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22 Items in this Learning Collection
Baptismal Basin with Lamb of God ('Agnus Dei')

Collection Object
Sanctification cross with scenes from the life of Christ and the Virgin Mary and the Evangelists
This small carved boxwood cross is divided on each face into five compartments containing Christian religious scenes. The cross is set in a stand decorated with mother-of-pearl and green glass-paste stones.
Collection Object
Censer with Maltese crosses, birds, and columns
The body of this cylindrical censer is decorated with eight columns spaced at regular intervals. The lid of the censer consists of an openwork dome divided into sections by eight vertical ribs that converge at its apex. An arched horizontal band intersects the midpoint of the ribs, and these eight junctures are marked with a projecting bird that holds a small bronze ball dangling from its beak. Two segments of the dome are decorated with Maltese crosses while another two feature curved plant forms. The apex is surmounted by a finial comprised of a globe topped by a Maltese cross on which a bird holding a piece of fruit perches.
Collection Object
Processional cross with triumphant Christ (Christus triumphans) flanked by busts of the evangelists, Saints Matthew, John, Mark, and Luke (obverse); and suffering Christ (Christus patiens) flanked by busts of the Virgin Mary, God the father, Saint John and unidentified male saint with cross (Saint Philip?) (reverse)
The arms of the cross end in quatrefoil-shaped terminals. The front (obverse) is gilded and features a molding along the edges. The back (reverse) has a deep azurite blue ground and a gilded band punched with tiny rosettes that runs along the border.
Collection Object
Martha Dandridge Custis Washington (1731-1802)
Bust-length portrait of a woman with grey hair in a cream colored dress seated in a red chair with a view of the landscape to right of figure seen through an illusionistic stone oval window or oculus.
Collection Object
Portrait of a Lady
An elegantly attired young woman is shown in a half-length portrait. Her hands are crossed in front of her at the wrist and she holds a partially open folding fan in her right hand. Her blue silk dress has long lace cuffs and a lace overlay at the shoulders and bodice. The bodice is also ornamented with silk bows of matching silk. At her neck is an elaborate pearl and lace choker; she has a matching pearl bracelet and seed pear earring. Her haif carries the blue of dress in the ornamentation at the crown of her head. Ribbons from her hair ornament cascade down either side of her bosom.
Collection Object
L'Alliance de la Poésie et de la Musique (The Alliance of Poetry and Music)
Two women clad in flowing robes sit beneath a curved colonnade at the center of this delicately painted scene. The woman on the left, wearing a blue mantle, holds a lyre in her right hand and leans toward her companion, who holds open a musical score on her lap to which she points with her right hand. Books are piled on the steps next to the woman on the left and a putto sits next to her with a scroll unrolled across his lap. A second putto stands next to the other seated woman and plays a viol. A winged putto hovers over the heads of the two women, holding a small trumpet in his left hand and a laurel crown in his right, which he is about to place on the head of the woman with the lyre. Two bust-length portraits of men in oval frames wreathed with laurel hang from the columns in the background.
Collection Object
Nature, When Unadorn'd, Adorn'd the Most

