Floor plan

Time and placeThe 17th century

The 17th century

The image shows a formal garden or park with a symmetrical view. It is taken from a slightly elevated position, revealing the vast space beyond a foreground of foliage and low-growing plants. The horizon line is positioned near the midpoint, where a tree-lined pathway extends into the distance. Flanking the pathway are two statues on pedestals under leafy trees. The scene is detailed with intricate line work emphasizing textures and forms. The color palette is monochromatic in various shades of brown, creating a classic appearance. Paved steps and a bridge over a small body of water add to the ordered elegance of the garden.
Papers with Japanese text hang from a tree bearing red and gold leaves.
Xu You and Chao Fu, by Okumura Masanobu, 18th century
The image has an elevated perspective showing two figures with animals in the scene. One person is leaning against a tree with a stick, while the other is seated on the ground. A cow is between them and other livestock in the middle distance. A person in the distance is tending to the animals. The horizon is low in the image, hidden by rolling hills. The artwork is in monochrome with fine linework, creating texture through hatching and cross-hatching, emphasizing depth and dimensionality.
Yukihira and Two Brinemaidens at Suma, by Okumura Masanobu, 18th century
Prince Shreyamsa dreams of the coming of Rishabha, from a Panchakalyanaka (Five Auspicious Events), 1670–80
A work made of oil on copper.

The works in this room are listed below.

Works in this room

Works made in the 17th century, anywhere in the world.

Section 1, north wall

  1. The image shows a formal garden or park with a symmetrical view. It is taken from a slightly elevated position, revealing the vast space beyond a foreground of foliage and low-growing plants. The horizon line is positioned near the midpoint, where a tree-lined pathway extends into the distance. Flanking the pathway are two statues on pedestals under leafy trees. The scene is detailed with intricate line work emphasizing textures and forms. The color palette is monochromatic in various shades of brown, creating a classic appearance. Paved steps and a bridge over a small body of water add to the ordered elegance of the garden.
    The Two StatuesAbraham Genoels IICourtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  2. Papers with Japanese text hang from a tree bearing red and gold leaves.
    Autumn Maples with Poem SlipsTosa Mitsuoki, c. 1675Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  3. Xu You and Chao Fu, by Okumura Masanobu, 18th century
    Xu You and Chao FuOkumura Masanobu, 18th centuryCourtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Section 1, south wall

  1. The image has an elevated perspective showing two figures with animals in the scene. One person is leaning against a tree with a stick, while the other is seated on the ground. A cow is between them and other livestock in the middle distance. A person in the distance is tending to the animals. The horizon is low in the image, hidden by rolling hills. The artwork is in monochrome with fine linework, creating texture through hatching and cross-hatching, emphasizing depth and dimensionality.
    Peasant Couple with CowJacques Callot, c. 1621Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  2. Yukihira and Two Brinemaidens at Suma, by Okumura Masanobu, 18th century
    Yukihira and Two Brinemaidens at SumaOkumura Masanobu, 18th centuryCourtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  3. Prince Shreyamsa dreams of the coming of Rishabha, from a Panchakalyanaka (Five Auspicious Events), 1670–80
    Prince Shreyamsa dreams of the coming of Rishabha, from a Panchakalyanaka (Five Auspicious Events)Unrecorded Indian maker, 1670–80Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
  4. A work made of oil on copper.
    Portrait of a ManJan Baptist Weenix, c. 1650Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago

Section 2, south wall

  1. Aristotle with a Bust of Homer, by Rembrandt van Rijn, 1653
    Aristotle with a Bust of HomerRembrandt van Rijn, 1653Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  2. Portrait of Tieleman Roosterman, by Frans Hals, 1634
    Portrait of Tieleman RoostermanFrans Hals, 1634Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
  3. Album of Seasonal Landscapes, Leaf C (previous leaf 6), by Xiao Yuncong, 1668
    Album of Seasonal Landscapes, Leaf C (previous leaf 6)Xiao Yuncong, 1668Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
  4. A scene in green, orange, and blue depicts a large robed figure seated prominently in the foreground, a small standing figure beside him, and a tiny, seated, floating figure above him, mountains in the background.
    Arhat Vanavasin, One of the Sixteen Great Arhats, from a Set of Twenty-ThreeTibeto-Chinese, late 17th/early 18th centuryCourtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago

Section 2, north wall

  1. The Crucifixion of Saint Andrew, by Caravaggio, 1606–7
    The Crucifixion of Saint AndrewCaravaggio, 1606–7Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
  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. A work made of oil on canvas.
    The Dutch Whaling FleetAbraham Storck, c. 1695Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago

Section 3, north wall

  1. Poetry sheet (shikishi)
    ChrysanthemumsHon'ami Kōetsu, 1615-1868Courtesy of the National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution
  2. A work made of oil on canvas.
    Jacopo ButeraFrancesco Solimena, c. 1695Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago