Declines

Edvard Munch
The Sick Girl
1896
oil on canvas
Göteborgs Konstmuseum, Sweden

Odd Nerdrum
Dying Couple
1993
oil on canvas
Göteborgs Konstmuseum, Sweden

Bertil Norén
Failure
1925
gouache on paper
Prins Eugens Waldemarsudde, Stockholm

Theodor Rosenhauer
In the Studio
1935
oil on canvas
Galerie Neue Meister (Albertinum), Dresden

Tanzio da Varallo
Studies for Fallen Soldier
ca. 1628-29
drawing
Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Adolph Tidemand
Seated Model
ca. 1835
drawing
Nasjonalmuseet, Oslo

Martin Åberg
Old Woman
1920
drawing
Moderna Museet, Stockholm

Michael Peter Ancher
The Sick Girl
1882
oil on canvas
Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen

Anonymous Russian Artist
The Edifice of Capitalism is Tottering
1931
lithograph (poster)
Moderna Museet, Stockholm

Elisabeth Baumann
Wounded Danish Soldier
1865
oil on canvas
Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen

Émile Betsellère
The Forgotten
1872
oil on canvas
Musée Bonnat-Helleu, Bayonne

Eugène Delacroix
Massacre at Chios
1824
oil on canvas
Musée du Louvre

Ernst Eitner
The Vanquished
ca. 1910
oil on canvas
Hamburger Kunsthalle

Matias Faldbakken
Double Thermal Adolph Tideman
2014
assemblage
(marble sculptures, pallet, polyethylene foam, load strap)
Nasjonalmuseet, Oslo

Théodore Géricault
Half-Length Study of Emaciated Model
before 1824
drawing
Musée Bonnat-Helleu, Bayonne

Gabriel Max
Young Girl on her Deathbed
1876
oil on canvas
Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel

"Every eye was turned towards their captain – my beloved Theagenes; it was as if a flash of lightning had cast all they had seen before into darkness, so radiant he was in our eyes.  He too was on horseback, in full armor and brandishing a spear of ash wood tipped with bronze.  He wore no helmet but led the procession bareheaded, cloaked in a flowing crimson mantle with gold embroidery depicting the battle of Lapiths and Centaurs and a clasp with, at its center, an amber figure of Athena with her Gorgon's head talisman on her breastplate.  A sweetly blowing breeze added to the charm of the scene, for its gentle breath tenderly caressed the hair that cascaded over his neck and parted the curls on his forehead, and also swept the hem of his mantle over his horse's back and shanks.  The very horse seemed to understand what a fine thing it was to carry such a fine rider on his back, so proudly he flexed his neck and carried his head high with ears aprick; there was arrogance in the way his brows arched over his eyes, and pride in his step as he pranced along with his master on his back; he obeyed the rein's every command, and with each pace he paused for an instant in perfect balance with one leg uplifted, gently clipping the ground with the tip of his hoof so as to give a smooth and gentle rhythm to his gait.  The sight took everyone's breath away, and they all awarded the young man the prize for manhood and beauty.  And all those women of the lower orders who were incapable of controlling and concealing their emotions pelted him with apples and flowers in the hope of attracting his goodwill.  The verdict was unanimous: nothing in the world could surpasss the beauty of Theagenes."

– Heliodorus, from The Aethiopica, or, Theagenes and Charikleia (3rd or 4th century AD), translated from Greek by J.R. Morgan (1989)