Floor plan

Time and placeThe 17th century

The 17th century

Shown from the chest up, a light-skinned man with a wrinkled face and a silvery gray beard and hair gazes into the distance in this oval portrait painting. His chest is angled to our right but he turns his head to look off over his other shoulder, to our left. His slate-blue eyes are a little sunken and lined with wrinkles. Shading marks the hollows of the temple and cheek we can see. His thin lips are closed and framed by his curly mustache and beard. A dark, mahogany-brown cap is pushed back on his head, and his brown jacket has gold-colored buttons down the front. The collar of a cream-colored shirt shows through at the neckline. The background is dark olive green. The artist signed the work near the man’s shoulder, to our right: “GDOV.”
Aristotle with a Bust of Homer, by Rembrandt van Rijn, 1653
The Trojan Women Setting Fire to Their Fleet, by Claude Lorrain (Claude Gellée), ca. 1643
A work made of woodblock print in black ink and watercolor on cream japanese paper.
Study of a Young Woman, by Johannes Vermeer, ca. 1665–67
Papers with Japanese text hang from a tree bearing red and gold leaves.

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. Shown from the chest up, a light-skinned man with a wrinkled face and a silvery gray beard and hair gazes into the distance in this oval portrait painting. His chest is angled to our right but he turns his head to look off over his other shoulder, to our left. His slate-blue eyes are a little sunken and lined with wrinkles. Shading marks the hollows of the temple and cheek we can see. His thin lips are closed and framed by his curly mustache and beard. A dark, mahogany-brown cap is pushed back on his head, and his brown jacket has gold-colored buttons down the front. The collar of a cream-colored shirt shows through at the neckline. The background is dark olive green. The artist signed the work near the man’s shoulder, to our right: “GDOV.”
    Bust of a Bearded ManGerrit Dou, c. 1642/1645Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  2. 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
  3. The Trojan Women Setting Fire to Their Fleet, by Claude Lorrain (Claude Gellée), ca. 1643
    The Trojan Women Setting Fire to Their FleetClaude Lorrain (Claude Gellée), ca. 1643Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Section 1, south wall

  1. A work made of woodblock print in black ink and watercolor on cream japanese paper.
    The Priest Kobo Daishi at the Tama River in Kii Province from the series The Six Tama RiversTorii Kiyomasu, c. 1725-1735Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  2. Study of a Young Woman, by Johannes Vermeer, ca. 1665–67
    Study of a Young WomanJohannes Vermeer, ca. 1665–67Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  3. Papers with Japanese text hang from a tree bearing red and gold leaves.
    Flowering Cherry and Autumn Maples with Poem SlipsTosa Mitsuoki, 1654/81Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago

Section 2, south wall

  1. Lute Player, by Valentin de Boulogne, ca. 1625–26
    Lute PlayerValentin de Boulogne, ca. 1625–26Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  2. Snow Clearing: Landscape after Li Cheng, by Wang Hui, dated 1669
    Snow Clearing: Landscape after Li ChengWang Hui, dated 1669Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  3. Hanging scrolls (pair)
    KwannonUnrecorded Japanese maker, 1615-1868Courtesy of the National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution
  4. A work made of oil on canvas.
    Dead Birds and Shot BagsPieter Boel, c. 1660Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago

Section 2, north wall

  1. Still Life with Meat, Fish, Vegetables, and Fruit, by Jacob van Hulsdonck, c. 1615–20
    Still Life with Meat, Fish, Vegetables, and FruitJacob van Hulsdonck, c. 1615–20Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
  2. A work made of etching on ivory laid paper.
    Equestrian Ballet in the Amphitheater of the Boboli GardensStefano della Bella, 1661Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  3. Fish and rocks, by Bada Shanren (Zhu Da), dated 1699
    Fish and rocksBada Shanren (Zhu Da), dated 1699Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  4. A work made of oil on panel.
    Alpheus and ArethusaMoses van Uyttenbroeck, 1626Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago

Section 3, north wall

  1. Paying the Hostess, by Pieter de Hooch, ca. 1670
    Paying the HostessPieter de Hooch, ca. 1670Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  2. Golden sunlight pours across a landscape with three people on horseback and two more people near a flock of sheep, a cow, and a mule in this horizontal painting. The people all have pale, peachy skin. The horizon is about a third of the way up the composition and is lined with towers on distant, hazy, pale yellow hills. Two of the horses are to the right of center, both facing us. The horse on the left is white, and the rider wears an azure-blue tunic and red brimless cap. The other horse is brown with a white blaze, and its rider wears a red tunic and black cap. That second rider points with a whip to the sitting and standing people near the sheep, to the right. Those two people wear brown jackets, and the standing man has a mustache. The seated person rests a long staff over one shoulder. About half of the nine sheep there lie on the ground, and the others stand. The cow dips her head down to the sheep, and the splay-footed donkey has baskets hung to each side. This grouping is in front of a copse of tall trees that nearly reach the top edge of the composition. The third rider is to our left and a short distance away. That dark brown horse gallops to our right. A short distance away, another herdsman along the left edge of the composition wears a red tunic and brown pants, and he rests a long staff on one shoulder. One cow stands and one lies down next to that herdsman. Sunlight rakes across twigs, leafy plants, scrubby growth, and rocks in the foreground, closest to us. Sailboats float on the waterways that stretch horizontally across the painting in the distance, and the land separating those bodies of water is dotted with spires, windmills, towers, and other structures. A dozen dark birds fly high in the sky, which takes up the top two-thirds of the picture. A bank of iridescent yellow and pearly white clouds trundle across the pale blue sky. The artist signed the painting in the lower right corner, “A.cuijp.”
    Horsemen and Herdsmen with CattleAelbert Cuyp, 1655/1660Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington