Floor plan

Style galleriesThe Northern Renaissance

The Northern Renaissance

The image shows a profile of a person's head and partial neck within a circular laurel wreath. The individual has distinct facial features, including a prominent nose and chin. The hairstyle is tight, wavy locks pulled back, and a laurel wreath crowns the head. The background is plain, with an inscription reading "IMP. CAESAR. TRAIANVS. AVG." Below the portrait are the initials "ISB" and the year "1546". The overall style resembles a classical engraving, featuring detailed line work and traditional iconography.
A work made of engraving in black on cream laid paper.
Amya Petitioning Faustus for the Custody of Saint Mamas, by Jean Cousin the Elder, ca. 1543
The image shows a woman sitting with a child on her lap. The woman has a gentle expression and long hair, wearing a flowing robe. The child is facing her, reaching up with one hand. In the background are trees, hills, a building, and a fountain with a lion's head spouting water into a basin. The illustration is detailed, capturing textures and elements in the scene.
Hermann von Wedigh III (died 1560), by Hans Holbein the Younger, 1532

The works in this room are listed below.

Works in this room

Dürer's prints, Holbein's portraits and the art of northern Europe in the 1500s.

Section 1, north wall

  1. The image shows a profile of a person's head and partial neck within a circular laurel wreath. The individual has distinct facial features, including a prominent nose and chin. The hairstyle is tight, wavy locks pulled back, and a laurel wreath crowns the head. The background is plain, with an inscription reading "IMP. CAESAR. TRAIANVS. AVG." Below the portrait are the initials "ISB" and the year "1546". The overall style resembles a classical engraving, featuring detailed line work and traditional iconography.
    TrajanSebald Beham, 1546Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  2. A work made of engraving in black on cream laid paper.
    The Carnival (or the Prodigal Son)Jan Sadeler, I, 1588Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago

Section 1, south wall

  1. Amya Petitioning Faustus for the Custody of Saint Mamas, by Jean Cousin the Elder, ca. 1543
    Amya Petitioning Faustus for the Custody of Saint MamasJean Cousin the Elder, ca. 1543Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  2. The image shows a woman sitting with a child on her lap. The woman has a gentle expression and long hair, wearing a flowing robe. The child is facing her, reaching up with one hand. In the background are trees, hills, a building, and a fountain with a lion's head spouting water into a basin. The illustration is detailed, capturing textures and elements in the scene.
    Madonna and Child at a FountainMaster MZ, 1501Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  3. Hermann von Wedigh III (died 1560), by Hans Holbein the Younger, 1532
    Hermann von Wedigh III (died 1560)Hans Holbein the Younger, 1532Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Section 2, south wall

  1. Shown from the waist up, a light-skinned woman sits angled slightly to our right in this vertical portrait painting. The woman has blue eyes, faint brows, and a sloping nose ending in a small bulb. Her upper lip is thin and her lower lip full over a slight double chin. Her blond hair is pulled back under a gold, cap-like headdress and a black, wide-brimmed hat with a shallow crown. She wears a high-necked white, black, and gold dress with intricate detailing, a gold chain necklace that falls to her waist, and a black belt with a gold clasp and medallions. She wears two gold rings set with gems on the pointer finger of her left hand, which is folded across her belly over the other hand. A scarlet-red wallcovering with pink floral designs fills two-thirds of the space behind her. The rightmost third of the background opens onto a landscape with a tall, spindly tree, a leaping animal, presumably a dog, and a bridge across a body of water leading to a town. Across another body of water, perhaps a lake, mountains are marine blue in the distance under a clear, celestial-blue sky.
    Margarethe Vöhlin [obverse]Bernhard Strigel, 1527Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  2. The Raising of Lazarus, by Jacques Bellange, ca. 1606–8
    The Raising of LazarusJacques Bellange, ca. 1606–8Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  3. 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

Section 2, north wall

  1. Virgin and Child with Saint Anne, by Albrecht Dürer, probably 1519
    Virgin and Child with Saint AnneAlbrecht Dürer, probably 1519Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  2. The image shows a landscape with a city in the distance, a castle on a cliff, fields, forests, and two figures with a dog hunting. There are sailboats on water and houses on farmland. The style is detailed with etching lines in sepia tones.
    The Rabbit HuntersPieter Bruegel, 1560Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  3. Leaf from a Book of Hours: The Nativity (recto) and Text (verso), c. 1430
    Leaf from a Book of Hours: The Nativity (recto) and Text (verso)Unrecorded French maker, c. 1430Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art

Section 3, north wall

  1. Portrait of Cosimo de' Medici in full armor, his left hand resting on a staff, by Niccolò della Casa, 1544
    Portrait of Cosimo de' Medici in full armor, his left hand resting on a staffNiccolò della Casa, 1544Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  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. Erasmus of Rotterdam, by Hans Holbein the Younger, ca. 1532
    Erasmus of RotterdamHans Holbein the Younger, ca. 1532Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Section 3, south wall

  1. This print features a detailed scene. In the center is a classical-style pavilion with arched openings and a domed roof adorned with intricate designs. A group of mostly-nude people is gathered around the pavilion, with one on horseback, holding a spear, and another holding a flag. In front of the pavilion, a knight on horseback appears to be falling into a dark hole in the ground. Vegetation, including trees and shrubs, is scattered throughout the landscape, and birds are seen flying in the sky above the pavilion. The horizon shows hills leading to a distant castle on a rocky formation on the right.
    Marcus Curtius Plunging into the ChasmLucas Cranach the ElderCourtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  2. Phaeton, from "The Four Disgracers", by Hendrick Goltzius, 1588
    Phaeton, from "The Four Disgracers"Hendrick Goltzius, 1588Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art