Floor plan

Style galleriesThe Italian Renaissance

The Italian Renaissance

Latona Giving Birth to Apollo and Diana on the Island of Delos, by Diana Scultori, 1561-1565
A nude woman, pudgy child, and two satyrs, which have men’s heads and torsos with goat’s legs and horns, are in a landscape in this octagonal painting. The scene is divided in half by a tree stump which only reaches to the center of the composition. To the left of the stump, the pale-skinned, nude child stands and hunches over to draw on the ground with a V-shaped compass. Two pieces of paper and a violin lie nearby. The landscape behind him has a body of water leading back to a town with buildings streaked with peach, perhaps flames. A band of peach sky separates the blue silhouettes of mountains lining the horizon from the vivid blue sky above. At the bottom center of the painting, a shield with an oval horizontally striped with red and white leans on the boy’s side of the tree, which has one leafy branch growing on the left side. One satyr holds a jug and kneels close to the tree with his back to it as he looks back over one shoulder. He and the other satyr both have dark, peach-toned skin and full beards. The second satyr hovers to the right of the nude, sleeping woman, both hands reaching for her or the rose-pink cloth surrounding her. The woman has blond curls, a round face, and she sleeps with one hand resting across her belly and her head tipped to our left. The trio are on a grassy area enclosed by dense, dark-green bushes and trees.
Two women and a man support the gray, lifeless body of a nearly nude man along a stone ledge in this vertical painting. The people have pale skin, except for the dead man at the center, Jesus, who has ash-white skin with dark shadows around his closed eyes. He has a long straight nose, and his lips are slightly parted. He has a brown beard, and his long, wavy hair falls away from his face. A white cloth wraps across his hips, and blood trickles from a gash over his right ribs and holes in his feet. A woman and man prop him up on either side, each holding Jesus by a limp arm, and each has a faint, gold halo encircling their heads. To our left, the woman holds her face close to his, her brows deeply furrowed and her mouth wide open, teeth showing. Her forehead, chin, and neck are covered by a white veil, worn under navy-blue cloak that covers her head and body. The cloak falls open over one arm and a bent knee to reveal her long-sleeved, lighter blue dress. On Jesus’s other side, a cleanshaven man with curly brown hair holds Jesus’s arm with both hands. The man’s eyes squint with tears as he tips his head toward Jesus. His pink lips are parted, and the corner of the mouth we can see is pulled down. He wears an emerald-green, long-sleeved tunic under a vivid red cloth that wraps around his right arm, waist, and left leg. The fourth and final person is a woman sitting on the ground, her arms wrapped tightly around Jesus’s crossed ankles. She sits with one foot tucked under her body and the other leg out straight. Waist-length, wavy, auburn-brown hair falls freely over her shoulders and across her face, but we can see her downturned, open mouth and nearly closed eyes. She wears a rose-pink dress, cinched at the waist. A brown cloth wraps around her waist and right leg. A cylindrical, lidded, white jar sits on the dirt ground nearby. The group is arranged in front a thigh-high stone ledge, except for the man in green and red, who steps into what is presumably the coffin. A rocky outcropping to our right has a cave-like opening with grasses and growth along the top. The landscape beyond has a dirt path winding between pine-green hills dotted with trees. Two slate-blue buildings perch atop one hill. White clouds float across the blue sky above.
Venus and Cupid, by Lorenzo Lotto, 1520s
Venus and Adonis, by Titian, 1550s
Portrait of a Woman with a Man at a Casement, by Fra Filippo Lippi, ca. 1440

The works in this room are listed below.

Works in this room

Florence, Venice and Rome from 1400 to 1600: perspective, anatomy and the classical past.

