Luce Center: Browse

The Brooklyn Museum holds collections of colonial art from the Dutch and English settlements on the eastern seaboard, as well as from the vast Spanish colonies in Peru, Mexico, and what is now the southwestern United States. These works, created during the period before independence in these regions, form the chronological beginnings of the Museum’s collections of American paintings.

Artists in all of these thriving colonial cultures drew on European models and conventions. Those traditions were sometimes communicated to them through artists immigrating or visiting from Europe; more often, they were introduced by means of imported paintings and, especially, prints. In Spanish and North American colonial portraits alike, artists adapted the postures, costumes, and background accessories of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century European painting to denote the social standing of the sitter. Portrait painting dominated the mostly Protestant North American markets well into the nineteenth century. The preponderance of religious subjects by Latin American artists, on the other hand, reflects the influence of the Catholic Church’s efforts to sustain the faith of Spanish colonial populations and to convert indigenous peoples. The Spanish colonial devotional images displayed here are also based on European visual traditions, but many of these religious paintings were greatly enriched and localized by the incorporation of images of indigenous peoples, places, flora, and fauna.

Although North American and Spanish colonial paintings were once relegated to the status of provincial reflections of mainstream European culture, recent study has demonstrated that artistic practice in political and economic colonies was not exclusively a one-way matter of cultural dependency. The Brooklyn Museum’s collections of colonial art offer us many opportunities to see the ways in which local artists and patrons at first employed and then adapted and even transformed such imported elements to serve local requirements and, as time passed, to increasingly reflect their own values.

Visible Storage: Case 24, Screen A (Paintings)
	41.1251	Unknown Wedding of Mary and Joseph, late 17th century View object details...
	41.1275.176	Unknown Marriage of the Virgin and Joseph, late 17th-early 18th century View object details...
	41.1275.178	Circle of Diego Quispe Tito Virgin of Carmel Saving Souls in Purgatory, late 17th century View object details...
	41.1275.181	Mauricio García The Virgin of Mercy with Three Saints, mid-18th century View object details...
	41.1275.187	Unknown Archangel Raphael, 17th century View object details...
	41.1275.190	Pedro Nolasco y Lara St. John of God, 18th century View object details...
	41.1275.192	Pedro Nolasco y Lara The Legend of San Augustine, 18th century View object details...
	41.1275.400	Unknown Virgin of Pomata with St. Nicholas Tolentino and St. Rose of Lima, 1700-1750 View object details...
	43.112	Unknown The Carpenter's Shop in Nazareth, late 18th century View object details...
	48.206.84	Unknown St.Catherine of Siena (formerly described as Santa Clara), 16th-17th century View object details...
	48.206.85	Unknown The Flight Into Egypt, mid 18th century View object details...
Visible Storage: Case 24, Screen B (Paintings)
	05.89	Daniel Huntington James Samuel Thomas Stranahan, 1890-1891 View object details...
	11.549	Henry Inman Mrs. Robert Lowden, ca. 1840 View object details...
	16.28	Samuel Lovett Waldo Portrait of a Man, ca. 1815 View object details...
	20.639	James Peale Richard Harwood, ca. 1795-1805 View object details...
	33.4.2	John Wesley Jarvis Mrs. Eleanor Doran and Her Daughter Margaret, ca. 1830-1834 View object details...
	41.152	Unknown John Van Cortlandt, ca. 1731 View object details...
	52.166.16	Édouard Pingret Portrait of Doña María Josefa Romero de Terreros y Gómez de Parada, ca. 1865 View object details...
	52.166.18	Mexican Coat-of-Arms of the Cervantes Family, ca. 1802 View object details...
Visible Storage: Case 24, Screen C (Paintings)
	15.331	George Henry Hall Self-Portrait, 1845 View object details...
	18.40	Samuel Lovett Waldo James K. Bogert, 1819 View object details...
	20.638	Charles Willson Peale Portrait of Mrs. William Strachan, ca. 1770-1772 View object details...
	24.67	Thomas Nast Caricature of William Cullen Bryant, 1866 View object details...
	27.205	Unknown Portrait of a Woman (possibly Mrs. Samuel Partridge), ca. 1765 View object details...
	30.1149a-b	Abbott H. Thayer Head of a Boy (Recto) and Head of a Girl (Verso), ca. 1918-1919 View object details...
	31.765	William Sartain Arab Head, ca. 1880 View object details...
	63.196	Leopold Seyffert My Family, 1928 View object details...
Visible Storage: Case 24, Screen D (Paintings)
	18.39	Samuel Lovett Waldo Mrs. James K. Bogert, Jr., 1819 View object details...
	41.1275.182	Unknown Virgin de Chiquinquira, n.d. View object details...
	41.1275.226	Unknown Portrait of Philip II, King of Spain, 18th-early 19th century View object details...
	52.166.5	Mexican Doña Josefa de la Cotera y Calvo de la Puerta, 1816 View object details...
	52.166.6	Mexican Don Ignacio Leonel Gómez Cervantes, 1788 View object details...
	60.33	George Maduro Peixotto Portrait of Fedelia Wise, 1886 View object details...
	1995.29.3	Unknown Lloqui Ypanqui, Third Inca, 1 of 14 Portraits of Inca Kings, mid 18th century View object details...
	1995.29.4	Unknown Mayta Capac, Fourth Inca, 1 of 14 Portraits of Inca Kings, mid 18th century View object details...
	1995.29.5	Unknown Capac Yupanqui, Fifth Inca, 1 of 14 Portraits of Inca Kings, mid 18th century View object details...
	1995.29.6	Unknown Inca Roca, Sixth Inca, 1 of 14 Portraits of Inca Kings, mid 18th century View object details...
	1995.29.13	Unknown Huascar, Thirteenth Inca, 1 of 14 Portraits of Inca Kings, mid 18th century View object details...
	X797	Peruvian Nuestra Senora del Rosario (Virgin of the Rosary with Worshipers), 18th century View object details...
Visible Storage: Case 24, Screen E (Paintings)
	18.43	Joseph Blackburn Mrs. Wyseman Clagett (Née Lettice Mitchell; Later Mrs. Simon McQuesten), ca. 1760 View object details...
	23.61	Jeremiah Theus Elizabeth Rothmahler, 1757 View object details...
	27.946	John Greenwood Portrait of a Lady (possibly Mrs. John Hubbard, née Elizabeth Gooch, later Mrs. John Franklin), ca. 1748 View object details...
	27.948	Unknown Portrait of a Man (possibly Captain Samuel Partridge), ca. 1765 View object details...
	33.25	Eastman Johnson Captain Folger of Nantucket, 1880 View object details...
	39.609	John Hesselius Mrs. Elizabeth Smith (née Elizabeth Chew), 1762 View object details...
	41.1254	Unknown Triumph of Christ the King with the four continents, 18th century View object details...
	41.1275.177	Circle of Diego Quispe Tito Our Lady of Pomata, 1675 View object details...
	51.193.1	Ralph Earl Robert Boyd, 1788 View object details...
	78.212	Susan Macdowell Eakins Portrait of Leroy Ireland, 1910 View object details...
Visible Storage: Case 24, Screen F (Paintings)
	01.1507	Daniel Huntington William Cullen Bryant, 1866 View object details...
	21.1	John Wollaston Portrait of a Man (possibly Sir Charles Hardy), ca. 1758 View object details...
	32.1605	John Singleton Copley Portrait of John Lane, ca. 1770 View object details...
	52.41	William Johnston Thomas Mumford VI, 1763 View object details...
	53.180.1	José María Calderón The Office of Don Manuel Romero de Terreros in Paris (Gabinete de Don Manuel Romero de Terreros en París), 1870 View object details...
	53.180.2	Unknown Landscape Showing the Aqueduct of "El Sitio", 1865 - 1867 View object details...
	1999.111.2	Unknown Portrait of a Child of the Harmon Family, ca. 1840s View object details...
Visible Storage: Case 24, Screen G (Paintings)
	12.85	Rembrandt Peale George Taylor II, 1811 View object details...
	16.26	Thomas Sully Cornelius Ver Bryck, 1833 View object details...
	21.56	Thomas Sully Cumberland Dugan, 1821 View object details...
	23.50	John Neagle Portrait of a Man, ca. 1845 View object details...
	26.521	Charles Loring Elliott Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ca. 1842-1846 View object details...
	43.196	John Watson Governor Lewis Morris, ca. 1726 View object details...
	48.8	Ralph Earl Clarissa Seymour (later Mrs. Truman Marsh), 1789 View object details...
	51.217	Ralph Eleazer Whiteside Earl Mrs. Ebenezer Porter (Lucy "Patty" Pierce Merwin), 1804 View object details...
	87.140	Unknown John Lane, after John Singleton Copley, ca. 1801-1810 View object details...
Visible Storage: Case 24, Screen H (Paintings)
	18.24	Walter Libbey Alexander Brown, ca. 1848 View object details...
	18.25	Walter Libbey Self-Portrait, ca. 1850 View object details...
	18.49	Sanford Robinson Gifford Study for a Self-Portrait, ca. 1848 View object details...
	21.55	Gilbert Stuart Mrs. Robert Nicholls Auchmuty, 1816 View object details...
	25.806	Ezra Ames Phares Gould, ca. 1830-1835 View object details...
	32.144	Samuel Finley Breese Morse Portrait of John Adams, 1816 View object details...
	42.202	Thomas Sully Jane Cooper Sully, ca. 1835 View object details...
	50.82	Raphael Soyer Portrait of Arshile Gorky, 1940 View object details...
	62.155	Daniel Huntington Ellen Almira Low and Her Three Children, 1847 View object details...
	68.213.2	William Sidney Mount Mrs. Geromus Johnson, 1832 View object details...
	77.219.1	Seymour Joseph Guy Portrait of a Gentleman, 1855 View object details...
	77.219.2	Seymour Joseph Guy Portrait of a Lady, 1856 View object details...
Visible Storage: Case 24, Screen I (Paintings)
	21.57	Thomas Sully Portrait of a Young Girl, 1824 View object details...
	21.130	Matthew Harris Jouett Thomas Smith, ca. 1820 View object details...
	26.150	John Wesley Jarvis Albert Wyckoff, 1810 View object details...
	28.208	Jacques Amans Portrait of an Unknown Man, 1845 View object details...
	33.21	Emil Fuchs Henry Wolf, 1907 View object details...
	68.208	Chester Harding The Honorable Russell Freeman, ca. 1830 View object details...
	68.213.1	William Sidney Mount Jeromus Johnson, 1832 View object details...
	70.102	Jefferson Gauntt Portrait of a Young Lady, 1838 View object details...
	1999.54.2	George Augustus Baker Jr. John Claflin Southwick, 1869 and 1875 View object details...
	1999.54.3	George Augustus Baker Jr. Ella M. Clapp Southwick, 1869 View object details...
	1999.54.6	George Augustus Baker Jr. Clifford Southwick, ca. 1876 View object details...
Visible Storage: Case 24, Screen J (Paintings)
	11.521	Charles Frederic Ulrich Head of an Old Man, ca. 1876 View object details...
	18.38	Stephen Douglas Volk William Macbeth, 1917 View object details...
	21.58	Abbott H. Thayer William Michael Spartali Stillman, ca. 1905-1915 View object details...
	25.182	Wilford S. Conrow Professor William H. Goodyear, 1916 View object details...
	27.954	Ethan Allen Greenwood William Gooch, 1816 View object details...
	29.62	Abbott H. Thayer Chadwick's Dog, 1874 View object details...
	32.199.156	Emil Fuchs Emily Post, ca. 1906 View object details...
	33.137	Eastman Johnson Self Portrait, ca. 1890 View object details...
	42.301	Unknown William Henry Eaves, ca. 1856 View object details...
	44.67	Moise Kisling Portrait of Abraham Walkowitz, ca. 1944 View object details...
Visible Storage: Case 24, Screen K (Paintings)
	97.9	William Dunlap Robert Snow, 1831 View object details...
	27.650	John Neagle Mrs. William Milnor, née Margaret Purves, 1825 View object details...
	28.331	Benjamin Rutherford Fitz Portrait of Edwina M. Post, ca. 1890 View object details...
	52.42	Joseph Badger John Haskins, 1759 View object details...
	52.43	Joseph Badger Mrs. John Haskins (née Hannah Upham), 1759 View object details...
	53.234	Manuel Joachim de Franca Matthew Huizinga Messchert, 1830 View object details...
	69.41	Lydia Field Emmet The Brothers, 1909 View object details...
	1995.29.11	Unknown Tupac Yupanqui, Eleventh Inca, 1 of 14 Portraits of Inca Kings, mid 18th century View object details...
Visible Storage: Case 24, Screen L (Paintings)
	32.199.7	Emil Fuchs Lady in Black, 1901 View object details...
	33.4.3	Charles Backofen Mrs. Joseph Kelly, 1850 View object details...
	41.1275.185	Cuzco School The Nativity, mid 18th century View object details...
	52.166.7	Ignacio Ayala Don José María (Gómez de) Cervantes y Altamirano de Velasco, 1802 View object details...
	57.144	Unknown Our Lady of Cocharcas Under the Baldachin, inscribed 1765 View object details...
Visible Storage: Case 24, Screen M (Paintings)
	30.59	Jeremiah Theus Samuel Jones's Son, ca. 1760 View object details...
	33.16.1	Charles Cromwell Ingham Mrs. Theodore Camp, ca. 1845 View object details...
	41.878	John Mason Furness John Vinall, ca. 1792 View object details...
	59.61	Arbit Blatas Portrait of Soutine, mid-20th century View object details...
	80.80	William Johnston Mrs.Thomas Mumford VI, 1763 View object details...
	1995.29.9	Unknown Urco, Ninth Inca, 1 of 14 Portraits of Inca Kings, mid 18th century View object details...
Visible Storage: Case 24, Screen N (Paintings)
	99.4	James Frothingham Reverend Dr. Cutler, ca. 1860 View object details...
	13.74	Henry Inman Frances Kemble Butler, ca. 1834 View object details...
	16.25	Gilbert Stuart Colonel Isaac Barré, 1785 View object details...
	24.80	John Wollaston William Allen, ca. 1756 View object details...
	24.81	John Wollaston Mrs. William Allen, ca. 1756 View object details...
	27.203	John Smibert James Gooch, 1730 View object details...
	35.1057	Unknown Gentleman of the Breckenridge Family of Virginia, circa 1750 View object details...