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Flanders

Works made in Flanders, from every century in the collection.

53 works · hang 7789 ·

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 pen and brown ink on cream laid paper.
    Wooded Landscape with Donkeys and Goats, and Castle on Hill in DistancePaul Bril, n.d.Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  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 Mill with a Fortified Bridge, a Rowing Boat in the Foreground, by Roelandt Savery, 1596–1639
    A Mill with a Fortified Bridge, a Rowing Boat in the ForegroundRoelandt Savery, 1596–1639Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  4. A Bouquet of Flowers, by Clara Peeters, ca. 1612
    A Bouquet of FlowersClara Peeters, ca. 1612Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

First room, south wall

  1. A work made of oil on canvas.
    Dead Birds and Shot BagsPieter Boel, c. 1660Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  2. The Seed Received among the Thorns, from the Parable of the Sower, by Gerard P. van Groningen, c. 1573
    The Seed Received among the Thorns, from the Parable of the SowerGerard P. van Groningen, c. 1573Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
  3. A work made of oil on panel.
    Aeneas Rescuing Anchises from Burning TroyHendrick van Steenwijck, the Younger, c. 1610Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago

Second room, 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. 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

Second room, 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 work made of engraving on paper.
    Johann Georg von Gödelmann, Law Professor, DiplomatAegidius Sadeler, II, c. 1601Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  3. Three pale-skinned people gather around a wooden table in a dimly lit tavern as a fourth person urinates against a wall in a back room in this horizontal painting. The table is a square board resting on a broken barrel. All three men at the table have prominent, reddened noses set in wide faces, and they wear clothing and hats in tones of spruce blue, olive green, muted purple, gray, or brown. One man sits on the left side of the table, holding a glass of beer with both hands. He wears what might be a furry cap. His face is turned slightly toward us but he looks down and to our right. The other seated man is across from us. He grins widely as he hunches over one forearm and holds the neck of a lidded ceramic jug with his other hand. He has a long, chunky chin and stares out at us from under a prominent brow ridge. The third man here stands behind, holding up a white clay pipe. His mouth is open, his eyes slitted, possibly crossed, and he hunches down. One foot rests on a low wooden box, a foot warmer. Another white clay pipe and the broken bowl of a pipe sit on the table, and another pipe lies by the first man’s feet. Also across the floor are two pots and a stubby broom, the long handle of which lies against a table holding a brass candlestick. A wisp of smoke rises from the wick in the candle stub. A shelf hung on the wall near the upper left corner of the painting holds a glass vessel and perhaps a plate. Two wooden beams line the left edge of the composition, and a cloth is draped over a nail there. The floor and wall are nearly uniform taupe gray. A rectangular doorway opens into the next room, in the top right corner of the painting. There a man stands facing the wall with both hands down in front of his torso. A window is set high in the wall there and the timbered ceiling is visible. The artist signed the lower left corner the painting, “D Teniers f.” The first two digits of the date read “16.”
    Peasants in a TavernDavid Teniers the Younger, c. 1633Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  4. A work made of etching on ivory laid paper.
    St. John the EvangelistBartholomaeus Spranger, c. 1590Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago

Third room, north wall

  1. 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
  2. Portrait of King Louis XIII of France, by Frans Pourbus, 1611
    Portrait of King Louis XIII of FranceFrans Pourbus, 1611Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
  3. 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