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The 15th century

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

110 works · hang 645 ·

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

Walk this roomRehang this room

First room, north wall

  1. Winter Landscape, by Yeoseol, 1500s
    Winter LandscapeYeoseol, 1500sCourtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
  2. A work made of oil on panel.
    Virgin and ChildHans Memling, c. 1485Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  3. The Annunciation to Zacharias; (verso) The Angel of the Annunciation, by Giovanni di Paolo, ca. 1455–60
    The Annunciation to Zacharias; (verso) The Angel of the AnnunciationGiovanni di Paolo, ca. 1455–60Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  4. The Crucifixion, by Sodoma, 1500s
    The CrucifixionSodoma, 1500sCourtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art

First room, south wall

  1. Christ Crowned with Thorns, by Martin Schongauer, 1470–82
    Christ Crowned with ThornsMartin Schongauer, 1470–82Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
  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. A work made of tempera on panel.
    Saint Anthony AbbotFra Angelico, 1440–41Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  4. This shield-shaped painting shows a young man with pale, peachy skin and curling brown hair standing astride the severed head of a man with dark hair and tanned skin. The painting is wider at the top and tapers like a pint glass to a narrower base. The young man, David, holds the end of long red slingshot with his right hand. The slingshot is weighted by a rock and swings behind his body. His sleeveless rust-red garment is cinched at his waist over a long white shirt. Both garments skim David’s thighs and his legs and feet are bare. Long, curling brown hair frames the ashen and bloodied upturned face of the head at David’s feet. A palm-sized stone is embedded in that forehead. The landscape background is made up of gray boulders, a meandering river, and low palm-like trees. Frothy white clouds sweep across an azure-blue sky.
    David with the Head of GoliathAndrea del Castagno, c. 1450/1455Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington

Second room, south wall

  1. Windblown bamboo, by Xia Chang, ca. 1460
    Windblown bambooXia Chang, ca. 1460Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  2. The Annunciation, by Botticelli (Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi), ca. 1490
    The AnnunciationBotticelli (Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi), ca. 1490Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  3. This print features a detailed scene. In the center is a classical-style pavilion with arched openings and a domed roof adorned with intricate designs. A group of mostly-nude people is gathered around the pavilion, with one on horseback, holding a spear, and another holding a flag. In front of the pavilion, a knight on horseback appears to be falling into a dark hole in the ground. Vegetation, including trees and shrubs, is scattered throughout the landscape, and birds are seen flying in the sky above the pavilion. The horizon shows hills leading to a distant castle on a rocky formation on the right.
    Marcus Curtius Plunging into the ChasmLucas Cranach the ElderCourtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  4. 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

Second room, north wall

  1. Francesco d'Este (born ca. 1429, died after 1486), by Rogier van der Weyden, ca. 1460
    Francesco d'Este (born ca. 1429, died after 1486)Rogier van der Weyden, ca. 1460Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  2. The Last Communion of Saint Jerome, by Botticelli (Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi), early 1490s
    The Last Communion of Saint JeromeBotticelli (Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi), early 1490sCourtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  3. The Adoration of the Shepherds, by Andrea Mantegna, shortly after 1450
    The Adoration of the ShepherdsAndrea Mantegna, shortly after 1450Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  4. Portrait of a Woman with a Man at a Casement, by Fra Filippo Lippi, ca. 1440
    Portrait of a Woman with a Man at a CasementFra Filippo Lippi, ca. 1440Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art