Collection Object
The Annunciation
An angel, draped with a flowing red mantle, descends on the left from a bank of clouds. He holds a scepter and twisting scroll in his left hand while he points with his right toward a white dove encircled by a halo of light that descends toward a woman dressed in long robes and a veil. She sits, holding a book open on the lectern before her, and draws back slightly with her right hand raised and her eyes downcast. Six cherubim sit above on the edge of the cloudbank, which opens to reveal a male figure barely visible in the blinding light that fills the cloud.
Collection Object
Lady Eleanor Dundas
Lady Eleanor Dundas is shown half length, seated in front of a brown background. She looks towards the light source to the right of the painting. She is dressed in a diaphanous black dress with an Empire cut and black veil. A sheer lace collar frames her throat. She has heavy lidded eyes and an alert or slightly mournful expression
Collection Object
Lord Charles Spencer (1740-1820), Second son of the Third Duke of Marlborough
A young man leans against a stone ledge and gazes to his right. He wears a slate blue jacket with a white collar and cuffs and has a matching mantle. He casually hooks a finger of his left hand in the hilt of a sword that hangs at his waist. A plain stone column immediately behind the sitter creates a near silhouette of the shadowed side of his face. A hazy sky fills the background.
Collection Object
The Engraver, Laurent Cars (1699-1771)
A man in a powdered wig is shown in a bust-length pose, looking to the right. He is dressed in a silk coat with a blue and bronze-colored silk scarf at his throat.
Collection Object
M. Bachelier, Director of Customs at Lyon (M. Bachelier, Directeur des fermes de Lyon)
M. Bachelier is shown seated at a desk dressed in a high powdered wig and sumptous gold-embroidered velvet coat and waistcoat. Behind the figure is a rich cloth, pulled back to reveal columns. On the elaborately carved desk are papers and a writing set. M. Bachelier extends his left hand towards the viewer, suggesting that we have interepted him while writing at his des. The painting's coloring consists of rich burgundy red, green, tan and gold.
Collection Object
Judith with the Head of Holofernes
The half-length figure of a woman looks directly out of the painting and holds the bearded head of a man on a platter in her hands. She wears a fine robe with large white sleeves and collar, a soft hat with a small white feather, and a bejeweled pin on her left shoulder. The face of an older woman with deeply wrinkled skin appears in the shadows behind her.
Collection Object
Figure of a Girl in Blue (portrait of Miss Minnie Clark)
Portrait of a woman with dark hair and fair skin seated in a chair wearing a blue dress amid a sparse background of blues, greens, and browns; her body is positioned at an angle towards the right, while she looks directly out at the viewer.
Collection Object
Portrait of a Lady, probably Anne Simms Reeve (née Browne) of Brancaster Hall, Norfolk
Half-length portrait of a young woman facing right with dark brown hair wearing a yellow satin dress. The upper part of her bodice is trimmed with black ribbons arranged in vertical stripes. She wears gold ovoid pendant earrings, and a strand of pearls in her hair. In the background are branches of oleander, and to the left of the sitter, is a panel of brocaded textile of late medieval design.<br />
Collection Object
Crown for Vairocana Buddha (J. Dainichi Nyorai)

Collection Object
A Courtesan followed by Two kamuro and Another Courtesan Behind, Sheet 5 from the series of "The Main Street of the Yoshiwara in Cherry Blossom Time" (a five sheet series)
An image of women walking down the street. The woman at the forefront is trailed by two young girls and another woman. They wear similarly pattererned kimono with geometric designs and orange and green coloration. To the right of them are two women talking to two men, one crouched behind the other, under cherry blossom trees. The women appear to wear kimono of orange color and patterened with leaves. The first man wears a black striped kimono and a sword hilt can be seen strapped to his waist while the man behind him wears grey. In the background is a building and a group of men walking about. In the center of the background, inside the building, a woman can be seen.
Collection Object
Standing Buddha, in Abhaya Mudrâ
Standing gilt bronze Shakyamuni Buddha with glass inlay. One hand is raised in the form of the "fear not" mudra. Stands on a pedestal in ornamented dress and crown.
Collection Object
Kneeling Monk Devotee (one of a pair)
Kneeling statue of Buddhist monk devotee Mogallana or Shariputra on a pedestal with round face, hair in tight curls, elongated ears, and hands placed together in mediatation. The pedestal is decorated with lotus petals, and the devotee wears an intricate, close-fitting robe.
Collection Object
Dvarapala (temple guardian; pair with 1980/2.291)
The two-armed figure dances with his right leg raised and wrapped around a club. His left arm crosses his body and rests above the club and his right hand is raised almost to his ear. Tassels hang from him hips and under his armpits adding a great sense of movement to the whole figure. Multi-hooded snakes are at the base and also around the bottom of the club. He wears much of jewelry including bracelets, anklets, necklaces with should loops and an elaborate belt. His stomach protrudes over the belt. He also has large earrings and a jewel encrusted crown. His eyes bulge out and his mouth is open showing his teeth. He is a pair with 1980/2.291.<br />
Collection Object
Scene from the life of the Buddha: Buddha triumphs over the fire snake at the Fire Temple of Uruvilva Kasyapa (architectural fragment)
A fragment of a stone slab, originally a facing on the drum of a small stupa, carved with a narrative scene. In this relief, he is converting devotees of the fire god Agni, the three ascetic Kasyapa brothers and their disciples. In this narrative, the Buddha asked to spend the night in the fire temple of Uruvilva Kasyapa. The temple’s fire god worshipers thought the fearsome fire serpent that dwelled within the temple would vanquish the Buddha. Instead, the fiery radiance of the meditating Buddha overwhelmed the serpent, who crawled into the Buddha’s alms bowl; the defeated snake appears in this sculpture below the Buddha. Meanwhile, the dazzling radiance the Buddha emits has been mistaken for flames and a fire brigade using ladders and pots of water has been formed to put out the fire, as can be seen here. Seated in the posture and gesture of meditation, the Buddha’s calm presence is in contrast to the action unfolding around him. The three Kasyapa brothers, with their beards and matted hair, are at the bo
Collection Object

