Floor plan

Style galleriesThe American Gilded Age

The American Gilded Age

Edward Guthrie Kennedy, by William Merritt Chase, ca. 1895
The Biglin Brothers Turning the Stake, by Thomas Eakins, 1873
VIEW OF VENICE, ITALY
Twigs of a magnolia tree with light green, glossy leaves and three cream-white blossoms lie on a sapphire-blue cloth in this horizontal still life painting. Brightly lit from our left, the blossoms and leaves nearly fill the composition, and the cut ends lie on the fabric to our right. The blue fabric cascades from the upper left and across the table or ledge. The three flowers are in various stages of bloom. The tightest bud is to our left, overlapped by a stem and the tender, unfurling leaves of a branch. The blossom next to it, at the center, is starting to open. The petals of the third blossom, to our right, splay open around the flower’s oval-shaped stamen. Light glints off the waxy leaves surrounding the flowers. The tawny-brown underside of one leaf is visible where it turns over, near the cut ends of the branches. Light shimmering on the fabric darkens from bright blue to our right, to deep royal blue in the shadows to the upper left, suggesting the fabric is velvet. The background is streaked with tan and pine green behind the fabric, and becomes nearly black in the shadows of the upper right corner and along the bottom edge. The artist signed the lower right corner, "MJ. Heade."
Christ, by Kenyon Cox, 1905
THE OLD HOPKINSON HOUSE, BORDENTOWN, NJ

The works in this room are listed below.

Works in this room

Painting and design in the United States from the Civil War to 1910.

First room, north wall

  1. Edward Guthrie Kennedy, by William Merritt Chase, ca. 1895
    Edward Guthrie KennedyWilliam Merritt Chase, ca. 1895Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  2. The Biglin Brothers Turning the Stake, by Thomas Eakins, 1873
    The Biglin Brothers Turning the StakeThomas Eakins, 1873Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
  3. VIEW OF VENICE, ITALY
    View of Venice, ItalyRobert Frederick Blum, 1880Courtesy of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

First room, south wall

  1. Twigs of a magnolia tree with light green, glossy leaves and three cream-white blossoms lie on a sapphire-blue cloth in this horizontal still life painting. Brightly lit from our left, the blossoms and leaves nearly fill the composition, and the cut ends lie on the fabric to our right. The blue fabric cascades from the upper left and across the table or ledge. The three flowers are in various stages of bloom. The tightest bud is to our left, overlapped by a stem and the tender, unfurling leaves of a branch. The blossom next to it, at the center, is starting to open. The petals of the third blossom, to our right, splay open around the flower’s oval-shaped stamen. Light glints off the waxy leaves surrounding the flowers. The tawny-brown underside of one leaf is visible where it turns over, near the cut ends of the branches. Light shimmering on the fabric darkens from bright blue to our right, to deep royal blue in the shadows to the upper left, suggesting the fabric is velvet. The background is streaked with tan and pine green behind the fabric, and becomes nearly black in the shadows of the upper right corner and along the bottom edge. The artist signed the lower right corner, "MJ. Heade."
    Giant Magnolias on a Blue Velvet ClothMartin Johnson Heade, c. 1890Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  2. Christ, by Kenyon Cox, 1905
    ChristKenyon Cox, 1905Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
  3. THE OLD HOPKINSON HOUSE, BORDENTOWN, NJ
    The Old Hopkinson House, Bordentown, NJFrancis Hopkinson Smith, ca. 1880Courtesy of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Second room, south wall

