Gloves

attributed to Girolamo da Carpi
Portrait of a Woman
ca. 1530-40
oil on panel
Städel Museum, Frankfurt

Maarten van Heemskerck
Portrait of a Man
ca. 1550
oil on panel
Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp

Alessandro Allori
Portrait of Maria de' Medici
ca. 1555
oil on panel
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Louis Ferdinand Elle the Elder
Portrait of Henri de Lorraine, Marquis de Mouy
1631
oil on canvas
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Reims

Thomas de Keyser
Portrait of a Man
1634
oil on panel
Musée d'Art et d'Histoire de Genève

Frans Hals
Portrait of a Young Man
ca. 1638-40
oil on canvas
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Jacob Gerritsz Cuyp
The Morning Stroll
ca. 1640
oil on panel
Dallas Museum of Art

Pierre Mignard
Portrait of a Young Man
1654
oil on canvas
(painted in Venice)
Národní Galerie, Prague

Girolamo Forabosco
Portrait of a Venetian Lady
ca. 1659-62
oil on canvas
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Anonymous Flemish Artist
Portrait of a Girl
ca. 1660
oil on canvas
Rhode Island School of Design, Providence

François de Troy
Portrait of Parisian magistrate Jean Hébert
1726
oil on canvas
Musée Carnavalet, Paris

Jean Alaux
Portrait of Jean, comte de Gassion
1835
oil on canvas
Château de Versailles

Henri Gervex
Lady with a Fan
1879
oil on canvas
Musée Carnavalet, Paris

Otto Fischer
Woman with Jester's Cap
ca. 1895
lithograph
(draft poster before lettering)
Kunstbibliothek, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Ludwig Lutz Ehrenberger
Bonbonnière Cabaret
ca. 1911
lithograph (poster)
Kunstbibliothek, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Albert Guillaume
The Latecomers
1914
oil on canvas
Musée Carnavalet, Paris

By this time hee was fully armed, which made the sweet Urania admire him; and if more pitie had lodg'd in her then before she had afoorded him, his goodly personage and dolefull lookes so ill agreeing had purchased; for she did pitie him so much, as this had almost brought the end of some kind of pitie, or pitie in some kind love: but she was ordain'd for another, so as this prov'd onely a fine beginning to make her heart tender against the others comming.  Now was he ready to depart, wherefore they came downe from the rock, when being at the bottome they met a young shepherd, whose heart Urania had (although against her will) conquered.  This Lad shee entreated to conduct Perissus to the next towne, which he most willingly consented to, thinking himselfe that day more happy when she vouchsafed to command him; withall she injoyned him not to leave him till he saw him shipt, which hee perform'd, comming againe to her to receive thanks more welcome to him then if a fine new flock had bin bestowed on him. 

– from The Countesse of Mountgomeries Urania, by the right honourable the Lady Mary Wroath, daughter to the right noble Robert, Earle of Leicester, and neece to the ever famous and renowned Sʳ Phillips Sidney knight, and to ye most excellant Lady Mary Countess of Pembroke, late deceased (London: John Marriott and John Grismand, 1621)

Wearing Ribbons

Lucas Cranach the Elder
Portrait of a Young Woman
1538
oil on panel
Národní Galerie, Prague

Cornelis Sustermans
Portrait of Archduke Karl Joseph of Austria
ca. 1653-54
oil on canvas
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Jean Ranc
Portrait of Anne Melon
1702
oil on canvas
Musée Fabre, Montpellier

Anton Raphael Mengs
Portrait of Infanta Maria Ludovica,
later Holy Roman Empress
ca. 1764-65
oil on canvas
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

George Romney
Portrait of Elizabeth Leigh
ca. 1765
oil on canvas
Huntington Library and Art Museum,
San-Marino, California

Alexander Roslin
Portrait of Anne-Jacqueline-Sophie de Malartie
1781
oil on canvas
Nasjonalmuseet, Oslo

Anonymous French Artist
Portrait of a Woman
ca. 1785
oil on canvas
Musée Carnavalet, Paris

Henry Fuseli
Two Courtesans
ca. 1790-92
drawing, with added watercolor
Auckland Art Gallery, New Zealand

Jean-Laurent Mosnier
Portrait of Elizabeth Hudtwalcker
ca. 1798
oil on canvas
Hamburger Kunsthalle

Henry Howard
Marguerite (from Goethe's Faust)
ca. 1810
oil on panel
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco

Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller
Portrait of a Woman
1829
oil on panel
Alte Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Frederik Moller
Portrait of a Woman
1830
oil on canvas
Milwaukee Art Museum

Albert Edelfelt
Portrait of Annie Edelfelt
1883
oil on panel
Ateneum Art Museum, Helsinki

William Merritt Chase
Portrait of a Lady in Pink
ca. 1888-89
oil on canvas
Rhode Island School of Design, Providence

Jules Green
Avez Vous Le Sourire? (magazine)
1899
lithograph (poster)
Kunstbibliothek, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Olle Hjortzberg
Olympic Games - Stockholm 1912
printed 1911
lithograph (poster)
Kunstbibliothek, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Urania read it, while he with teares and groanes gave the true period to it.  The Letter said thus.

My onely Lord, thinke not this, or the manner strange I now send, knowing already some part of the undeserved course taken with me, only pitie her, who for your sake suffers patiently; accept these my last lines, and with them the sincerest love that ever woman gave to man.  I have not time to speake what I would, therefore let this satisfie you, that the many threatnings I have heard, are come in some kind to end: for I must presently die, and for you; which death is most welcome, since for you I must have it, and more pleasing then life without you.  Grant me then these last requests, which even by your love I conjure you not to denie me, that you love my poore memory; and as you will love that, or ever loved me, revenge not my death on my murtherer, who, how unworthy soever hee was, or is, yet hee is my Husband.  This is all, and this grant, as I will faithfully die

                                                                                                 Yours.

"Alas, faire Shepherdesse," said he, "is this a letter without much sorrow to be read? and is not this a creature of all others to be belov'd?  Never let him breath, that will not heartily, and most heartily lament such a misfortune."

– from The Countesse of Mountgomeries Urania, by the right honourable the Lady Mary Wroath, daughter to the right noble Robert, Earle of Leicester, and neece to the ever famous and renowned Sʳ Phillips Sidney knight, and to ye most excellant Lady Mary Countess of Pembroke, late deceased (London: John Marriott and John Grismand, 1621)

Fifties Looks

Pancaldi of Bologna
Evening Shoes
ca. 1956
silk satin and leather
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

Hermès
Gloves
ca. 1950
suede with broderie anglaise in silk
Philadelphia Museum of Art

Gabrielle Chanel
Hat
c1955
wool-felt-
Philadelphia Museum of Art

Esther Bubley
Untitled
1952
gelatin silver print
San Diego Museum of Art

Cristóbal Balenciaga
Cocktail Dress
ca. 1954
silk
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

Yves Saint Laurent for Dior
Cocktail Dress
1959
silk taffeta
Philadelphia Museum of Art

Anonymous Milliner (USA)
Hat
ca. 1950
wool felt, silk veiling, feathers
Philadelphia Museum of Art

Jean Dessès
Evening Gown
ca. 1958
silk base trimmed with dyed-to-match machine-lace
Philadelphia Museum of Art

Charles James
Ballgown
1951
silk velvet, silk satin, silk faille
Phoenix Art Museum, Arizona

Norman Hartnell
Court Ensemble
1950
silk tulle with gold and silver lamé
Philadelphia Museum of Art

Louis Faurer
New York City
1951
gelatin silver print
Art Institute of Chicago

Pauline Trigère
Cocktail Dress and Bolero
ca. 1959
wool lined with silk
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

Mainbocher
Ballgown
1955
silk faille
Phoenix Art Museum, Arizona

James Galanos
Ballgown
1956
metallic lace with silk satin bows
Philadelphia Museum of Art

André-Charles Biéler
Sous Bois
1951
oil on canvas
Ottawa Art Gallery, Ontario

Helen Rose
Wedding Gown for Grace Kelly
(fabricated at Metro Goldwyn Meyer in Hollywood)
1956
silk lace, silk faille, silk tulle, seed pearls
Philadelphia Museum of Art

Easy Knowledge

Between attention and attention, 

The first and last decision,

Is mortal distraction

Of earth and air,

Further and nearer,

The vague wants 

Of days and nights,
And personal error;

And the fatigued face,

Taking the strain

Of the horizontal force
And the vertical thrust,

Makes random answer

To the crucial test;

The uncertain flesh,

Scraping back chair

For the wrong train,

Falling in slush

Before a friend's friends

Or shaking hands

With a snub-nosed winner.

The opening window, closing door,

Open, close, but not

To finish or restore;

These wishes get

No further than

The edges of the town,

And leaning asking from the car

Cannot tell us where we are;

While the divided face

Has no grace,

No discretion,

No occupation

But registering

Acreage, mileage,

The easy knowledge
Of the virtuous thing.

