Art

Thomas Cole painted this distant Niagara scene after visiting the falls in 1829. The museum explains that he left out the industry and tourist infrastructure already present there, shaping the view around an idea of wilderness.

Look closely at Water Lilies. Painting of a pond seen up close spotted with thickly painted pink and white water lilies and a shadow across the top third of the picture.

Look closely at L'Auberge du soleil levant. Etching of a snowy landscape with a horse-drawn carriage stopped on a path next to a building.

Look closely at Head of Child. Sketch of the face of a child with light curly hair, looking upward, framed with a design that evokes a cornice, or ornamental moulding.

Look closely at Mitsuke: Ferries Crossing the Tenryu River (Mitsuke, Tenryugawa funawatashi), from the series "Fifty-three Stations of t. Color print of a Japanese landscape with a person on horseback in the foreground, flanked by several trees and low green hills.

Look closely at Oinochoe (Pitcher). Terracotta pitcher decorated with red figures on a black background, with a slender neck and base.

Look closely at Lamp with Hanging Head Dragonfly Shade and Mosaic and Turtleback Base. Lamp with stained glass shade featuring dragonflies and shades of green, purple, brown.

Look closely at Belly-Amphora (Storage Jar). A two-handled, bulbous vessel with a painted image of five human figures, one carrying a shield.

This Nara-period bodhisattva was shaped from a wood core and finished with dry lacquer. Traces of gold leaf survive on a sculpture made to give a compassionate Buddhist presence a human body.

Look closely at Apples and Grapes. Apples and grapes rest in a shallow wicker basket on a table covered with a light-colored cloth.

Look closely at Hydria (Water Jar). A terracotta jar, wider at the top with a narrow neck and small handles, decorated in black, featuring human figures against red.

Look closely at E28: German Sitting Room of the Biedermeier Period, 1815–50. Replica of a sitting room with pale-blue walls and a wave-patterned wallpaper border.

Look closely at Abstract Portrait Vessel of a Ruler with Painted Face Resting on Feet. A head-shaped tan and red-orange ceramic vessel with a round, expressionless face atop two squat feet, darker markings around the eyes and down the cheeks.

Antonio Maragliano’s workshop carved this standing Virgin from wood around 1710–20. Folded arms, a ring of stars, sweeping drapery, and the small angel supporting her turn a devotional image into a rising vertical movement.

Look closely at Still Life with Dead Game, Fruits, and Vegetables in a Market. An older man at left in red raises his hat toward a central table chaotically overflowing with dead game, fruits, and vegetables.

Look closely at Fragment. Long, thin piece of fabric featuring a border design in reddish brown of an undulating vine with curled tendrils and three-petaled blossoms.

Look closely at The Beach of Les Grands Sables at Le Pouldu. A painting in large swaths of color of a sweeping and steep gold valley with haystacks.

This Cypriot limestone head keeps the almond-shaped eyes, ordered ringlets, and faint smile associated with earlier Greek sculpture. Its deliberately old-fashioned face makes style a clue to how forms traveled and remained useful across the eastern Mediterranean.

Look closely at A31: Tennessee Entrance Hall, 1835. Miniature room featuring walls decorated with a tropical landscape, a spiral staircase, a crystal chandelier, and two rugs.

Antonio Canova carved the Trojan prince Paris with a calm gaze and a shepherd’s cap. The marble isolates a moment of poised beauty from a myth whose judgment leads toward Helen’s abduction and the Trojan War.

Look closely at Jacques and Berthe Lipchitz. Large painting, standing man blue turtleneck, sitting woman with white collar.

Look closely at Jar with Tubular Handles, Peonies, “Endless Knot,” Pendant Balls, and Pendant Lozenges. Green glazed vessel decorated with floral adornments, tapered and flared at the neck, with two small cylindrical handles.

Look closely at Portrait of Jacques Nicolas Colbert, Archbishop of Rouen. Portrait in black ink of a light-skinned, clean shaven man in religious costume with dark curly hair and a cross around his neck.

Look closely at Pastoral Landscape with Ruins. Painting of a resting man and woman with assorted livestock, arched ruins and a lush landscape behind them.