  1. A six-story, narrow building stands alone in an otherwise unoccupied lot under the deck of a high bridge, with a river and cityscape in the background in this horizontal painting. Dozens of people, small in scale, are each painted with a few swipes of black and some with peach-colored faces. They gather at the foot of the building and around a fire to our left, near the lower left corner of the composition. The fire is painted with a dash of orange, a few touches of canary yellow, and a smudge of gray smoke. Several more people stand and sit against the building, which has a streetlamp near its entrance. The back end of the building angles away from us to our right, so we see the narrow, front entrance side to our left. Each of the six floors of the building has two windows with fire escape ladders on the narrow side we can see. Some strokes in red and white on the lower levels of the long, flat side of the building suggest signs or posters. The top story glows a warm sienna brown in sunlight, while the rest of the building and the scene below are in shadow. More people walk along a grayish-violet fence that encloses the lot beyond the building. The ground is painted thickly with slate gray, pale, sage green, and one smear of white to suggest snow. To our right and a short distance from us, a white horse pulls a carriage near the foot of the bridge. The ivory-white, concrete piling rises up and off the right edge of the canvas and supports the deck of the bridge above. Only a sliver of the brick-red underside of the bridge is visible, skimming the top edge of the painting in the upper right corner. Two twiggy, barren trees grow up beyond the muted purple fence, and the landscape beyond is bright in the sunlight. A terracotta-orange building rises along the left edge of the painting, with the area between it and the lot under the bridge filled with thickly painted patches of butter yellow, amethyst purple, and sage green. Beyond that, an ice-blue river flows across the composition. The shore beyond is lined with patches of beige and tan paint that could be buildings. A black tugboat puffs bright white smoke in the river. The sky above is frosty white. The artist signed the work with dark blue in the lower left corner of the painting, “Geo Bellows.”
    The Lone TenementGeorge Bellows, 1909Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  2. A young man with a peachy, ruddy complexion lies on his stomach in a wooden rowboat on a river, reaching forward to grasp the horn of a stag almost completely submerged in the rippling water with one hand. On the opposite riverbank, gold, rust, and scarlet-red trees span the width of this horizontal painting. The boy’s arms straddle the stern of the boat so one holds the antler with his right hand, closer to us, while the other clutches a rope with a loop at the end. He turns his face, mouth agape and cheeks flushed, over his right shoulder to look to our left, at a dog swimming toward the boat. The dog has white and caramel-brown markings, with dark brown ears. The boy wears earth-brown clothing and the front of his wide-brimmed hat is pushed up to reveal dark eyes and sable-brown bangs and brows. The stag and dog are between us and the boat, and are surrounded by thick brushstrokes of parchment white to create ripples in the forest-green water. Only the open muzzle, part of the eye, and the tips of the stag’s antlers are above the water’s surface. To our right, a bare, fallen tree lies along the far riverbank parallel to the boat. The boat and water fill the lower half of the scene and the autumn trees fill the upper half. The artist has signed and dated the painting in the lower right, “Winslow Homer 1892.”
    Hound and HunterWinslow Homer, 1892Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  3. TWO STUDIES OF WOMEN STANDING BEHIND RAILING, LOOKING AT THE LAUNCHING OF DORIES, CULLERCOATS, ENGLAND
    Two Studies of Women Standing behind Railing, Looking at the Launching of Dories, Cullercoats, EnglandWinslow Homer, 1881Courtesy of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Second room, north wall

  1. This is a painting depicting a bare-knuckle boxing match with two fighters in a ring surrounded by a crowd. Both fighters are men with light skin, and they wear no shirts. The fighter on the left wears orange pants with black dots, while the fighter on the right wears red pants with white dots. Behind these men are two other shirtless men wearing the same types of pants, as well as two other men wearing more formal attire, including jackets, vests, and hats. Outside the ring, a semi-circle of light-skinned men in formal attire watch the central fight. The setting is outdoors, with grass around the feet of the spectators and green hills in the background. Above the group, the sky is light gray.
    Bare KnucklesGeorge A. Hayes, c. 1870/1885Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  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. Cartoon for mural of Minnesota State Capital, "Institute of Justice", by Kenyon Cox, ca. 1904
    Cartoon for mural of Minnesota State Capital, "Institute of Justice"Kenyon Cox, ca. 1904Courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum

Third room, north wall

  1. William Merritt Chase
    Good FriendsWilliam Merritt Chase, (c. 1909)Courtesy of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution
  2. A work made of pastel and black chalk on brown wove paper with fibrous inclusions.
    Corte del ParadisoJames McNeill Whistler, 1880Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  3. FISHERMEN BEACHING A DORY, CULLERCOATS, ENGLAND
    Fishermen Beaching a Dory, Cullercoats, EnglandWinslow Homer, 1881Courtesy of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
  4. This painting shows a person seated on a stool or chair, wearing a long, dark-blue robe or gown. They are slightly turned toward the right, looking downward at something they hold in their hands, and their head is covered with a cloth or cap. The background is textured with earthy tones, mostly tan with some patches of yellow ochre and gray.
    The ChaperoneThomas Eakins, c. 1908Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington