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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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    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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    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
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    A refreshed experience for our puzzle game

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    Dozens of men, women, and a few children gather in groups amid a grassy landscape with a mountain in the distance in this horizontal painting. All of the people have pale or ruddy skin and wear flowing cloaks over long tunics or gowns. Warm light from the upper left illuminates the two groups closest to us, which cluster along the left and right edges of the canvas. Each group is set against a dark background suggesting cave walls or rocky outcroppings. On our left, an elderly man sits with his back to us as he looks across this shoulder to our right. He wears an amber-brown robe with darker brown stripes, and a denim-blue boot on the foot we can see. His head is wrapped in a white turban, and his tan face is framed by a salt-and-pepper beard. Steel-blue fabric drapes across his hips. A man and woman stand just beyond him, facing us. The young, bearded, dark-haired man wears a gleaming sea-blue cloak over a burgundy-red garment. The woman is wrapped in a rust-red cloak and holds an infant close to her cheek. Along the right edge of the painting, two blond women and a young child gather around a table covered with a white cloth. The woman seated on the far side of the table wears a velvety, chocolate-brown gown with a white kerchief around her shoulders, and rose-pink fabric drapes across her lap. She faces us with her upper body turned to our right as she gazes up and to our right with one hand raised. A youth cradling a silver bowl filled with fruit stands behind her with his head also turned to look in the same direction. Along the rightmost edge of the canvas, a woman sits facing us, wearing a coral-red gown with one breast exposed along a low neckline. Blush-pink fabric patterned with teal-blue diamonds drapes over one shoulder and across her lap. She tilts her head to our right and gazes down at the child standing by her side. The child wears a silver-gray tunic and has closely cropped brown hair. The woman offers the child an orange fruit. An elderly, balding man with a long silver-gray beard and hair stands behind the woman, at the top of the group. His arms cross his chest while he bows slightly. Between the rocky outcroppings behind both groups, a grassy meadow stretches to a hazy blue mountain in the distance. A narrow stream runs across the painting just beyond the outcroppings. Several people at the far side of the stream flank a tall man with a long beard who stands facing us. He wears a full-length, brick-red robe with a black mantle draped over his head, across his arms, and down his back. A headdress over the mantle has peaks like a narrow crescent moon. To his right, our left, a man also wearing a red tunic and spruce-blue leggings bends down to place a gold circle or dish on a pile of other gold objects on the ground. Two women and two men stand clustered to his left, our right. The women wear blue-green robes, and the men have lead-gray cloaks. About twenty-five men and women along with two small children sitting on the ground create a band across the landscape beyond the group at the stream. They wear gold, aquamarine-blue, canary-yellow, and scarlet-red garments. To the left beyond this group, a crowd circles around a tall narrow structure supporting a gold-colored calf. The people look up at the animal while four women kneel in front, playing instruments. To our right, in the distance, four men and women sit around a cloth-covered table under a tent-like canopy. There are dishes on the table and a fifth person stands nearby, presumably serving the group. On a hill that rises steeply behind the tent, another group of four people recline in a similar canopied structure. At the center of the painting, between the tents and the group around the calf, a single bearded man with white hair walks toward our right in profile, the arm we can see extended. The landscape beyond the people has a lake lined with trees at the foot of the hazy mountain, which almost reaches the top of the composition. Finally, in the upper right corner, atop the rocky outcropping close to us, a person, seen from the waist down, kneels, wearing a rose-pink garment. Golden yellow flames flicker out around and behind the person.
    Italian 16th Century, The Worship of the Golden Calf, c. 1594, oil on canvas, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1939.1.180

    The Worship of the Golden Calf

    The Worship of the Golden Calf

    Italian 16th Century · c. 1594 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1939.1.180

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