– W.H. Auden (1930)

Embellished Objects

Roman Empire
Cup with Skeleton-figures in high relief (from Boscoreale)
1st century BC
silver
Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples

Roman Empire
Cup with Bacchic motifs in high relief
early first century AD
silver
Princeton University Art Museum

Byzantine Empire
The Rubens Vase
AD 400
agate with later gold mount
Walters Art Museum, Baltimore

"Carved in high relief from a single piece of agate, this vase was most likely created in an imperial workshop for a Byzantine emperor.  It made its way to France, probably carried off as treasure after the sack of Constantinople in 1204 during the Fourth Crusade, where it passed through the hands of some of the most renowned collectors of western Europe, including the Dukes of Anjou and King Charles V.  In 1615 the vase was purchased by the great Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens.  A drawing that he made of it is now in Saint Petersburg at the Hermitage.  The subsequent fate of the vase before the 19th century is obscure.  The gold mount around its rim is struck with a French gold-standard mark used ca. 1809-1819.  A similar late Roman agate vessel, the Waddesdon Vase or Cellini Vase [directly below], is now in the British Museum."

Roman Empire
The Waddesdon Vase or The Cellini Vase
AD 400
agate with later enameled-gold mounts
British Museum

Anonymous Chinese and French artisans
Bowl with relief pattern of flowering prunus
ca. 1720-30 (bowl), mid-18th century (mounts)
Chinese porcelain, with French ormolu mounts
Walters Art Museum, Baltimore

Anonymous German artisans
Finial with ivy and acanthus motifs
ca. 1250
gilding on silver-plated copper with inlays of niello on silver
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Anonymous European aritsans
Drawstring Bag
ca. 1780-1820
gold wire mesh, seed pearls
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Anonymous Italian artisans
Liturgical Fan (Flabellum)
12th century
tempera on vellum
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

"Ecclesiastical ornament.  Painted vellum plaited to form a circle, bands at center and edge, flowers in blues and reds on both sides.  Ivory handle, buttons at center, set with tiny plaques of mother-of-pearl and nielloed silver gilt."

René Lalique
Pansy Brooch
ca. 1903
glass, enameled-gold, sapphire
Walters Art Museum, Baltimore

"Henry Walters bought this piece from Lalique in 1904 at the World's Fair in St Louis, Missouri.  Due to its sheer size and delicacy, the Pansy Brooch, like many of Lalique's other floral jewelry creations, was probably never intended to be worn."  

Anonymous Dutch artisans
Console Table
ca. 1650-75
carved linden-wood legs, marble top
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Anonymous German artisans
Carnet de bal
ca. 1760
mother-of-pearl, ivory, gold
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

"Gold-mounted mother-of-pearl carnet de bal [for dance cards] of shaped outline, carved in relief with C-scrolls, rocaille and foliage.  Appliqué in gold with crowned eagle, recumbent lion and birds.  Appliqué on reverse with a crowned eagle holding a sword on a globe and stand.  With the original pencil and with four shaped ivory swiveling cards that conceal a mirror panel.  One card is inscribed Fais bien et laisse dire! [i.e., behave well and then let them talk].  The coats-of-arms are possibly those of William II of Prussia.  In 1938 this object belonged to Alphonse and Clarice de Rothschild of Vienna, where it was confiscated by Nazi forces.  Recovered by Allied forces about 1947-50 and returned to Clarice de Rothschild in New York.  By descent to her daughter, Bettina Looram de Rothschild (1924-2012).  Gift of the heirs of Bettina Looram de Rothschild to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston."  

Anonymous French artisans
Pencil with Flowers
ca. 1750-1800
beadwork (sablé)
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Roman Empire
Trapezophoros with Winged Griffins
1st century BC
marble
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

"This marble trapezophoros is one of pair of supports for a large tabletop that probably stood in the atrium of a wealthy family's house.  Its two sides are finely carved with grape vines and floral sprays issuing from acanthus fronds.  At either end of the support, the head and torso of a winged griffin emerge from a feline leg.  They form a striking contrast to the delicate floral decoration with their deep relief and powerful musculature, thereby solidly grounding what must have been a monumental piece of furniture."

Anonymous Armenian artisans
Volume of the Gospels
(no date given)
tooled leather binding with metal plaques over wooden boards
Walters Art Museum, Baltimore

– quoted texts based on curator's notes at the respective museums