Floor plan

Time and placeFlanders

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 engraving in black on cream laid paper.
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.
A work made of engraving on paper.

The works in this room are listed below.

Works in this room

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

First room, 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 engraving in black on cream laid paper.
    Christ on the CrossRaphael Sadeler, I, 1590Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago

First room, south wall

  1. 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
  2. A Bouquet of Flowers, by Clara Peeters, ca. 1612
    A Bouquet of FlowersClara Peeters, ca. 1612Courtesy of The Metropolitan 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
  4. A work made of engraving on paper.
    Title page, from The Seven VicesHieronymous Wierix, c. 1598Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago

Second room, south wall

  1. A work made of red chalk on ivory laid paper.
    Sketches of a Lute Player and LuteJan Anton Garemyn, 1756Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  2. Queen Henrietta Maria, by Anthony van Dyck, 1636
    Queen Henrietta MariaAnthony van Dyck, 1636Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  3. TWO GALLEYS AT SEA
    Two Galleys at SeaJan van der Straet, called Stradanus, ca. 1587 – 1590Courtesy of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
  4. 1901-39-151-a: DEER HUNT WITH HOUNDS [ABOVE]; SKYLARK HUNT WITH FALCONS [BELOW]; 1901-39-151-b: GOOSE AND DUCK HUNT WITH FALCONS [ABOVE RIGHT]; GOOSE HUNT [BELOW RIGHT]
    Goose and Duck Hunt with Falcons [above right]; Goose Hunt [below right]Jan van der Straet, called Stradanus, ca. 1596-99Courtesy of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Second room, north 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

Third room, north wall

  1. A work made of etching on ivory laid paper.
    St. John the EvangelistBartholomaeus Spranger, c. 1590Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  2. 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