Floor plan

Style galleriesDutch and Flemish Baroque, room 2

Dutch and Flemish Baroque, room 2

A rutted, dirt road curves from the bottom center of the canvas toward and behind a grove of tall trees to our left, beneath a pale blue sky with fluffy white clouds that fills the top two-thirds of this horizontal landscape painting. The broad, green canopies of the trees to our left create deep shade over twisting trunks, shrubs, and grasses. A narrow stream meandering alongside the road to our left reflects the moss, pine, and sage greens of the leaves. The land rises in a sloping bank to our right, and leads back to open fields with hedgerows that stretch to the horizon. Shorter, more spindly trees cluster along the bank in the distance. Tiny in scale, people are sprinkled throughout the landscape, either singly or in small groups. In the shade of the grove to our left, a man with dark pantaloons, a brown hat and coat, and a walking stick strolls along the road with a woman wearing a red skirt, a dark shirt, and a white apron and cap. Just off the curve of the road to our right, another man with a walking stick, tan hat, and dark gray pantaloons talks to a woman also wearing red, black, and white. Another person, slightly smaller in stature, stands between them. At a pond farther back from this trio, a man with a broad-brimmed hat sits fishing at the edge of the water. Barely visible, a house with a pitched roof, a tall, brick-red chimney, and a white picket fence peeks out from behind the trees beyond the pond. Finally, a man wearing a rust-orange coat, gray pantaloons with white stockings, and a tall hat, carrying a pole propped on his shoulder, walks toward us on a footpath running alongside the fields. Tall, cream-white clouds dot the pale blue sky above, and tiny dots of dark paint suggest flying birds. Soft sunlight pours across the countryside. The artist signed and dated the painting in small script in the lower right corner: “meijndert Hobbema F 1663.”
A work made of oil on canvas.
Merry Company on a Terrace, by Jan Steen, ca. 1670
The image shows a landscape scene viewed from an elevated perspective. The horizon is low, with mountains visible in the distance. The scene features detailed brushstroke technique and a monochromatic palette. Trees dominate the left side, with two figures walking along a path towards the horizon. The color palette is black and white, accentuating details, light, and shadow.
A work made of red and black chalk, with touches of white chalk, on cream laid paper.
A work made of engraving on paper.
A work made of oil on canvas.

The works in this room are listed below.

Works in this room

The Low Countries in the 1600s: Rubens's Antwerp and the painters of the Dutch Republic.

First room, north wall

  1. A rutted, dirt road curves from the bottom center of the canvas toward and behind a grove of tall trees to our left, beneath a pale blue sky with fluffy white clouds that fills the top two-thirds of this horizontal landscape painting. The broad, green canopies of the trees to our left create deep shade over twisting trunks, shrubs, and grasses. A narrow stream meandering alongside the road to our left reflects the moss, pine, and sage greens of the leaves. The land rises in a sloping bank to our right, and leads back to open fields with hedgerows that stretch to the horizon. Shorter, more spindly trees cluster along the bank in the distance. Tiny in scale, people are sprinkled throughout the landscape, either singly or in small groups. In the shade of the grove to our left, a man with dark pantaloons, a brown hat and coat, and a walking stick strolls along the road with a woman wearing a red skirt, a dark shirt, and a white apron and cap. Just off the curve of the road to our right, another man with a walking stick, tan hat, and dark gray pantaloons talks to a woman also wearing red, black, and white. Another person, slightly smaller in stature, stands between them. At a pond farther back from this trio, a man with a broad-brimmed hat sits fishing at the edge of the water. Barely visible, a house with a pitched roof, a tall, brick-red chimney, and a white picket fence peeks out from behind the trees beyond the pond. Finally, a man wearing a rust-orange coat, gray pantaloons with white stockings, and a tall hat, carrying a pole propped on his shoulder, walks toward us on a footpath running alongside the fields. Tall, cream-white clouds dot the pale blue sky above, and tiny dots of dark paint suggest flying birds. Soft sunlight pours across the countryside. The artist signed and dated the painting in small script in the lower right corner: “meijndert Hobbema F 1663.”
    A Wooded LandscapeMeindert Hobbema, 1663Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  2. A work made of oil on canvas.
    Resurrection of ChristSamuel van Hoogstraten, c. 1665Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  3. Merry Company on a Terrace, by Jan Steen, ca. 1670
    Merry Company on a TerraceJan Steen, ca. 1670Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

First room, south wall

  1. The image shows a landscape scene viewed from an elevated perspective. The horizon is low, with mountains visible in the distance. The scene features detailed brushstroke technique and a monochromatic palette. Trees dominate the left side, with two figures walking along a path towards the horizon. The color palette is black and white, accentuating details, light, and shadow.
    Three Men Carrying StaffsHerman van SwaneveltCourtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  2. A work made of red and black chalk, with touches of white chalk, on cream laid paper.
    Nude Old Man Seated, Leaning on His Forearm, Facing LeftJacob Jordaens, c. 1640Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  3. A work made of engraving on paper.
    Johann Georg von Gödelmann, Law Professor, DiplomatAegidius Sadeler, II, c. 1601Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  4. A work made of oil on canvas.
    Portrait of a womanFerdinand Bol, c. 1655Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago

Second room, south wall

  1. A work made of oil on canvas.
    A Vanitas Still Life with a Flag, Candlestick, Musical Instruments, Books, Writing Paraphernalia, Globes, and HourglassEdwaert Collier, 1662Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  2. 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
  3. A scene with seven men and women gathered around an infant is enclosed in an eight-sided, octagonal painted frame, which is surrounded by a wreath of flowers in this vertical painting. The painted black frame-within-a-frame resembles molding. The people in the scene have pale skin and wear robes in shades of teal blue, burnt orange, red, muted purple, or red. A woman reaching for the bed on which the child lies and the child have gold halos. Others crouch or bend toward the child, and one pair, to our left, turn toward each other, presumably talking. The nighttime-blue sky is streaked with nickel-gray clouds beyond a partially ruined stone arch. A lamb with all four feet tired together lies at the foot of the child’s bed. The wreath surrounding the painting-within-a-painting is dense with tulips, roses, daffodils, poppies, violets, and other flowers and greenery painted in shades of lemon and butter yellow, opal and pearl white, brick and coral red, and sky and slate blue against an inky-black background. One artist signed the painting-within-a-painting near the bottom left corner, “FF F.” The second artist who painted this signed his initials, “HDB”, on the bottom edge of the painted frame.
    Garland of Flowers with Adoration of the ShepherdsFrans Francken the Younger, c. 1625/1630Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington

Second room, north wall

  1. The image shows a woman standing close to us, slightly turned to the side, looking down, with a hand supporting her draped attire and the other grasping a stick. Next to her, a donkey drinks from a shallow stream, carrying a large wicker basket with barrels inside. A dog is splashing in the water beside them. The horizon is low, meeting a rise of land with trees and shrubs, leading the eye to a distant pathway where a couple of small figures can be seen. The sky above has sketchily rendered clouds. The style involves fine, detailed linework, characteristic of etching, emphasizing textures such as the fur of the donkey and the folds of the fabric. The color palette is monochromatic, relying on various intensities of ink and line density to render shadows and highlights.
    Woman Crossing a StreamKarel Dujardin, 1662Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  2. Shown from about the knees up, a pale-skinned young woman stands within a stone niche, with a parrot perched on her finger as she gazes out at us in this vertical painting. The woman’s hands are raised to chest height, and she balances the spruce-blue parrot on the index finger of her far hand while her other hand holds an indistinct, white object. Her body is angled to our left, and she looks at us from the corner of her green eyes under faint brows. Her round face has a small nose, flushed cheeks, and her coral-red mouth curls up in a slight smile, her lips parted. Her honey-blond hair is gathered at the back of her head with curly tendrils framing her face and falling to her shoulders. She wears a golden-brown gown trimmed with a narrow ruffle of white fabric along the low neckline that reveals her décolletage. The bird faces the woman and lifts something, presumably a bit of food, up with one dark claw. The underside of its tail is crimson red. A light-skinned boy stands in deep shadow just to the right of the woman. He looks up at her and holds a silver tray in both hands. They stand within a light brown, arched, stone opening beyond a ledge, which comes up to about the woman’s knees. A carpet patterned with stylized flowers in ruby red, burnt orange, teal blue, white, and black is bunched up and draped over the parapet, to our right. A tall, iron-gray cage sits to our left. The rug partly covers an inscription on the front face of the niche that reads, “M. DO,” with the O cut off. A copper-colored, fringe-lined drapery hangs from the upper right of the arch and is fastened to the inner edge of the opening to create a swag. The woman is brightly lit from the upper left, and the space behind her and the boy is ink black. The artist signed and dated the lower left corner as if he had carved into the front face of the arch. It reads, “CNetscher .Ao. 16.66,” with the C and N overlapping to make a monogram.
    A Woman Feeding a Parrot, with a PageCaspar Netscher, 1666Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  3. Peacocks, by Melchior d' Hondecoeter, 1683
    PeacocksMelchior d' Hondecoeter, 1683Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Third 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 work made of oil on canvas.
    Dead Birds and Shot BagsPieter Boel, c. 1660Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  3. The image shows a landscape viewed from above. The scene is oval, framed by tree branches on each side. Distant mountains form a boundary near the top. Delicate, finely executed lines create detailed foliage and landscape features. A winding path with a small figure adds scale. Lush trees climb upwards, with a muted color palette of the paper and dark brown and black lines providing contrast.
    The Boulder Crowned with TreesHerman van SwaneveltCourtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington