Anthonij (Anton) Mauve (1838–88)Snow Scene with Sheep, c. 1882–88 Oil on canvasMcMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, 1988.91 Jeffery HoweProfessor Emeritus, Art History Mauve was a prominent member of “the Hague school,” a group of Dutch painters who sought to revive the tradition of naturalism that had characterized seventeenth-century Dutch painting through landscape and rural…

Alessandro Longhi (1733–1813)Portrait of Venetian Man and Boy, c. 1760 Oil on canvas, relinedMcMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, Gift of Mrs. Timothy Dwight, 1988.1 Nancy NetzerInaugural Robert L. and Judith T. Winston Director, McMullen Museum and Professor, Art History Captured in the midst of a lesson, with a quill in hand, a boy sits…

John Wollaston (1710–75)Portrait of a Boy, 1750s Oil on canvasMcMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, Gift of Mr. & Mrs. Will J. Lessard, 1988.177 Nancy NetzerInaugural Robert L. and Judith T. Winston Director, McMullen Museum and Professor, Art History Born and trained as a portrait painter in London, Wollaston moved in 1749 to New York,…

Philip Leslie Hale (1865–1931)In the Garden, c. 1900 Oil on canvasMcMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, Gift of Jane Frances Welch Cronin and Daniel A. Cronin Jr., 2018.76 Diana LarsenAssistant Director, McMullen Museum Hale was an influential art teacher, writer, and critic as well as a leading painter of the Boston school, along with his…

William Trost Richards (1833–1905)Tintagel, c. 1882–85 Oil on panelMcMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, Gift of William M. & Alison S. Vareika ’74, P’09, ’15, LP’16, 2004.13 Jeffery HoweProfessor Emeritus, Art History This small oil sketch depicts the promontory of Tintagel, the legendary birthplace of King Arthur, at sunset. It is an unusually simple yet…

After Annibale Carracci (1560–1609)Holy Family (Montalto Madonna), n.d. Oil on canvas mounted on panelMcMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, 1988.85 Stephanie C. LeoneProfessor, Art History The Holy Family is a reverse copy of a detail of Annibale Carracci’s famous Montalto Madonna, c. 1598–1600, now in the National Gallery, London1 (see image). Though small and partial, the painting tells the…

Harriet Christina Cany Peale (1800–69)Idealized Portrait of a Woman (Female in a Turban), c. 1840–60 Oil on canvasMcMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, Gift of Betsy Cahill in memory of Dr. Andrew T. Cahill, 1993.3 Nancy NetzerInaugural Robert L. and Judith T. Winston Director, McMullen Museum and Professor, Art History In 1840 Harriet Cany, a…

Elihu Vedder (1863–1923)Peasant Girl Spinning (Spinning under the Olives), c. 1867 Oil on canvasMcMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, 1988.83 Jeffery HoweProfessor Emeritus, Art History Although better known for his later symbolist paintings and illustrations, Elihu Vedder was a member of the realist movement in the 1860s and a friend of William Morris Hunt (1824–79). Peasant…

John Joseph Enneking (1841–1916)Mountain Stream, 1871 Oil on canvasMcMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, 1988.66 Jeffery HoweProfessor Emeritus, Art History This image of white water streaming over rocks in a mountain setting captures an unspoiled image of the American landscape. The varied topography of the Adirondacks and the White Mountains were popular subjects for artists,…

William Merritt Chase (1849–1916)Autumn Still Life, c. 1906 Oil on canvasMcMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, Gift of Alexandria & Michael N. Altman P’22, ’24, ’26, 2022.113 John McCoyAssistant Director, McMullen Museum The genre of still life—paintings depicting flowers, fruits, vessels, and other arranged, inanimate objects—became codified in Dutch painting in the sixteenth century. Through…

William Lamb Picknell (1853–97)Le déclin du jour (Fort Carré, Antibes, France), c. 1895 Oil on canvasMcMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, Gift of Alexandria & Michael N. Altman P’22, ’24, ’26, 2019.3 Jeffery HoweProfessor Emeritus, Art History Washed in the warm light of the setting sun, the massive sixteenth-century Fort Carré at Antibes rises above…

Orazio de Ferrari (1606–57)Woman Taken in Adultery, c. 1639 Oil on canvasMcMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, 1988.168 Stephanie C. LeoneProfessor, Art History Nothing is known about Woman Taken in Adultery prior to its display in Boston College’s Bapst Library in 1950, but its attribution to Orazio de Ferrari places it in the prosperous, mercantile, and international…

Michele Tosini (1503–77) and assistantsMadonna with Christ and St. John the Baptist, c. 1545–60 Oil on wood panel, transferred to canvasMcMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, Gift of Julie Shaw (Quincy Adams Shaw), 1988.320 Nancy NetzerInaugural Robert L. and Judith T. Winston Director, McMullen Museum and Professor, Art History When this painting was given to…

Giambettino or Giuseppe (Fra Felice) CignaroliMadonna and Child with St. John the Baptist, 1750–1800 Oil on canvasMcMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, 1988.30 Stephanie C. LeoneProfessor, Art History In 1866, this painting of the seated Madonna holding the Christ Child, with a young John the Baptist, was sold as an authentic work of Italian Renaissance…

