Ochre Editions
SearchSign inCart (0)

The 16th century

Works made in the 16th century, anywhere in the world.

210 works · hang 4748 ·

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

Walk this roomRehang this room

First room, north wall

  1. A work made of ink and color on hemp cloth.
    Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva with AssemblyUnrecorded Korean maker, late 16th/early 17th centuryCourtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  2. Portrait of Roberto Castiglione, early 1600s
    Portrait of Roberto CastiglioneUnrecorded Italian maker, early 1600sCourtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art

First room, south wall

  1. The image shows a landscape viewed from above. The scene is oval, framed by tree branches on each side. Distant mountains form a boundary near the top. Delicate, finely executed lines create detailed foliage and landscape features. A winding path with a small figure adds scale. Lush trees climb upwards, with a muted color palette of the paper and dark brown and black lines providing contrast.
    The Boulder Crowned with TreesHerman van SwaneveltCourtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  2. This painting shows a man from the waist up. He is facing forward and gazes out at us. He has fair skin, light brown hair, a thin mustache and beard, and light green eyes. His expression is mostly neutral, although his peach lips are slightly turned up at the edges. He is wearing a black garment with a high collar and a hood and a black flat cap on his head. The background is plain blue, fading to black around the edges of the painting.
    Portrait of a ManCorneille de Lyon, c. 1536/1540Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  3. This is a drawing of a winged figure with a sheep, accompanied by a mythical creature and cherubs. The central figure is holding the sheep tenderly. On the left, two cherubs are flying with a laurel branch, under the word "PACIENTIA." On the right is a mythical creature with dragon-like features. Below the scene, a plaque with an inscription is placed against the pedestal. The artwork is detailed with lines, cross-hatching, and shading, accentuating textures and forms.
    Pacientia (Patience)Sebald Beham, 1540Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  4. Samson and the Lion, from "The Story of Samson", ca. 1560–80
    Samson and the Lion, from "The Story of Samson"Unrecorded French maker, ca. 1560–80Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Second room, south wall

  1. Shown from the waist up, a light-skinned woman sits angled slightly to our right in this vertical portrait painting. The woman has blue eyes, faint brows, and a sloping nose ending in a small bulb. Her upper lip is thin and her lower lip full over a slight double chin. Her blond hair is pulled back under a gold, cap-like headdress and a black, wide-brimmed hat with a shallow crown. She wears a high-necked white, black, and gold dress with intricate detailing, a gold chain necklace that falls to her waist, and a black belt with a gold clasp and medallions. She wears two gold rings set with gems on the pointer finger of her left hand, which is folded across her belly over the other hand. A scarlet-red wallcovering with pink floral designs fills two-thirds of the space behind her. The rightmost third of the background opens onto a landscape with a tall, spindly tree, a leaping animal, presumably a dog, and a bridge across a body of water leading to a town. Across another body of water, perhaps a lake, mountains are marine blue in the distance under a clear, celestial-blue sky.
    Margarethe Vöhlin [obverse]Bernhard Strigel, 1527Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  2. Brother Gregorio Belo of Vicenza, by Lorenzo Lotto, 1547
    Brother Gregorio Belo of VicenzaLorenzo Lotto, 1547Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  3. Death of the Virgin, mid-1500s
    Death of the VirginUnrecorded Italian maker, mid-1500sCourtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
  4. The Raising of Lazarus, by Jacques Bellange, ca. 1606–8
    The Raising of LazarusJacques Bellange, ca. 1606–8Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Second room, north wall

  1. Portrait of the artist’s great-granduncle Yizhai at the age of eighty-five, by Ruan Zude, dated 1561 or 1621
    Portrait of the artist’s great-granduncle Yizhai at the age of eighty-fiveRuan Zude, dated 1561 or 1621Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  2. Daoist Master Fei Zhangfang, by Sesson Shūkei, ca. 1555–61
    Daoist Master Fei ZhangfangSesson Shūkei, ca. 1555–61Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  3. We look slightly down onto a scene with people gathering in small groups in a cobblestone town square lined with rows of brick, wood, and stone buildings, many with stepped rooflines, in this horizontal painting. Singly or in pairs or trios, men, women, and children walk across the square, move goods around, or talk to merchants. All the people have light skin. Many of the men have mustaches and wear hats, and some carry swords. In tones of black, olive green, brick red, and plum purple, they wear hip-length cloaks over jackets, with white collars or ruffs and brass buttons, and knee-length breeches over yellow or black stockings. The women all wear long dresses in salmon pink, coral red, or golden yellow, with white collars or ruffs, and many wear black, ankle-length cloaks, some with hoods. Closest to us, a sumptuously dressed man and woman walk toward us while another similarly elegant couple walks away. Also facing away from us, to our left, a man wearing a large drum strapped around his waist raises one drumstick as he looks over his left shoulder. Nearby, a woman peers up out of a cellar door that opens on an angle to the street. More couples gather around a well across the square, and two women and a child talk to a third woman selling wares at a wooden table to our right. A pair of hooded priests or monks walk near a man blowing on a trumpet on horseback. The buildings are mostly shades of brick red and brown, and most have three or four stories with steeply pitched roofs. More people walk along side streets leading off the main square. One gap in the buildings across from us leads to a nickel-gray stone church with a pointed spire and square tower. A grassy, green hill rises steeply beyond the buildings to our right, leading down to a waterway that extends up and away into the distance. A few boats float in the water, which reflects the leaden-gray sky. Beyond the town square, a brown stone structure like a fortress with turret towers and crenellated walls looms along the ridge of the hill to our right. Tiny in scale, people on horseback and tending sheep dot the hillside below. The date “1590” is painted on the front of one of the buildings across from us while another date, “1597,” is painted on the end of a short wall near the lower left corner.
    The Marketplace in Bergen op ZoomAbel Grimmer, probably 1590 and 1597Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  4. "Shah Jahan on a Terrace, Holding a Pendant Set With His Portrait", Folio from the Shah Jahan Album, by Chitarman, recto: dated 1627–28; verso: ca. 1530–50
    "Shah Jahan on a Terrace, Holding a Pendant Set With His Portrait", Folio from the Shah Jahan AlbumChitarman, recto: dated 1627–28; verso: ca. 1530–50Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Third room, north wall

  1. Still life painting of dead waterfowl and vegetables in windowsill.
    Still Life with Game FowlJuan Sánchez Cotán, c. 1600–3Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  2. A work made of woodcut in black on tan laid paper.
    The Circumcision of Christ, from The Life of the VirginAlbrecht Dürer, c. 1505, published 1511Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago