Floor plan

Time and place16th-century Italy

16th-century Italy

A young woman with a pale, peachy skin is shown from waist up, wearing a shimmering, royal-blue dress in this vertical painting. Her body is angled to our right as she holds a metal object, perhaps a vessel or incense burner, in her hands by her chest. She turns and tilts her head to our left, but then looks back across her body, off to our right with flint-gray eyes. She has a full, oval-shaped face with a straight nose, smooth cheeks, and her pale pink lips are closed. A gray pearl earring hangs from the ear we can see. Her auburn-brown hair is parted down the middle, and loosely pulled back into a braid that brushes her left shoulder, to our right. The blue dress has a square neckline and a fitted bodice. Light glints off the fabric, shading it from royal to sapphire blue. A voluminous white sleeve is rolled back to her right elbow, to our left. That arm and hand nearly span the width of the painting as she holds the vessel, which has a conical top, near the lower right corner of the composition. The background is solid black.
A work made of oil on panel.
A work made of tempera on canvas.
A work made of oil on canvas.
Bright light from the upper left illuminates two muscular men and a winged angel against a dim landscape in this square painting. They all have pale skin, and the two men have dark brown hair and beards. One man, Jesus, stands ankle-deep in a rippling dark blue stream in the center of the composition facing us with downcast eyes. He is nude except for a white cloth that drapes over one shoulder and is tied around his hips. The other end of the cloth drops into the water. Jesus’s hands are pressed together in prayer at chest-height closer to his right shoulder, to our left. He leans his torso in the other direction and looks down at the water. The second man stands on the riverbank to our right. His body faces our left but his left shoulder, closer to us, dips down so his broad back is angled toward us. His lower body is wrapped in a cobalt-blue garment bordered with what looks like sheepskin. His near hand swings back to clutch the trunk of a tree growing immediately behind him. In his other hand, he holds up a pewter-grey dish that dribbles water onto Jesus’s head. On the left riverbank, the copper-haired angel looks on, facing our right in profile but the body faces us. The angel wears a sleeveless, pumpkin-orange robe with a shimmering salmon-pink mantle draped over the right shoulder, to our left. Petal-pink and dark grey wings extend from the shoulders, and the lower legs and feet are bare. The shadowy landscape has a dark green field stretching back to jagged, sapphire-blue mountains along the horizon, which comes four-fifths of the way up this composition. Pale blue clouds skim across the vivid blue sky, where three chubby, winged babies float. One holds a triangle and a rod with which to strike it, and another might hold a rectangular musical instrument. Blue clouds split nearby to show a sliver of golden yellow light, and possibly more angels.
Farmhouse on the Slope of a Hill, by Fra Bartolommeo, c. 1508
A work made of etching in black on cream laid paper.
Lucretia, by Raphael, 1508–10

The works in this room are listed below.

Works in this room

Works made in Italy in the 16th century.

First room, north wall

  1. A young woman with a pale, peachy skin is shown from waist up, wearing a shimmering, royal-blue dress in this vertical painting. Her body is angled to our right as she holds a metal object, perhaps a vessel or incense burner, in her hands by her chest. She turns and tilts her head to our left, but then looks back across her body, off to our right with flint-gray eyes. She has a full, oval-shaped face with a straight nose, smooth cheeks, and her pale pink lips are closed. A gray pearl earring hangs from the ear we can see. Her auburn-brown hair is parted down the middle, and loosely pulled back into a braid that brushes her left shoulder, to our right. The blue dress has a square neckline and a fitted bodice. Light glints off the fabric, shading it from royal to sapphire blue. A voluminous white sleeve is rolled back to her right elbow, to our left. That arm and hand nearly span the width of the painting as she holds the vessel, which has a conical top, near the lower right corner of the composition. The background is solid black.
    Portrait of a Young Woman as a Wise VirginSebastiano del Piombo, c. 1510Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  2. A work made of oil on panel.
    Lucrezia di Lippo di Iacopo GuidiAndrea del Sarto, 1525–28Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  3. A work made of tempera on canvas.
    Sinan Reis and Hayreddin BarbarossaItalian, c. 1535Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  4. A work made of oil on canvas.
    Virgin and Child with the Young Saint John the BaptistJacopo Bassano, 1560–65Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago

First room, south wall

  1. Bright light from the upper left illuminates two muscular men and a winged angel against a dim landscape in this square painting. They all have pale skin, and the two men have dark brown hair and beards. One man, Jesus, stands ankle-deep in a rippling dark blue stream in the center of the composition facing us with downcast eyes. He is nude except for a white cloth that drapes over one shoulder and is tied around his hips. The other end of the cloth drops into the water. Jesus’s hands are pressed together in prayer at chest-height closer to his right shoulder, to our left. He leans his torso in the other direction and looks down at the water. The second man stands on the riverbank to our right. His body faces our left but his left shoulder, closer to us, dips down so his broad back is angled toward us. His lower body is wrapped in a cobalt-blue garment bordered with what looks like sheepskin. His near hand swings back to clutch the trunk of a tree growing immediately behind him. In his other hand, he holds up a pewter-grey dish that dribbles water onto Jesus’s head. On the left riverbank, the copper-haired angel looks on, facing our right in profile but the body faces us. The angel wears a sleeveless, pumpkin-orange robe with a shimmering salmon-pink mantle draped over the right shoulder, to our left. Petal-pink and dark grey wings extend from the shoulders, and the lower legs and feet are bare. The shadowy landscape has a dark green field stretching back to jagged, sapphire-blue mountains along the horizon, which comes four-fifths of the way up this composition. Pale blue clouds skim across the vivid blue sky, where three chubby, winged babies float. One holds a triangle and a rod with which to strike it, and another might hold a rectangular musical instrument. Blue clouds split nearby to show a sliver of golden yellow light, and possibly more angels.
    The Baptism of ChristParis Bordone, c. 1535/1540Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  2. Farmhouse on the Slope of a Hill, by Fra Bartolommeo, c. 1508
    Farmhouse on the Slope of a HillFra Bartolommeo, c. 1508Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
  3. A work made of etching in black on cream laid paper.
    Saint Catherine of Siena Receiving the StigmataFrancesco Vanni, c. 1595Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  4. Lucretia, by Raphael, 1508–10
    LucretiaRaphael, 1508–10Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Second room, south wall

  1. A work made of black chalk on laid paper, laid down on tan laid pulp board.
    Study of a Standing Male NudeGiuseppe Cesari, called Cavaliere d'Arpino, 1595/96Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  2. The Holy Family with the Young Saint John the Baptist, by Andrea del Sarto, ca. 1528
    The Holy Family with the Young Saint John the BaptistAndrea del Sarto, ca. 1528Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  3. Mars and Venus United by Love, by Paolo Veronese (Paolo Caliari), 1570s
    Mars and Venus United by LovePaolo Veronese (Paolo Caliari), 1570sCourtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Second room, north wall

  1. The Musicians, by Caravaggio, 1597
    The MusiciansCaravaggio, 1597Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  2. The Coronation of the Virgin, by Annibale Carracci, after 1595
    The Coronation of the VirginAnnibale Carracci, after 1595Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  3. Holy Family with a Shepherd, by Battista Dossi, early 1520s
    Holy Family with a ShepherdBattista Dossi, early 1520sCourtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art

Third room, north wall

  1. Study for the Nude Youth over the Prophet Daniel (recto); Figure Studies for the Sistine Ceiling (verso), by Michelangelo Buonarroti, 1510–11
    Study for the Nude Youth over the Prophet Daniel (recto); Figure Studies for the Sistine Ceiling (verso)Michelangelo Buonarroti, 1510–11Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
  2. Portrait of a Couple, c. 1580–88
    Portrait of a CoupleUnrecorded Italian maker, c. 1580–88Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art