Floor plan

Time and placeFlanders

Flanders

Rubens, Helena Fourment (1614–1673), and Their Son Frans (1633–1678), by Peter Paul Rubens, ca. 1635
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.
A Bouquet of Flowers, by Clara Peeters, ca. 1612
Clothing the Naked, by Michiel Sweerts, ca. 1661
Painted dark colored portrait of man, hands in prayer.
A work made of black chalk, with touches of white chalk, on ivory laid 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. 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 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

First room, 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. Clothing the Naked, by Michiel Sweerts, ca. 1661
    Clothing the NakedMichiel Sweerts, ca. 1661Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  3. Painted dark colored portrait of man, hands in prayer.
    Portrait of Jean Gros (recto); Coat of Arms of Jean Gros (verso)Rogier van der Weyden, 1460–64Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  4. 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

Second room, south wall

  1. The Cathedral, by James Ensor, 1886
    The CathedralJames Ensor, 1886Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
  2. A work made of photogravure in dark brown retouched with soft varnish (vernis mou), roulette and blue handcoloring on thick cream wove paper.
    Modern MasksFélicien Rops, 1889Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  3. DEER HUNT WITH NETS
    Deer Hunt with NetsJan van der Straet, called Stradanus, ca. 1590 – 1599Courtesy of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
  4. 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, north wall

  1. 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
  2. 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
  3. The Birth and Naming of John the Baptist, by Juan de Flandes, 1496–99
    The Birth and Naming of John the BaptistJuan de Flandes, 1496–99Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
  4. A work made of engraving on paper.
    Johann Georg von Gödelmann, Law Professor, DiplomatAegidius Sadeler, II, c. 1601Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago

Third room, north wall

  1. A work made of engraving on paper.
    Title page, from The Seven VicesHieronymous Wierix, c. 1598Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  2. A work made of engraving on ivory laid paper.
    Fides, plate 1 from The Seven VirtuesHieronymous Wierix, c. 1598Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago