Lowe Art Museum Collection: Art of Europe

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Permanent Collection

Art of Europe

The European Collection encompasses more than 1,500 paintings, sculptures, and works on paper from antiquity through the nineteenth century, and includes works by Gainsborough, Raeburn, Lawrence, Monet, Sisley, and Gauguin. In 1954, the Lowe Art Museum received a group of Renaissance and Baroque paintings and sculptures as part of a national distribution of art from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation.

Jusepe de Ribera, Spain, 1591-1652
Saint Onuphrius, ca. 1642

Saint Onuphrius depicts the 4th-century hermit who rejected his royal patrimony, alluded to by the crown and royal scepter, to seek spiritual perfection through a life of deprivation in a cave in the wilderness near Thebes. The rough cross and wooden rosary bears witness to his faith.

As in many Baroque paintings of this period, piety is conveyed through gesture (hands clasped together in prayer) and glance (eyes directed heavenward).

What distinguishes Ribera’s work is the fact that the elderly saint is an unidealized, remarkably lifelike figure whose depth of spiritual experience radiates from his weather-beaten face, bloodshot eyes, and ravaged body. As means of inspiring religious devotion, Saint Onuphrius exemplifies the goals of Counter-Reformation painting by affording the worshipper a profoundly moving spiritual encounter.

Thomas Gainsborough, England, 1727-1788
Portrait of Mrs. Collins,
ca. 1770-1775

oil on canvas, 27 1/4 x 32 1/2"
Gift of Ione T. Staley, 52.001.000

Alongside his bitter rival, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Thomas Gainsborough was considered a leading portrait painter of his day. Gainsborough, who was born in the Suffolk countryside, trained in London and returned to his home around 1750. Although he began producing portraits in a French Rococo style, his preferred subject matter was landscape painting.

In 1759 Gainsborough moved his studio to Bath, England's most fashionable winter resort, where he remained until 1774, when the growing demand for his portraits led him to resettle in London. Painted in Bath, the Portrait of Mrs. Collins portrays the wife of a naval captain in the simple, bust-length format used for family keepsakes.

Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes, Spain,
1746-1828
Jose Antonio,
Marques de Caballero, 1807

oil on canvas, 27 1/4 x 32 1/2"
Extended loan courtesy of
The Oscar B. Cintas Foundation, L1988.13

As painter to the court, Goya was often commissioned to paint official portraits of courtiers with whom he was not in political or personal sympathy. The Marques de Caballero, Minister of Grace and Justice, was a reactionary who was unpopular even within his own circle.

This painting demonstrates Goya's skills as a portraitist, diplomatically pleasing the sitter with a commanding, dignified pose and a rich display of gold brocade and official decorations, yet at the same time revealing the arrogance and vulgarity of the man.

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