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    A sprig of flowering rosemary lying against an ivory-white background and the twelve insects that surround it fills this horizontal painting. Stretching nearly the length of the composition with the cut end to our left, the rosemary has blunted, needle-like, gently curling teal-green leaves and small periwinkle-blue flowers along the ash-brown stem. Several insects perch on the sprig while others are seen as if looking from overhead, resting on the white background. The three largest insects perch along the top of the sprig, with an ivory-white butterfly with moss-green and black markings to the left, a black and golden, fuzzy bumblebee near the center, and a lemon-yellow butterfly with red antennae to our right. A tiny red insect, perhaps a ladybug without spots, sits on a leaf between the bee and yellow butterfly, and a small wasp-like insect rests on a leaf in at the lower left. Another mosquito-like insect alights on the surface nearby, next to a beetle with a honey-orange body with black, almost tiger-like stripes. A large cockroach sitting near the lower right corner has six spindly legs, a mahogany-colored abdomen, a black thorax, and tiny, black head. Spaced somewhat evenly across the top of the panel are a brick-red, winged insect to the left, a mint-green, beetle-like bug near a moth patterned with bone white and black, and a black, fly-like insect to our right. Lit from the upper left, the rosemary and insects cast shadows on the surface. The artist signed and dated the work with gray in the lower left corner: “J v. kessel . . f. Ao 1653.”

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    Open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. 
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    6th and Constitution Ave NW 
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    Only have an hour to spend?

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  • Exhibitions & Events

    • Exhibitions
    • Calendar
    • Kid-Friendly Events
    A sprig of flowering rosemary lying against an ivory-white background and the twelve insects that surround it fills this horizontal painting. Stretching nearly the length of the composition with the cut end to our left, the rosemary has blunted, needle-like, gently curling teal-green leaves and small periwinkle-blue flowers along the ash-brown stem. Several insects perch on the sprig while others are seen as if looking from overhead, resting on the white background. The three largest insects perch along the top of the sprig, with an ivory-white butterfly with moss-green and black markings to the left, a black and golden, fuzzy bumblebee near the center, and a lemon-yellow butterfly with red antennae to our right. A tiny red insect, perhaps a ladybug without spots, sits on a leaf between the bee and yellow butterfly, and a small wasp-like insect rests on a leaf in at the lower left. Another mosquito-like insect alights on the surface nearby, next to a beetle with a honey-orange body with black, almost tiger-like stripes. A large cockroach sitting near the lower right corner has six spindly legs, a mahogany-colored abdomen, a black thorax, and tiny, black head. Spaced somewhat evenly across the top of the panel are a brick-red, winged insect to the left, a mint-green, beetle-like bug near a moth patterned with bone white and black, and a black, fly-like insect to our right. Lit from the upper left, the rosemary and insects cast shadows on the surface. The artist signed and dated the work with gray in the lower left corner: “J v. kessel . . f. Ao 1653.”

    Featured exhibition:

    Little Beasts: Art, Wonder, and the Natural World

    Now on view

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    • Must Sees

    Open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. 
    Admission is always free

    6th and Constitution Ave NW 
    Washington, DC 20565

    Only have an hour to spend?

    We've got you covered.

  • Exhibitions & Events

    • Exhibitions
    • Calendar
    • Kid-Friendly Events
    A sprig of flowering rosemary lying against an ivory-white background and the twelve insects that surround it fills this horizontal painting. Stretching nearly the length of the composition with the cut end to our left, the rosemary has blunted, needle-like, gently curling teal-green leaves and small periwinkle-blue flowers along the ash-brown stem. Several insects perch on the sprig while others are seen as if looking from overhead, resting on the white background. The three largest insects perch along the top of the sprig, with an ivory-white butterfly with moss-green and black markings to the left, a black and golden, fuzzy bumblebee near the center, and a lemon-yellow butterfly with red antennae to our right. A tiny red insect, perhaps a ladybug without spots, sits on a leaf between the bee and yellow butterfly, and a small wasp-like insect rests on a leaf in at the lower left. Another mosquito-like insect alights on the surface nearby, next to a beetle with a honey-orange body with black, almost tiger-like stripes. A large cockroach sitting near the lower right corner has six spindly legs, a mahogany-colored abdomen, a black thorax, and tiny, black head. Spaced somewhat evenly across the top of the panel are a brick-red, winged insect to the left, a mint-green, beetle-like bug near a moth patterned with bone white and black, and a black, fly-like insect to our right. Lit from the upper left, the rosemary and insects cast shadows on the surface. The artist signed and dated the work with gray in the lower left corner: “J v. kessel . . f. Ao 1653.”

    Featured exhibition:

    Little Beasts: Art, Wonder, and the Natural World

    Now on view

  • Art & Artists

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    Artle

    A refreshed experience for our puzzle game

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    3. Giannicola di Paolo

    Giannicola di Paolo

    Manni, Giannicola

    Umbrian, c. 1460 - 1544

    Information from Wikipedia, made available under the Creative Commons Attribution – Share Alike License

    Italian painter (1460-1544)

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    Two round, gold frames each show a person from the waist up in this nearly square painting. The rest of the panel is filled with vegetal and animal designs against a black background. A pair of nude winged angels are beneath each “framed” picture. All the people have pale skin and delicate features. The two people in the frames, Gabriel and Mary, have honey-brown hair and the pairs of angels below have short, blond hair. In the circular frame to our left, Gabriel looks to our right in profile. Plum-purple wings curve up and out from the shoulders. Gabriel wears a sage-green garment with harvest-yellow sleeves and a raspberry-pink robe. A stem of white lilies is held in one hand and the other gestures to Mary, to our right. Mary’s body is angled toward Gabriel, and she looks off to our left. She wears a garnet-red dress under a light blue robe, and her hands are together in prayer. A stone ledge runs behind both Gabriel and Mary, and a lectern holding a book sits on the ledge behind Mary. Behind both Mary and Gabriel, distant hills lead back to bodies of water that wind around rocks and buildings to hazy mountains along the horizons. A tiny gold crab perches on the top of the frame above Gabriel. Pelican-like birds and dragon-like creatures are surrounded by swirling vines and swags above and below the frames. The two pairs of angels take up the bottom third of the panel. The two angels in each pair mirror each other. The angels sit with their knees facing opposite directions, their knees crossed away from us, on altar-like structures. The left pair of angels have olive-green and mauve-pink wings, and the other pair have green and lavender-purple wings. All four have their eyes closed. Each altar is covered with a gold-edged, white scroll. All four angels rest one elbow on the rounded body of an urn sitting on the altars. The angels rest their chins in those hands, and each holds a scrolling vine with the other hand. The vines meet in the middle to support a flaming cauldron.
    Giannicola di Paolo, The Annunciation, 1510/1515, oil on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1939.1.155

    The Annunciation

    The Annunciation

    Giannicola di Paolo · 1510/1515 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1939.1.155

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