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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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    Only have an hour to spend?

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  • Exhibitions & Events

    • Exhibitions
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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.”

    Featured exhibition:

    Little Beasts: Art, Wonder, and the Natural World

    Now on view

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    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

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    • Artists
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    A refreshed experience for our puzzle game

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    The Dowager Countess of Norfolk

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    Dozens of men and women wander through a tall interior space lined with statues and columns and topped by a soaring domed roof in this vertical painting. The people are small in scale within the cavernous space. The women wear long, full dresses and the men wear knee-length waistcoats and stockings in shades of dark blue, crimson red, pine green, marigold orange, or brown. Three people wear clothing of the clergy: two of them, on our left, wear long, ginger-brown robes under white mantles, and a third person on our right wears a hip-length, diaphanous white cape over a long dark blue robe. The crowd strolls, kneels, converses, or leans back to look up at the high ceiling overhead, which has a round opening at its apex. A glimpse white of azure-blue sky with white clouds is visible through the opening. The interior is divided into three levels. The ground level has five niches lining the walls, each with a white stone statue of a man or woman standing inside. Each statue is at least three times the height of the people in the space below. The three niches closest to us on our left and right have semicircular pediments with garnet-red or moss-green columns flanking the statues. Two niches at the far end have triangular pediments and honey-gold columns. Each niche sits on a wide base, presumably an altar, and is surrounded by marbled gold and purple panels set against a sage-green background. Sets of three honey-gold columns line the wall between each niche. Oversized, copper-green double doors are swung inward at the far side of the space. More people, a sunlit obelisk, blue sky, and slivers of other buildings are visible through the doorway. The second level of the interior has windows spaced across walls otherwise covered with white, blue, and mauve-pink panels. An inscription running around the building between the first and second level reads, “DOMINVM IN SANCTIS EIVS LAVS EIVS IN ECCLE.” The third level is the domed pewter-gray ceiling with coffers, like inwardly stepped panels. The floor is patterned with alternating circles and rectangles in sage green or light brown.
    Giovanni Paolo Panini, Interior of the Pantheon, Rome, c. 1734, oil on canvas, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1939.1.24

    Interior of the Pantheon, Rome

    Interior of the Pantheon, Rome

    Giovanni Paolo Panini · c. 1734 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1939.1.24

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