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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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    • Artists
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    • Games and Interactives
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    Artle

    A refreshed experience for our puzzle game

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    Sitting on a rock and shown from the lap up, an elegantly dressed, light-skinned man holds up a partridge by one leg and sits next to a dog, all against a landscape with trees and a stone manor house in this vertical portrait painting. On the far side of the rock, the man’s legs angle away from us to our right, but he turns his torso to look at us with brown eyes under dark brows. His nose has a bump near the bridge, and his full, pink lips are closed. His rounded cheeks are slightly flushed, and he has a bit of a double chin. His hair curls around his face from a widow’s peak on his forehead, and locks are tied back with a black silk bow. His white shirt is pleated vertically across the front below a high collar, which wraps around his neck. Lace lines the front of the shirt down the chest and the cuffs at the end of puffy sleeves. His camel-brown jacket is lined with topaz blue and edged with silvery lace down the front and at the unbuttoned cuffs. His brown pants are lost in shadow beyond the rock on which he sits. In his raised left hand, on our right, the partridge dangles from one red leg, its brown wings spread and its head hanging back. By the man’s right side and closer to us, the dog is white with a few black spots. It has large floppy ears and a short tail. It crouches on its hind legs, angled to our left, and braces itself on its front paws, looking up at the bird. A second dead bird lies on the rock under the dog’s poised body. A few tufts of plants and grasses grow out of the rock next to the dog’s front feet, and behind the dog and man is a fawn-brown sack and a cylindrical vessel with a spout, a powder horn. Two trees grow beyond the rock, up the left edge of the canvas. To our right, in the distance, two women talk near a low wall. One wears an aquamarine-blue dress and gestures with arm outstretched to our left, and the other, in pale pink, sits looking up at her companion. Beyond, trees line the drive up to the three-story manor house. The middle story is lined with notably tall windows, like a series of French doors. Steel-gray clouds against a few glimpses of turquoise-blue sky fill the top half of the painting above the house. The painting is signed and dated in the lower right corner: “peint par JB. Oudry 1722.”
    Jean-Baptiste Oudry, Henri Camille, Chevalier de Beringhen, 1722, oil on canvas, Eugene L. and Marie-Louise Garbáty Fund, Patrons' Permanent Fund, and Chester Dale Fund, 1994.14.1

    Henri Camille, Chevalier de Beringhen

    Henri Camille, Chevalier de Beringhen

    Jean-Baptiste Oudry · 1722 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1994.14.1

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