Floor plan

The RotundaThe Rotunda

The Rotunda

A work made of oil on panel.
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.
Virgin and Child with Angels, by Master of the Holden Tondo, early 1500s
Screens (six-panel)

The works in this room are listed below.

Works in this room

The entrance hall. Its bays hold the works that show each museum at its fullest: large paintings first, a few from each collection, rehung every day.

Bay 1

  1. A work made of oil on panel.
    The Shadow of DeathWilliam Holman Hunt, 1873-74Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  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

Bay 2

  1. Virgin and Child with Angels, by Master of the Holden Tondo, early 1500s
    Virgin and Child with AngelsMaster of the Holden Tondo, early 1500sCourtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
  2. Screens (six-panel)
    Monkeys and trees on a river bankSesson Shūkei, 1568-1615Courtesy of the National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution

Bay 3

  1. Painting of four women with blue shawls walking near red fence.
    Arlésiennes (Mistral)Paul Gauguin, 1888Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  2. Large painting of woman, in gold and pink dress, placing severed head on platter.
    Salome with the Head of Saint John the BaptistGuido Reni, c. 1639–42Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago

Bay 4

  1. Hanging scroll
    A courtesan and her attendant under a cherry treeTawaraya Sori III, late 18th-early 19th centuryCourtesy of the National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution
  2. The Adoration of the Magi, by Giotto di Bondone, possibly ca. 1320
    The Adoration of the MagiGiotto di Bondone, possibly ca. 1320Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art