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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

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    • 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

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    3. Giovanni Sons

    Giovanni Sons

    Soens, Jan

    Flemish, 1553 - 1611 or 1614

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    Three nude women, three men, and a child stand or sit under the canopies of trees close to us as others move through a deep mountainous landscape in this horizontal painting. The people all have pale skin and muscular proportions. The women also have blond or light brown hair and delicate facial features. The women stand facing us and a nude man, who sits with his back to us at the bottom center of the composition. The man, Paris, sits on a ruby-red cloth and holds out a round, golden apple in one hand. The woman at the center of the trio takes the apple from him. A winged, nude, baby-like putto standing at her feet reaches one hand toward Paris and holds a bow down by his side in his other hand. Translucent white cloth covers that woman’s head and wraps in front of her groin, and a sapphire-blue robe falls from her shoulders. The woman to our left wears a gold helmet. She has a spear on one side and holds the index finger and thumb of the other hand up. The woman to our right hunches forward as she leans, also with one hand up, toward the apple while looking at Paris. She wears a gold tiara and white cloth falls from her shoulder and flutters over her buttocks. Just beyond Paris and to our left, another man leans one elbow against a tree stump and raises the other hand toward the trio of women. He holds a staff with two intertwining serpents in one hand and wears a brimmed cap with gold wings and a harvest-yellow robe over a red tunic. A bearded man sits beside an overturned urn near the lower right corner. Water pours from the vessel to a river along the bottom edge of the canvas. Trees with dark green canopies frame the scene, which opens onto a vast landscape beyond the women. A man pursues a woman in the shadows of the trees to our left. A woman and child ride a donkey as another woman walks alongside it in the near distance beyond the trees to our right. Deer drink from the river, which winds into the distance, and a man walks over a natural bridge there. Faint white dots suggest sheep grazing on a grassy field in the distance, which leads back to a building complex. A round structure there is surrounded by panel-like buttresses. Three obelisks stand around what might be a tomb. More buildings and statues are hazy where the land meets the horizon, about two-thirds of the way up the composition. Ivory-white clouds are streaked across a turquoise-blue sky above.
    Giovanni Sons, The Judgment of Paris, late 16th century, oil on canvas, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1961.9.80

    The Judgment of Paris

    The Judgment of Paris

    Giovanni Sons · late 16th century · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1961.9.80

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