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The 15th century

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

110 works · hang 6244 ·

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

Walk this roomRehang this room

First room, north wall

  1. Outdoors, distinct groupings of adult men and women, some with halos, gather near a building. The front-facing wall of the building is not depicted, allowing for a view inside, where a woman sits in bed with two women nearby and two other women dress a baby. A bearded man sits near the bed.
    Scenes from the Life of Saint John the BaptistBartolomeo di Giovanni, 1490/95Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  2. Bacchanal with a Wine Vat, by Andrea Mantegna, Before 1475
    Bacchanal with a Wine VatAndrea Mantegna, Before 1475Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  3. The Holy Family with Saint Elizabeth, by Jacopo de' Barbari, c. 1503
    The Holy Family with Saint ElizabethJacopo de' Barbari, c. 1503Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art

First room, south wall

  1. Madonna and Child, by Filippino Lippi, ca. 1483–84
    Madonna and ChildFilippino Lippi, ca. 1483–84Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  2. A woman holds the hands of two nude children in front of a crimson-red cloth in this vertical painting. All three have pale skin and brown hair. The woman wears a forest-green dress with voluminous sleeves and a gauzy white headdress that wraps around her hair and is fastened with a band across her forehead. She stands crouching with one foot extended slightly forward in a sandal, surrounded by broken chunks of masonry and bits of burning logs. Her body faces us but she turns her head to the right. Her mouth is wide open, and her eyes cut back to our left. The woman clutches the children’s hands in both of her own. The child to our left turns away from us and reaches one hand up to touch the back of the woman’s hand. The child on the right twists away from the woman, eyes squinted up and to the right and mouth open. Behind them, fold lines create a grid across the red cloth. Slivers of grass and blue sky line each side of the composition.
    The Wife of Hasdrubal and Her ChildrenErcole de' Roberti, c. 1490/1493Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  3. A work made of tempera on panel, transferred to canvas.
    The Baptism of ChristPerugino, 1500–05Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  4. Portrait of Alain de Coëtivy (1407–1474), by Jean Fouquet, ca. 1451–55
    Portrait of Alain de Coëtivy (1407–1474)Jean Fouquet, ca. 1451–55Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Second room, south wall

  1. The Last Supper, by Lucantonio degli Uberti, c. 1500
    The Last SupperLucantonio degli Uberti, c. 1500Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
  2. Portrait of a Young Woman, by Lorenzo di Credi (Lorenzo d'Andrea d'Oderigo), ca. 1490–1500
    Portrait of a Young WomanLorenzo di Credi (Lorenzo d'Andrea d'Oderigo), ca. 1490–1500Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  3. The Annunciation, by Hans Memling, 1480–89
    The AnnunciationHans Memling, 1480–89Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Second room, north wall

  1. 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
  2. Christ Carrying the Cross, by Martin Schongauer, ca. 1475–80
    Christ Carrying the CrossMartin Schongauer, ca. 1475–80Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  3. 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
  4. Preface (verso) from a double-page frontispiece of a Shahnama of Firdausi (940-1019 or 1025), c. 1444
    Preface (verso) from a double-page frontispiece of a Shahnama of Firdausi (940-1019 or 1025)Unrecorded Persian maker, c. 1444Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art

Third room, north wall

  1. The Journey of the Magi, by Sassetta, ca. 1433–35
    The Journey of the MagiSassetta, ca. 1433–35Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  2. The Birth and Naming of John the Baptist, by Juan de Flandes, 1496–99
    The Birth and Naming of John the BaptistJuan de Flandes, 1496–99Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art