie on a grassy mound in the distance, and sailboats line the horizon in the deep distance. White ripples swirl in the steel-blue water. The artist signed and dated the lower center, “J Ruisdael . 1648.”
Jacob van Ruisdael, Dunes by the Sea, 1648, oil on panel, The Lee and Juliet Folger Fund, 2017.55.1

Dunes by the Sea

Jacob van Ruisdael · 1648 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  2017.55.1

Shown from the waist up, a pale-skinned, round-cheeked young boy wears a brocade red and gold garment and hat in this vertical portrait painting. The boy’s body is angled to our left, but he turns his face toward us as he looks slightly down with gray eyes. He has a square face with a high forehead, faint brows, a small, rounded nose, bow-shaped pink lips, and a pointed chin. A fringe of pale blond hair lines the top of his head under a gold cap that ties under his chin. A white feather drops off the edge of a red disk around the top of the hat. His brilliant red garment is lined with gold bands, and the sleeves split over voluminous gold sleeves, which are lined with white ruffles at the wrists. The boy is behind a ledge draped with a crinkled, emerald-green cloth. He rests one hand on the ledge and holds a gold orb on a stick in that hand. His other hand hovers over the ledge with the palm facing out. The background is late gray. A strip of paper affixed to the front face of the ledge has eight lines of Latin text in all caps. It reads, “PARVVLE PATRISSA, PATRIÆ VIRTVTIS ET HÆRES ESTO, NIHIL MAIVS MAXIMVS ORBIS HABET. GNATVM VIX POSSVNT COELVM ET NATVRA DEDISSE, HVIVS QVEM PATRIS, VICTVS HONORET HONOS. ÆQVATO TANTVM, TANTI TV FACTA PARENTIS, VOTA HOMINVM, VIX QVO PROGREDIANTVR, HABENT VINCITO, VICISTI. QVOT REGES PRISCVS ADORAT ORBIS, NEC TE QVI VINCERE POSSIT, ERIT. Ricard: Morysini. Car:”
Hans Holbein the Younger, Edward VI as a Child, probably 1538, oil on panel, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.64

Edward VI as a Child

Hans Holbein the Younger · probably 1538 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1937.1.64