Copyright
All Rights Reserved ()

Lord Charles Spencer (1740-1820), Second son of the Third Duke of Marlborough

Accession Number
2001/2.128

Title
Lord Charles Spencer (1740-1820), Second son of the Third Duke of Marlborough

Artist(s)
Joshua Reynolds

Object Creation Date
1759

Medium & Support
oil on canvas

Dimensions
34 5/8 in. x 28 5/8 in. ( 87.9 cm x 72.7 cm )

Credit Line
Museum purchase made possible by the W. Hawkins Ferry Fund

Label copy
March 28, 2009
Sir Joshua Reynolds was one of the most fashionable and successful English portrait artists of the eighteenth century. During his illustrious career he painted most of the great social and political leaders of his time, defining for many our understanding of the look of English power from that period. Among these elites numbered Lord Charles Spencer (1740–1820), depicted here as a refined young man, who was the second son of one of England’s preeminent landholders. The canvas dates from a fertile point in Reynolds’ career, when commercial success coincided with artistic experimentation as Reynolds moved toward a more classicizing style that emphasized the volume and plasticity of form over the Venetian-inspired chromaticism that had characterized his earlier work. This portrait is clearly unfinished and appears to be the abandoned original for a finished work of similar dimensions still in the collection of the Duke of Marlborough. Its unfinished state allows us to savor better the fruits of Reynolds’ skill that are often lost in finished works, such as the subtle harmonies of color and the fluid brushwork that preserves the artist’s confident touch.

Subject matter
This unfinished half-length portrait represents Lord Charles Spencer, second son of the third Duke of Marlborough, leaning against a stone ledge in a pose of casual refinement. While the sitter's face is constructed from small, careful brushstrokes and is defined by smooth gradations of light, his garments and hands are painted with great fluidity and the forms are fashioned through dramatically juxtaposed passages of color and shadow. The subtle sophistication of the painting--evinced by the expertly balanced tonalities and the skillful evocation of depth--contribute powerfully to the impression of relaxed elegance in the sitter.

Physical Description
A young man leans against a stone ledge and gazes to his right. He wears a slate blue jacket with a white collar and cuffs and has a matching mantle. He casually hooks a finger of his left hand in the hilt of a sword that hangs at his waist. A plain stone column immediately behind the sitter creates a near silhouette of the shadowed side of his face. A hazy sky fills the background.

Primary Object Classification
Painting

Primary Object Type
portrait

Collection Area
Western

Rights
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit http://umma.umich.edu/request-image for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.

Keywords
columns (architectural elements)
nobles (aristocrats)
oil paintings (visual works)
portraits

6 Related Resources
British Empire
(Part of 3 Learning Collections)
History of Western Sexuality and Gender Roles
(Part of 5 Learning Collections)
Lord Charles Spencer 
(Part of 2 Learning Collections)
Unsettling Histories Docent Module
(Part of: Fall 2021 Docent Exhibition Packet)

& Author Notes

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On display

UMMA Gallery Location ➜ AMH, 1st floor ➜ 103 (Marvin H. Davidson Gallery)