First room, north wall

  1. Latona Giving Birth to Apollo and Diana on the Island of Delos, by Diana Scultori, 1561-1565
    Latona Giving Birth to Apollo and Diana on the Island of DelosDiana Scultori, 1561-1565Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  2. A nude woman, pudgy child, and two satyrs, which have men’s heads and torsos with goat’s legs and horns, are in a landscape in this octagonal painting. The scene is divided in half by a tree stump which only reaches to the center of the composition. To the left of the stump, the pale-skinned, nude child stands and hunches over to draw on the ground with a V-shaped compass. Two pieces of paper and a violin lie nearby. The landscape behind him has a body of water leading back to a town with buildings streaked with peach, perhaps flames. A band of peach sky separates the blue silhouettes of mountains lining the horizon from the vivid blue sky above. At the bottom center of the painting, a shield with an oval horizontally striped with red and white leans on the boy’s side of the tree, which has one leafy branch growing on the left side. One satyr holds a jug and kneels close to the tree with his back to it as he looks back over one shoulder. He and the other satyr both have dark, peach-toned skin and full beards. The second satyr hovers to the right of the nude, sleeping woman, both hands reaching for her or the rose-pink cloth surrounding her. The woman has blond curls, a round face, and she sleeps with one hand resting across her belly and her head tipped to our left. The trio are on a grassy area enclosed by dense, dark-green bushes and trees.
    AllegoryPietro degli Ingannati, c. 1515-1525Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  3. Two women and a man support the gray, lifeless body of a nearly nude man along a stone ledge in this vertical painting. The people have pale skin, except for the dead man at the center, Jesus, who has ash-white skin with dark shadows around his closed eyes. He has a long straight nose, and his lips are slightly parted. He has a brown beard, and his long, wavy hair falls away from his face. A white cloth wraps across his hips, and blood trickles from a gash over his right ribs and holes in his feet. A woman and man prop him up on either side, each holding Jesus by a limp arm, and each has a faint, gold halo encircling their heads. To our left, the woman holds her face close to his, her brows deeply furrowed and her mouth wide open, teeth showing. Her forehead, chin, and neck are covered by a white veil, worn under navy-blue cloak that covers her head and body. The cloak falls open over one arm and a bent knee to reveal her long-sleeved, lighter blue dress. On Jesus’s other side, a cleanshaven man with curly brown hair holds Jesus’s arm with both hands. The man’s eyes squint with tears as he tips his head toward Jesus. His pink lips are parted, and the corner of the mouth we can see is pulled down. He wears an emerald-green, long-sleeved tunic under a vivid red cloth that wraps around his right arm, waist, and left leg. The fourth and final person is a woman sitting on the ground, her arms wrapped tightly around Jesus’s crossed ankles. She sits with one foot tucked under her body and the other leg out straight. Waist-length, wavy, auburn-brown hair falls freely over her shoulders and across her face, but we can see her downturned, open mouth and nearly closed eyes. She wears a rose-pink dress, cinched at the waist. A brown cloth wraps around her waist and right leg. A cylindrical, lidded, white jar sits on the dirt ground nearby. The group is arranged in front a thigh-high stone ledge, except for the man in green and red, who steps into what is presumably the coffin. A rocky outcropping to our right has a cave-like opening with grasses and growth along the top. The landscape beyond has a dirt path winding between pine-green hills dotted with trees. Two slate-blue buildings perch atop one hill. White clouds float across the blue sky above.
    PietàMoretto da Brescia, 1520sCourtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington

First room, south wall

  1. Venus and Cupid, by Lorenzo Lotto, 1520s
    Venus and CupidLorenzo Lotto, 1520sCourtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  2. Venus and Adonis, by Titian, 1550s
    Venus and AdonisTitian, 1550sCourtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  3. Portrait of a Woman with a Man at a Casement, by Fra Filippo Lippi, ca. 1440
    Portrait of a Woman with a Man at a CasementFra Filippo Lippi, ca. 1440Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Second room, south wall

  1. The Baptism of Christ, by Jacopo Bassano, ca. 1590
    The Baptism of ChristJacopo Bassano, ca. 1590Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  2. Portrait of a Woman, Possibly a Nun of San Secondo; (verso) Scene in Grisaille, by Jacometto (Jacometto Veneziano), ca. 1485–95
    Portrait of a Woman, Possibly a Nun of San Secondo; (verso) Scene in GrisailleJacometto (Jacometto Veneziano), ca. 1485–95Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Second room, north wall

  1. Six women, eight men, two satyrs, and one child gather in pairs and trios in a loose row that spans the width of this nearly square painting. They are set within a landscape with craggy rocks, cliffs, and trees. Most of the people face us, and the men, women, and child have pale skin. The two satyrs have men’s torsos and furry goat’s legs, and they have darker, olive complexions. Most of the men wear voluminous, knee-length togas wrapped in short robes in shades of white, topaz blue, grass green, coral orange, or rose pink. Most of the women wear long, dress-like garments in tones of shell pink, apricot orange, or lapis blue over white sleeves. For all but one woman, their garments have fallen off one shoulder to reveal a round, firm breast. Several objects are strewn on the rocky, dirt ground in front of the group, including a wide, wooden bucket with a piece of paper affixed to its front to our right, a glass goblet, a pitchfork, a large blue and white ceramic dish filled with grapes and small yellow fruits, and an overturned cup near the center. Cliff-like, craggy rocks rise steeply behind the group to our left, filling much of the sky opposite a tall grove of leafy, dark green trees to our right. A few puffy white clouds float across the vivid blue sky. The slip of paper on the barrel has been inscribed, “joannes bellinus venetus p MDXIIII.”
    The Feast of the GodsGiovanni Bellini, 1514/1529Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  2. Christ Crowned with Thorns, by Antonello da Messina (Antonello di Giovanni d'Antonio)
    Christ Crowned with ThornsAntonello da Messina (Antonello di Giovanni d'Antonio)Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  3. The Nativity, by Lorenzo Monaco, ca. 1406–10
    The NativityLorenzo Monaco, ca. 1406–10Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Third room, north wall

  1. Madonna and Child, by Giovanni Bellini, late 1480s
    Madonna and ChildGiovanni Bellini, late 1480sCourtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  2. Bright light from the upper left illuminates two muscular men and a winged angel against a dim landscape in this square painting. They all have pale skin, and the two men have dark brown hair and beards. One man, Jesus, stands ankle-deep in a rippling dark blue stream in the center of the composition facing us with downcast eyes. He is nude except for a white cloth that drapes over one shoulder and is tied around his hips. The other end of the cloth drops into the water. Jesus’s hands are pressed together in prayer at chest-height closer to his right shoulder, to our left. He leans his torso in the other direction and looks down at the water. The second man stands on the riverbank to our right. His body faces our left but his left shoulder, closer to us, dips down so his broad back is angled toward us. His lower body is wrapped in a cobalt-blue garment bordered with what looks like sheepskin. His near hand swings back to clutch the trunk of a tree growing immediately behind him. In his other hand, he holds up a pewter-grey dish that dribbles water onto Jesus’s head. On the left riverbank, the copper-haired angel looks on, facing our right in profile but the body faces us. The angel wears a sleeveless, pumpkin-orange robe with a shimmering salmon-pink mantle draped over the right shoulder, to our left. Petal-pink and dark grey wings extend from the shoulders, and the lower legs and feet are bare. The shadowy landscape has a dark green field stretching back to jagged, sapphire-blue mountains along the horizon, which comes four-fifths of the way up this composition. Pale blue clouds skim across the vivid blue sky, where three chubby, winged babies float. One holds a triangle and a rod with which to strike it, and another might hold a rectangular musical instrument. Blue clouds split nearby to show a sliver of golden yellow light, and possibly more angels.
    The Baptism of ChristParis Bordone, c. 1535/1540Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  3. The Adoration of the Shepherds, by Andrea Mantegna, shortly after 1450
    The Adoration of the ShepherdsAndrea Mantegna, shortly after 1450Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Third room, south wall

  1. In a wide, arched panel, a bearded man wearing a crown places another crown on the head of a woman. To our right, the woman bows her head with her eyes nearly closed and crosses her wrists over her chest. A white cloak covers her head, drapes over her shoulders, and pools in deep folds around her feet. The cloak is lined with pine green, and she wears a shell-pink dress. To our left, the man has shoulder-length, curly gray hair and a beard. His robe is dark rose pink, and the cloak is azure blue lined with pine green. Two winged angels have brown hair, short, white wings, and wear voluminous white robes. They stand to either side of the man and woman and hold up a swag of raspberry-red cloth hung with gold tassels. All the people have pale, peachy skin. Winged baby heads encircled with gold rays create an arch behind the man and woman, who sit on clouds. The background is pale blue sky.
    The Coronation of the VirginFilippino Lippi, c. 1475Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  2. The image shows a sketch of a seated bearded figure holding an orb. The figure appears muscular, with a beard merging into long hair. The face is not detailed, and draped fabric covers part of the body. There is no jewelry, and the background is plain.
    Saint JeromeAlessandro Vittoria, 1565/1570Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington