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The 15th century

Works made in the 15th century, anywhere in the world.

110 works · hang 8748 ·

The rooms are imagined; every work on their walls is real.

Walk this roomRehang this room

First room, north wall

  1. A Bear Walking, by Leonardo da Vinci, ca. 1482–85
    A Bear WalkingLeonardo da Vinci, ca. 1482–85Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  2. A work made of oil on panel.
    Virgin and ChildHans Memling, c. 1485Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  3. Battle of the Nudes, by Antonio Pollaiuolo, 1470s–80s
    Battle of the NudesAntonio Pollaiuolo, 1470s–80sCourtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
  4. Mountain Market, Clear with Rising Mist, early 1500s
    Mountain Market, Clear with Rising MistUnrecorded Korean maker, early 1500sCourtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art

First room, south wall

  1. Three Standing Figures (recto); Seated Woman and a Male Hermit in Half-length (verso), by Stefano da Verona (Stefano di Giovanni d'Arbosio di Francia), 1435–38
    Three Standing Figures (recto); Seated Woman and a Male Hermit in Half-length (verso)Stefano da Verona (Stefano di Giovanni d'Arbosio di Francia), 1435–38Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  2. A work made of pen and brown ink on cream laid paper.
    Wooded Landscape with Donkeys and Goats, and Castle on Hill in DistancePaul Bril, n.d.Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  3. Saint Sebastian, by Perugino, c. 1493
    Saint SebastianPerugino, c. 1493Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
  4. A work made of tempera on panel.
    Saint Anthony AbbotFra Angelico, 1440–41Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago

Second room, south wall

  1. A woman wearing a long, royal-blue dress is surrounded by nine winged angels as she floats on a thin, bright white, downward-pointing crescent moon above a deep landscape with a town tucked into rolling hills in this vertical painting. The woman, Mary, and all the angels have pale, peachy skin and long, brown hair. Mary and the angels float against a pale yellow and pale peach field of light enclosed within a mass of steel-gray clouds. She presses her fingertips together in front of her chest and gazes down and to our right, her dark eyes almost closed. She has a delicate, straight nose, and her small mouth is closed. Her brown hair parts in the middle and flows down over her shoulders. The angels wear flowing gowns in sky or topaz blue, olive green, tangerine orange, white, or light pink, each with matching wings. Three angels place a gold crown on Mary's head. Four others hold up the edges of a silvery white cape, which is fastened across her shoulders with brooches of white pearls surrounding ruby-red stones. The final two angels hold up the downward-facing points of the crescent moon beneath her. In the landscape below, groupings of trees are dotted among the rolling hills, with a village in the distance to our left. The blue, hazy horizon comes about a sixth of the way up the composition. A brown boulder sits in the bottom left corner, closer to us. The paint is visibly cracked throughout.
    The Assumption of the VirginMichel Sittow, c. 1500Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  2. Royal Reception in a Landscape, left folio from the double frontispiece of a Shahnama (Book of Kings) of Firdausi (Persian, about 940–1019 or 1025), 1444
    Royal Reception in a Landscape, left folio from the double frontispiece of a Shahnama (Book of Kings) of Firdausi (Persian, about 940–1019 or 1025)Unrecorded Persian maker, 1444Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
  3. Two women and a baby, all with pale skin, sit together on a gray, stone throne with patterned fabric hanging behind them and a patterned rug below in this narrow, vertical painting. The woman sitting on the throne, Saint Anne, is the largest. A second woman, Mary, is smaller in scale, and she sits on Saint Anne’s lap. Mary, in turn, holds a nude baby boy on her lap. Both women have light brown eyes under faint, arched brows, smooth skin, long straight noses, and their shell-pink lips are closed. Saint Anne sits with her body facing us and she looks down with her head slightly tilted to our left. Her white head covering drapes over her shoulders and hangs down from her chin to cover her neck. She wears a marine-blue dress cinched at her waist with a black and gold belt, and a crimson-red robe that falls to and puddles around her feet. Her right arm, on our left, wraps around and holds Mary’s hip, and she supports a book with gold-edged pages with her other hand. Mary sits on Saint Anne’s right thigh, to our left, and leans toward the baby, who sits on her left knee, to our right. Her long, wavy, brown hair falls over her shoulders, and she wears a cobalt-blue robe over a lilac-purple dress. The baby has short, curly blond hair and reaches to turn the pages of the book. He has rounded cheeks and a pudgy torso. The stone throne is ornamented on the arms and at the top corners with ivory-white, nude children that are presumably also carved out of stone. The cloth hanging behind Saint Anne is decorated with glimmering gold, ornamental leaf designs against a pine-green background. The rug beneath her feet is a geometric pattern of red, tan, black, and white.
    The Saint Anne Altarpiece: Saint Anne with the Virgin and Child [middle panel]Gerard David, c. 1500/1520Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  4. Painted dark colored portrait of man, hands in prayer.
    Portrait of Jean Gros (recto); Coat of Arms of Jean Gros (verso)Rogier van der Weyden, 1460–64Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago

Second room, north wall

  1. A work made of tempera on panel, transferred to canvas.
    The Baptism of ChristPerugino, 1500–05Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  2. Virgin and Child with Angels, by Master of the Holden Tondo, early 1500s
    Virgin and Child with AngelsMaster of the Holden Tondo, early 1500sCourtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
  3. "The Feast of Sada", Folio 22v from the Shahnama (Book of Kings) of Shah Tahmasp, by Abu'l Qasim Firdausi, ca. 1525
    "The Feast of Sada", Folio 22v from the Shahnama (Book of Kings) of Shah TahmaspAbu'l Qasim Firdausi, ca. 1525Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  4. Adoration of the Shepherds, c. 1500
    Adoration of the ShepherdsUnrecorded Italian maker, c. 1500Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art