Floor plan

The grand stairPortraits in Paint

Portraits in Paint

Portrait of Elliot Coues, by J. Edward Barclay, 1898
Portrait of a Young Man, by Antonello da Messina (Antonello di Giovanni d'Antonio), ca. 1470
A work made of oil on canvas.
Portrait of Young Man
Portrait of the artist’s great-granduncle Yizhai at the age of eighty-five, by Ruan Zude, dated 1561 or 1621
Portrait of Dora Wheeler, by William Merritt Chase, 1882–83
Painting of bearded, ruddy-faced man in eighteenth century style clothing.
A young woman with a pale, peachy skin is shown from waist up, wearing a shimmering, royal-blue dress in this vertical painting. Her body is angled to our right as she holds a metal object, perhaps a vessel or incense burner, in her hands by her chest. She turns and tilts her head to our left, but then looks back across her body, off to our right with flint-gray eyes. She has a full, oval-shaped face with a straight nose, smooth cheeks, and her pale pink lips are closed. A gray pearl earring hangs from the ear we can see. Her auburn-brown hair is parted down the middle, and loosely pulled back into a braid that brushes her left shoulder, to our right. The blue dress has a square neckline and a fitted bodice. Light glints off the fabric, shading it from royal to sapphire blue. A voluminous white sleeve is rolled back to her right elbow, to our left. That arm and hand nearly span the width of the painting as she holds the vessel, which has a conical top, near the lower right corner of the composition. The background is solid black.

The works in this room are listed below.

Works in this room

Faces painted from life, from Renaissance panels to Gilded Age canvases. A portrait was a record, a likeness and often a statement of standing, and the best of them still hold the sitter's attention across a room.

First flight

  1. Portrait of Elliot Coues, by J. Edward Barclay, 1898
    Portrait of Elliot CouesJ. Edward Barclay, 1898Courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum
  2. Portrait of a Young Man, by Antonello da Messina (Antonello di Giovanni d'Antonio), ca. 1470
    Portrait of a Young ManAntonello da Messina (Antonello di Giovanni d'Antonio), ca. 1470Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  3. A work made of oil on canvas.
    Portrait of Constance PipeletJean Baptiste François Désoria, 1797Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  4. Portrait of Young Man
    Portrait of Young ManUnrecorded makerCourtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum

First landing

  1. Portrait of the artist’s great-granduncle Yizhai at the age of eighty-five, by Ruan Zude, dated 1561 or 1621
    Portrait of the artist’s great-granduncle Yizhai at the age of eighty-fiveRuan Zude, dated 1561 or 1621Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  2. Portrait of Dora Wheeler, by William Merritt Chase, 1882–83
    Portrait of Dora WheelerWilliam Merritt Chase, 1882–83Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
  3. Painting of bearded, ruddy-faced man in eighteenth century style clothing.
    Portrait of a Man in CostumeJean Honoré Fragonard, c. 1767–68Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  4. A young woman with a pale, peachy skin is shown from waist up, wearing a shimmering, royal-blue dress in this vertical painting. Her body is angled to our right as she holds a metal object, perhaps a vessel or incense burner, in her hands by her chest. She turns and tilts her head to our left, but then looks back across her body, off to our right with flint-gray eyes. She has a full, oval-shaped face with a straight nose, smooth cheeks, and her pale pink lips are closed. A gray pearl earring hangs from the ear we can see. Her auburn-brown hair is parted down the middle, and loosely pulled back into a braid that brushes her left shoulder, to our right. The blue dress has a square neckline and a fitted bodice. Light glints off the fabric, shading it from royal to sapphire blue. A voluminous white sleeve is rolled back to her right elbow, to our left. That arm and hand nearly span the width of the painting as she holds the vessel, which has a conical top, near the lower right corner of the composition. The background is solid black.
    Portrait of a Young Woman as a Wise VirginSebastiano del Piombo, c. 1510Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington

Second flight

  1. The portrait shows the upper half of a seated woman with a round face, wrinkles, and dark hair. She wears a bonnet, a brown dress with layers, and a shawl or cloak. The background is a muted dark brown.
    Portrait of a LadyUnrecorded maker, probably c. 1820Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  2. This painting shows a man from the waist up. He is facing forward and gazes out at us. He has fair skin, light brown hair, a thin mustache and beard, and light green eyes. His expression is mostly neutral, although his peach lips are slightly turned up at the edges. He is wearing a black garment with a high collar and a hood and a black flat cap on his head. The background is plain blue, fading to black around the edges of the painting.
    Portrait of a ManCorneille de Lyon, c. 1536/1540Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  3. Portrait of a Young Girl with Rose, by Oliver Tarbell Eddy, ca. 1838
    Portrait of a Young Girl with RoseOliver Tarbell Eddy, ca. 1838Courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum
  4. Portrait of a Woman as Saint Catherine, by Pier Francesco Foschi, c. 1560
    Portrait of a Woman as Saint CatherinePier Francesco Foschi, c. 1560Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art

Second landing

  1. Painted in muted lime green, plum purple, buttercup yellow, slate and royal blue, the head and shoulders of a man with peach-colored skin sitting in front of a window looks at us in this stylized, vertical portrait. His body and face are angled to our right but he looks at us from the corners of his eyes, which are grass-green with touches of yellow. One cobalt-blue eyebrow is cocked, and shading in denim blue, butter yellow, and fern green create hollows under both eyes. His flat nose has a broad bridge, and his pale pink lips are closed, the far corner pulled slightly up. His mustache is painted with visible strokes of forest green and his ginger-orange beard is trimmed along his prominent, jutting chin. His short, dark hair is brushed back from his temples and is painted with strokes of pine green, navy blue, and coral orange. His shirt has a wide, golden yellow stripe along the collar above indigo blue, under a grayish-violet purple jacket. The wall over his shoulder, in the upper left corner, is painted vivid lime green with long, vertical brushstrokes. The view through the window beyond his other shoulder is of vegetation and mountains. The portrait is painted with visible brushstrokes throughout, and is especially loose in the background, hair, and jacket. An inscription in dark green script in the upper left reads, “a l'ami Carriere PGauguin.” A second inscription in the lower left is written with dark brown paint: “l'ami Laval PGo.”
    Self-Portrait Dedicated to CarrièrePaul Gauguin, 1888 or 1889Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  2. Painted dark colored portrait of man, hands in prayer.
    Portrait of Jean Gros (recto); Coat of Arms of Jean Gros (verso)Rogier van der Weyden, 1460–64Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  3. Lineage Portrait of an Abbot, ca. 1350
    Lineage Portrait of an AbbotUnrecorded Himalayan maker, ca. 1350Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  4. Portrait of Tieleman Roosterman, by Frans Hals, 1634
    Portrait of Tieleman RoostermanFrans Hals, 1634Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art