Pierre Subleyras (1699–1749)Meal at the House of Simon the Pharisee, c. 1737 Oil on canvasMcMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, 1988.38 Nancy NetzerInaugural Robert L. and Judith T. Winston Director, McMullen Museum and Professor, Art History Pierre Subleyras left France in 1728 when he was awarded a prestigious Grand Prix by the Académie Royale de…

Giovanni Battista Salvi (Sassoferrato) (1609–85)Madonna of the Cherubs, c. 1650 Oil on canvasMcMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, 1988.72 Stephanie C. LeoneProfessor, Art History Framed by the cherubic messengers and the golden light of heaven, the Virgin Mary gracefully shifts her shoulders and lifts her head, eyes, and—we sense—mind to God. The rotation is stilled…

Unknown artist (Emilian school)Holy Family with St. John, mid- to late 16th century Oil on panelMcMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, 1988.60 Stephanie C. LeoneProfessor, Art History First documented in 1933 in Bapst Library at Boston College, this graceful yet sturdy Madonna presents her child with an air of knowing confidence while he sits upright,…

Gaetano Lapis (1704–76)Angel of the Annunciation, c. 1730 Oil on canvasMcMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, 1988.28 Nancy NetzerInaugural Robert L. and Judith T. Winston Director, McMullen Museum and Professor, Art History The Archangel Gabriel raises his right hand in blessing and presents a lily, a symbol of Mary’s purity, in his left. Clothed in…

Fitz Henry Lane (1804–65)Sunset after a Storm, 1858 Oil on canvasMcMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, Carolyn A. and Peter S. Lynch Collection, 2021.19 Jeffery HoweProfessor Emeritus, Art History The “storm-tossed boat” is one of the classic motifs of Romantic art, and was frequently depicted by artists such as Robert Salmon and J. M. W.…

Albert Bierstadt (1830–1902)Near the South Pass of the Rocky Mountains, 1863 Oil on panelMcMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, Carolyn A. and Peter S. Lynch Collection, 2022.45 Jeffery HoweProfessor Emeritus, Art History This idealized view of an unspoiled natural landscape, with a soft glow of the setting sun, beckons the viewer toward the Rocky Mountains…

Albert Bierstadt (1830–1902)Owens Valley, California, c. 1872 Oil on panelMcMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, Carolyn A. and Peter S. Lynch Collection, 2022.44 Jeffery HoweProfessor Emeritus, Art History Bierstadt lived in California with a studio in San Francisco between 1871–73. He met the innovative photographer Eadweard Muybridge and traveled with him and the geologist Clarence…

Sanford Robinson Gifford (1823–80)The Ruins of the Parthenon, 1869–80 Oil on canvasMcMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, Carolyn A. and Peter S. Lynch Collection, 2022.49 Jeffery HoweProfessor Emeritus, Art History Gifford specialized in landscape, first painting scenes of the Hudson River, the Adirondacks, and the mountains of Vermont. He traveled to Europe in 1855–57, when…

Martin Johnson Heade (1819–1904)Two Green-Breasted Hummingbirds, c. 1863–64 Oil on canvasMcMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, Carolyn A. and Peter S. Lynch Collection, 2022.53 Oliver WunschAssistant Professor, Art History This painting is the only confirmed surviving study from The Gems of Brazil series, a group of twenty compositions that Heade planned to publish in a volume devoted…

Martin Johnson Heade (1819–1904)Orchid and Hummingbirds near a Mountain Lake, c. 1875–90 Oil on canvasMcMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, Carolyn A. and Peter S. Lynch Collection, 2022.54 Oliver WunschAssistant Professor, Art History Inspired by Heade’s travels in Brazil during the 1860s, this painting was equally shaped by the art market that he encountered upon…

Robert Salmon (1775–c. 1845)View of Boston Harbor, Ship Going Out, 1832 Oil on canvasMcMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, Carolyn A. and Peter S. Lynch Collection, 2021.22 Jeffery HoweProfessor Emeritus, Art History Robert Salmon was one of the most prolific maritime artists of his time, painting nearly one thousand works. The richness of his light…

Frederick Childe Hassam (1859–1935)Spring Flowering Trees, c. 1900 Oil on canvasMcMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, Carolyn A. and Peter S. Lynch Collection, 2022.52 Nancy NetzerInaugural Robert L. and Judith T. Winston Director, McMullen Museum and Professor, Art History Trained in Boston, first as a wood engraver and then as a watercolor painter, by 1883…

Frederick Childe Hassam (1859–1935)Water Hazard—Maidstone Links, 1923 Oil on canvasMcMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, Carolyn A. and Peter S. Lynch Collection, 2022.51 Oliver WunschAssistant Professor, Art History When Hassam made this painting, golf courses and country clubs were relatively new features of American life, constructed with Gilded Age fortunes and shaped by a nostalgia…

Jack Butler Yeats (1871–1957)Farewell to Mayo, 1929 Oil on paperMcMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, Carolyn A. and Peter S. Lynch Collection, 2021.23 Kevin LoteryAssistant Professor, Art History Though known primarily as a painter, Jack B. Yeats devoted large portions of his career to writing and illustrating. He got his start as a jobbing illustrator…