Floor plan

Style galleriesThe Northern Renaissance

The Northern Renaissance

This painting shows a man from the waist up. He is facing forward and gazes out at us. He has fair skin, light brown hair, a thin mustache and beard, and light green eyes. His expression is mostly neutral, although his peach lips are slightly turned up at the edges. He is wearing a black garment with a high collar and a hood and a black flat cap on his head. The background is plain blue, fading to black around the edges of the painting.
Study of Eleven Heads, by Jacques de Gheyn II, late 16th–early 17th century
A work made of pen and brown ink and brush and black and green washes, over black chalk, on cream laid paper.
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.
Portrait of Alain de Coëtivy (1407–1474), by Jean Fouquet, ca. 1451–55

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. This painting shows a man from the waist up. He is facing forward and gazes out at us. He has fair skin, light brown hair, a thin mustache and beard, and light green eyes. His expression is mostly neutral, although his peach lips are slightly turned up at the edges. He is wearing a black garment with a high collar and a hood and a black flat cap on his head. The background is plain blue, fading to black around the edges of the painting.
    Portrait of a ManCorneille de Lyon, c. 1536/1540Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  2. Study of Eleven Heads, by Jacques de Gheyn II, late 16th–early 17th century
    Study of Eleven HeadsJacques de Gheyn II, late 16th–early 17th centuryCourtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  3. A work made of pen and brown ink and brush and black and green washes, over black chalk, on cream laid paper.
    Interior View of the ColiseumLodewijk Toeput, c. 1580Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago

Section 1, south 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. Portrait of Alain de Coëtivy (1407–1474), by Jean Fouquet, ca. 1451–55
    Portrait of Alain de Coëtivy (1407–1474)Jean Fouquet, ca. 1451–55Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Section 2, south 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. A work made of engraving in black on cream laid paper.
    Christ on the CrossRaphael Sadeler, I, 1590Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  3. Still Life with Flowers, a Snail and Insects, by Joris Hoefnagel, 1589
    Still Life with Flowers, a Snail and InsectsJoris Hoefnagel, 1589Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Section 2, north wall

  1. The image features the upper body and head of a man in a circular frame. The man is facing slightly to the side and downward, with his body oriented to the left and his head turned towards the viewer. He has a prominent forehead, a defined nose, a furrowed brow, and a scrunched face. His hair is thinning on top, with longer strands curling around the back and sides of his head. The man has a beard with similar curled texture as his hair. He is wearing a garment that drapes over his shoulders, with visible folds and a texture that suggests a substantial fabric. No jewelry or objects are in his hands, as they are not visible in this image. The background is plain with a light, sketchy look, focusing attention on the man as the central figure in the circular composition.
    Head of an ApostleHendrick GoltziusCourtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  2. Otto, Count of Nassau and his Wife Adelheid van Vianen, by Bernard van Orley, 1530–35
    Otto, Count of Nassau and his Wife Adelheid van VianenBernard van Orley, 1530–35Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Section 3, north 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. We look slightly down onto a scene with people gathering in small groups in a cobblestone town square lined with rows of brick, wood, and stone buildings, many with stepped rooflines, in this horizontal painting. Singly or in pairs or trios, men, women, and children walk across the square, move goods around, or talk to merchants. All the people have light skin. Many of the men have mustaches and wear hats, and some carry swords. In tones of black, olive green, brick red, and plum purple, they wear hip-length cloaks over jackets, with white collars or ruffs and brass buttons, and knee-length breeches over yellow or black stockings. The women all wear long dresses in salmon pink, coral red, or golden yellow, with white collars or ruffs, and many wear black, ankle-length cloaks, some with hoods. Closest to us, a sumptuously dressed man and woman walk toward us while another similarly elegant couple walks away. Also facing away from us, to our left, a man wearing a large drum strapped around his waist raises one drumstick as he looks over his left shoulder. Nearby, a woman peers up out of a cellar door that opens on an angle to the street. More couples gather around a well across the square, and two women and a child talk to a third woman selling wares at a wooden table to our right. A pair of hooded priests or monks walk near a man blowing on a trumpet on horseback. The buildings are mostly shades of brick red and brown, and most have three or four stories with steeply pitched roofs. More people walk along side streets leading off the main square. One gap in the buildings across from us leads to a nickel-gray stone church with a pointed spire and square tower. A grassy, green hill rises steeply beyond the buildings to our right, leading down to a waterway that extends up and away into the distance. A few boats float in the water, which reflects the leaden-gray sky. Beyond the town square, a brown stone structure like a fortress with turret towers and crenellated walls looms along the ridge of the hill to our right. Tiny in scale, people on horseback and tending sheep dot the hillside below. The date “1590” is painted on the front of one of the buildings across from us while another date, “1597,” is painted on the end of a short wall near the lower left corner.
    The Marketplace in Bergen op ZoomAbel Grimmer, probably 1590 and 1597Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington

Section 3, south wall

  1. Head of a Young Woman, by Albrecht Dürer, 1522
    Head of a Young WomanAlbrecht Dürer, 1522Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  2. Phaeton, from "The Four Disgracers", by Hendrick Goltzius, 1588
    Phaeton, from "The Four Disgracers"Hendrick Goltzius, 1588Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Section 4, south wall

  1. Music-Making Angels, by Albrecht Dürer, 1521
    Music-Making AngelsAlbrecht Dürer, 1521Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  2. DEER HUNT WITH NETS
    Deer Hunt with NetsJan van der Straet, called Stradanus, ca. 1590 – 1599Courtesy of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum