Floor plan

Time and place17th-century Flanders

17th-century Flanders

The image features a detailed black and white illustration with multiple human and animal figures in a symbolic arrangement. In the foreground, two full-body figures are depicted in long robes and sandals, positioned on either side of a large draped banner with text. One figure holds an open book. Above the banner are celestial figures in dynamic poses. To the left is a winged bull-like creature and a seated male figure with a beard, next to a female figure in classical attire. They are all surrounded by flowing fabric and a lion-like animal. In the lower center foreground, there is an emblem resembling a coat of arms with an eagle and a crowned shield. The background is textured, with no natural landscape or architecture present, allowing the figures to stand out. The illustration is framed by the margins of an open book.
A sprig of flowering rosemary lying against an ivory-white background and the twelve insects that surround it fills this horizontal painting. Stretching nearly the length of the composition with the cut end to our left, the rosemary has blunted, needle-like, gently curling teal-green leaves and small periwinkle-blue flowers along the ash-brown stem. Several insects perch on the sprig while others are seen as if looking from overhead, resting on the white background. The three largest insects perch along the top of the sprig, with an ivory-white butterfly with moss-green and black markings to the left, a black and golden, fuzzy bumblebee near the center, and a lemon-yellow butterfly with red antennae to our right. A tiny red insect, perhaps a ladybug without spots, sits on a leaf between the bee and yellow butterfly, and a small wasp-like insect rests on a leaf in at the lower left. Another mosquito-like insect alights on the surface nearby, next to a beetle with a honey-orange body with black, almost tiger-like stripes. A large cockroach sitting near the lower right corner has six spindly legs, a mahogany-colored abdomen, a black thorax, and tiny, black head. Spaced somewhat evenly across the top of the panel are a brick-red, winged insect to the left, a mint-green, beetle-like bug near a moth patterned with bone white and black, and a black, fly-like insect to our right. Lit from the upper left, the rosemary and insects cast shadows on the surface. The artist signed and dated the work with gray in the lower left corner: “J v. kessel . . f. Ao 1653.”
Self-Portrait, from "The Iconography", by Anthony van Dyck, ca. 1640
A work made of pen and brown ink, with traces of black chalk, on cream laid paper.
A Bouquet of Flowers, by Clara Peeters, ca. 1612
A work made of engraving on ivory laid paper.
Queen Henrietta Maria, by Anthony van Dyck, 1636

The works in this room are listed below.

Works in this room

Works made in Flanders in the 17th century.

Section 1, north wall

  1. The image features a detailed black and white illustration with multiple human and animal figures in a symbolic arrangement. In the foreground, two full-body figures are depicted in long robes and sandals, positioned on either side of a large draped banner with text. One figure holds an open book. Above the banner are celestial figures in dynamic poses. To the left is a winged bull-like creature and a seated male figure with a beard, next to a female figure in classical attire. They are all surrounded by flowing fabric and a lion-like animal. In the lower center foreground, there is an emblem resembling a coat of arms with an eagle and a crowned shield. The background is textured, with no natural landscape or architecture present, allowing the figures to stand out. The illustration is framed by the margins of an open book.
    Title Page for Balthasar Cordier, Catena Sexaginta Qvinqve Graecorvm Patrvm in S. Lvcam...Cornelis Galle I, 1628Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  2. A sprig of flowering rosemary lying against an ivory-white background and the twelve insects that surround it fills this horizontal painting. Stretching nearly the length of the composition with the cut end to our left, the rosemary has blunted, needle-like, gently curling teal-green leaves and small periwinkle-blue flowers along the ash-brown stem. Several insects perch on the sprig while others are seen as if looking from overhead, resting on the white background. The three largest insects perch along the top of the sprig, with an ivory-white butterfly with moss-green and black markings to the left, a black and golden, fuzzy bumblebee near the center, and a lemon-yellow butterfly with red antennae to our right. A tiny red insect, perhaps a ladybug without spots, sits on a leaf between the bee and yellow butterfly, and a small wasp-like insect rests on a leaf in at the lower left. Another mosquito-like insect alights on the surface nearby, next to a beetle with a honey-orange body with black, almost tiger-like stripes. A large cockroach sitting near the lower right corner has six spindly legs, a mahogany-colored abdomen, a black thorax, and tiny, black head. Spaced somewhat evenly across the top of the panel are a brick-red, winged insect to the left, a mint-green, beetle-like bug near a moth patterned with bone white and black, and a black, fly-like insect to our right. Lit from the upper left, the rosemary and insects cast shadows on the surface. The artist signed and dated the work with gray in the lower left corner: “J v. kessel . . f. Ao 1653.”
    Insects and a Sprig of RosemaryJan van Kessel the Elder, 1653Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  3. Self-Portrait, from "The Iconography", by Anthony van Dyck, ca. 1640
    Self-Portrait, from "The Iconography"Anthony van Dyck, ca. 1640Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  4. A work made of pen and brown ink, with traces of black chalk, on cream laid paper.
    Head of MedusaGodfried Maes, 1680Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago

Section 1, south wall

  1. A Bouquet of Flowers, by Clara Peeters, ca. 1612
    A Bouquet of FlowersClara Peeters, ca. 1612Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  2. A work made of engraving on ivory laid paper.
    Landscape with Sheep, from The Small LandscapesSchelte Adamsz. Bolswert, c. 1638Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  3. Queen Henrietta Maria, by Anthony van Dyck, 1636
    Queen Henrietta MariaAnthony van Dyck, 1636Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Section 2, south wall

  1. An older man at left in red raises his hat toward a central table chaotically overflowing with dead game, fruits, and vegetables. The wings of dead birds and limbs of animals are splayed out at dramatic angles; a deer at center is suspended by his back legs. Live birds and a cat animate the scene.
    Still Life with Dead Game, Fruits, and Vegetables in a MarketFrans Snyders, 1614Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  2. A work made of black chalk, with touches of white chalk, on ivory laid paper.
    The Rape of EuropaCornelis Schut, I, 1635/40Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago

Section 2, north wall

  1. Rubens, Helena Fourment (1614–1673), and Their Son Frans (1633–1678), by Peter Paul Rubens, ca. 1635
    Rubens, Helena Fourment (1614–1673), and Their Son Frans (1633–1678)Peter Paul Rubens, ca. 1635Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  2. A scene with seven men and women gathered around an infant is enclosed in an eight-sided, octagonal painted frame, which is surrounded by a wreath of flowers in this vertical painting. The painted black frame-within-a-frame resembles molding. The people in the scene have pale skin and wear robes in shades of teal blue, burnt orange, red, muted purple, or red. A woman reaching for the bed on which the child lies and the child have gold halos. Others crouch or bend toward the child, and one pair, to our left, turn toward each other, presumably talking. The nighttime-blue sky is streaked with nickel-gray clouds beyond a partially ruined stone arch. A lamb with all four feet tired together lies at the foot of the child’s bed. The wreath surrounding the painting-within-a-painting is dense with tulips, roses, daffodils, poppies, violets, and other flowers and greenery painted in shades of lemon and butter yellow, opal and pearl white, brick and coral red, and sky and slate blue against an inky-black background. One artist signed the painting-within-a-painting near the bottom left corner, “FF F.” The second artist who painted this signed his initials, “HDB”, on the bottom edge of the painted frame.
    Garland of Flowers with Adoration of the ShepherdsFrans Francken the Younger, c. 1625/1630Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  3. Guardroom with the Deliverance of Saint Peter, by David Teniers the Younger, ca. 1645–47
    Guardroom with the Deliverance of Saint PeterDavid Teniers the Younger, ca. 1645–47Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Section 3, north wall

  1. This horizontal painting shows a tapestry being unfurled and held up by winged, baby-like putti against a structure with gray and gold columns, seen at the edges of the composition. Taking up most of the composition, the tapestry shows two ranks of men, women, and children gathered behind two central men, who meet at the center. All the people have light or tanned skin, and the bodies we can see are muscular. In the central pair of men, the one to our left, Abraham, faces our right in profile as he holds two loaves of bread. He has a brown beard and short, wavy hair, and dark brows over a prominent nose. He looks at the other man with dark eyes and leans toward him, to our right. Abraham wears an armored breastplate over silver chainmail edged with gold, which falls to mid-thigh. A crimson-red cape wraps around his shoulders and swirls around his back. A sword hangs by his hip, and tan sandals cover his heels and shins. Behind him are seven men and one brown horse, who gnaws at its foreleg. Most of the men are bearded and five wear armored helmets. A cleanshaven man wearing a lavender-purple tunic stands with his arm slung over the horse’s neck, holding the rein between thumb and forefinger. The man to our right, Melchizedek has a long white beard and short white hair. His red cap is encircled with a wreath of dark green leaves. He wears a long-sleeved, waist-length, aquamarine-blue garment over a white skirt. A heavy, golden-yellow cape with a broad, white fur collar and lining drapes over his shoulders, and is supported by at least one attendant. Behind and around Melchizedek are eight men, women, and children, standing near stone, gray ruins. Behind Melchizedek, one portly person wearing a dark pink mantle reaches into a basket of bread held across the shoulders of a blond, bearded, bare-chested man. Closer to us, in the lower right corner of the tapestry, one man wearing a green toga and another wearing blue kneel and sit, holding oversized silver and gold urns, the size of their torsos. The man in blue, to our right, turns to look at us over his shoulder. A third large urn sits near the other man. A view into the landscape with a low, green hill and a pale blue sky is glimpsed between the groups. The tapestry showing this scene curls over at the edges where the pudgy angels lift the top edge. The top right corner of the tapestry wraps around the edge of an unseen feature of the building, next to a gray column that rises the height of the painting up along the right edge. The border of the tapestry is rose pink with stylized gold designs. One putto with brown hair holds up the left corner, and one with light gray hair holds up the middle one arm slung over the front of the tapestry. The third putto, with blond hair, hooks an arm over a leafy garland with fruit that hangs from the cornice near the top center of the composition.
    The Meeting of Abraham and MelchizedekPeter Paul Rubens, c. 1626Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  2. A nearly nude, muscular man with pale, peachy skin sits in an underground cave among seven male and two female lions in this horizontal painting. The man sits to our right of center with his legs crossed, elbows close to his body with hands clasped by his chest. His head tips back to look up through a small opening above. He has long, wavy, chestnut-brown hair and dark eyes. A white cloth wraps across his hips, and he sits on a scarlet-red swath of fabric draped up over a rock next to him. The nine lions stalk, sit, or lie down around the man. One male lion next to the man, to our left, opens his mouth with his head thrown back, curling tongue extended beyond long fangs. A human skull and other bones are strewn on the dirt ground close to us. The rocky cave curves up around the animals and man to a narrow, round opening showing blue sky above.
    Daniel in the Lions' DenPeter Paul Rubens, c. 1614/1616Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington

Section 3, south wall

  1. Lucas van Uffel (died 1637), by Anthony van Dyck, ca. 1622
    Lucas van Uffel (died 1637)Anthony van Dyck, ca. 1622Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  2. Portrait of Isabella Brant, by Peter Paul Rubens, c. 1620–25
    Portrait of Isabella BrantPeter Paul Rubens, c. 1620–25Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art