Floor plan

The RotundaThe Rotunda

The Rotunda

Impressionist painting of two girls on balcony, bright flower hat, knitting basket.
Nun’s Badge with the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception, by Nicolás Rodríguez Juárez, ca. 1710
The Shepherd's Song, by Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, 1891
A work made of oil on 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. Impressionist painting of two girls on balcony, bright flower hat, knitting basket.
    Two Sisters (On the Terrace)Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1881Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  2. Nun’s Badge with the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception, by Nicolás Rodríguez Juárez, ca. 1710
    Nun’s Badge with the Virgin of the Immaculate ConceptionNicolás Rodríguez Juárez, ca. 1710Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Bay 2

  1. The Shepherd's Song, by Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, 1891
    The Shepherd's SongPierre Puvis de Chavannes, 1891Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  2. A work made of oil on panel.
    The Shadow of DeathWilliam Holman Hunt, 1873-74Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago

Bay 3

  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. Standing Saint and Saint in Red Cloak (pair), late 19th - early 20th century
    Standing Saint and Saint in Red Cloak (pair)Unrecorded Italian maker, late 19th - early 20th centuryCourtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art

Bay 4

  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. A young woman and two children are shown from the waist up through an oval, stone opening, holding and looking at a wooden box with a lens protruding from one side in this square painting. All three people have pale skin with rosy cheeks. To our right, the young woman’s body is angled to our left as she braces the torso of a young girl. The young woman looks at us from the corners of her sage-green eyes, under lifted brows. Her small, pink mouth is pursed in a slight smile, and she has a faint dimple in her rounded chin. Her heather-gray hair is partially plaited over the crown of her head, and long curls fall over her shoulders. She wears a spruce-blue shawl over the shoulders of her low-cut, olive-green dress. The child she braces has chubby cheeks, and her wavy blond hair is brushed back from her forehead and falls loosely to her shoulders. She wears a blush-pink dress with ruffles on the half-length sleeves and gossamer-white trim around the neckline and cuffs. The top and side rails of a wooden, ladderback chair up against the inside of the opening suggests she stands or kneels on a backward-facing chair. She rests her left hand on the edge of the stone opening and her other hand on the wrist of the boy standing close behind her. Mostly in the shadow behind the others, the boy has small, pointed features and short, curly, sable-brown hair. He wears a tan coat, and a muted blue scarf is tied at his throat. The two children gaze at the wooden box the boy holds, which is about the size of a toaster. A short, cylindrical, brass-lined lens pokes out of the center of the side facing the trio. The oval opening through which we see them is carved on our side with stylized leaves and berries, and the wall around it is the same elephant gray as the carvings. The girl and the box cast a shadow across the opening. The artist signed and dated the painting in the lower left corner, “Amedee Can Loo./1764.”
    The Camera ObscuraCharles Amédée Philippe Van Loo, 1764Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington