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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 
    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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    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
    • Stories
    • Games and Interactives
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    Artle

    A refreshed experience for our puzzle game

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    5. Mary Mathilda Labouchère
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    Mary Mathilda Labouchère

    British, died 1892

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    Artwork

    Four light-skinned men gather around a table in front of a forest-green background in this horizontal painting. In the right half of the picture, two men behind the table are shown from about the waist up. The third man, Cardinal Sauli, sits at the narrow end of the table to our left, and his legs are cropped by the bottom edge of the painting below the knee. The fourth man leans toward the cardinal, and is shown from about the knees up along the left edge of the painting. Cardinal Sauli dominates the composition. His body is angled to our right, and he turns his head to look at us with dark eyes under arched brows. He has a narrow face, a wide nose, and his lips are closed over a round chin. He wears a red cap over brown hair and a red, waist-length cape that buttons down over his chest. His voluminous, long-sleeved, bright white robe has red at the cuffs. Upon closer inspection, what appears to be a black speck on his knee turns out to be a fly painted to look as if it had landed on the surface of the panel. The cardinal’s elbows rest on the arms of a wine-red velvet chair. His right hand, to our left, holds what may be green leather gloves, and he wears a gold ring with a dark oval stone on that ring finger. He rests his other hand palm down on the table, and wears a gold ring with a red stone on the index finger of that hand. Just beyond that hand, a pewter-silver bell edged with wide bands of chased gold sits on the table, which is covered with a cloth patterned with crimson red, harvest yellow, black, and white. At our far left, the man leans toward Cardinal Sauli’s right shoulder, facing our right almost in profile. He has dark, chin-length hair, black eyebrows, a long, straight nose, and a dark, trimmed mustache and beard. His mouth is slightly open. He wears a bright white embroidered, collarless shirt under a black tunic. The fingers of his left hand rest on his chest and he barely touches the back of the velvet chair with his other hand. Behind the table, to our right, the final two men face each other in profile. The man to the left in this pair, closer to Cardinal Sauli, has close-cropped dark hair, a prominent nose, and black eyebrows. His hooded, dark eyes look off to our right, and a mustache frames his closed lips. He rests his right hand on an open book, illustrated with maps, on the table in front of him. The man on the far right holds up his right hand at chest height, and points his right index finger straight up. He has a pointed nose and dark eyes, and his lips are parted under a faint mustache. His brown hair falls to the collar of his ruby-red robe, which falls in vertical pleats from the high neckline. The deep green background seems close to the group, creating a shallow space. The artist signed and dated the painting as if he had written on a piece of paper stuck to the front of the table, but the writing is nearly illegible.
    Sebastiano del Piombo, Cardinal Bandinello Sauli, His Secretary, and Two Geographers, 1516, oil on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1961.9.37

    Cardinal Bandinello Sauli, His Secretary, and Two Geographers

    Cardinal Bandinello Sauli, His Secretary, and Two Geographers

    Sebastiano del Piombo · 1516 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1961.9.37

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