Saturday, October 29, 2016

Solitary Figures in 17th-century European drawings

Jean de Saint Igny
Sense of taste
17th century
drawing
Morgan Library, New York

Peter Lely
Self-portrait (conjectured)
17th century
drawing
Morgan Library, New York

The Moon has veil'd her Silver Light,
The Pleiades have left the Sky;
It's now the silent Noon of Night,
The Love-sworn Hour is past; yet I
Alone, deserted, pining lie!

                                  John Addison, 1735

Anonymous French artist
Seated draped woman
17th century
drawing
Morgan Library, New York

Karl Dujardin
Study of a young man
17th century
drawing
Morgan Library, New York

Domenico Piola
Allegory of nobility
17th century
drawing
Morgan Library, New York

The Pleiads now no more are seen,
Nor shines the silver moon serene,
In dark and dismal Clouds o'ercast;
The love appointed Hour is past:
Midnight usurps her sable Throne,
And yet, alas! I lie alone.

                                   Francis Fawkes, 1760

Leendert van der Cooghen
Standing man
1656
drawing
Morgan Library, New York

Sigismondo Caula
Standing woman
17th century
drawing
Morgan Library, New York

Domenico Gargiulo
Man carrying a large object 
17th century
drawing
Morgan Library, New York

Charles Le Brun
Design for a caryatid
17th century
drawing
Morgan Library, New York

The weeping Pleiads wester,
   And the moon is under seas;
From bourn to bourn of midnight
   Far sighs the rainy breeze:

It sighs from a lost country
   To a land I have not known;
The weeping Pleiads wester,
   And I lie down alone.

                               A.E. Housman, 1893

attributed to Aniello Falcone
Standing soldier
17th century
drawing
Morgan Library, New York

Bartolomeo Guidobono
Young woman playing the lute
17th century
drawing
Morgan Library, New York

Johan Liss
Youth playing the lute
early 17th century
drawing
Morgan Library, New York


Tonight I've watched

The moon and then
the Pleiades
go down

The night is now
half-gone; youth
goes; I am

in bed alone.
                       
                       Mary Barnard, 1958

attributed to Carlo Cignani
Seated youth
17th century
drawing
Morgan Library, New York

attributed to Jan Lievens
Sleeping woman
17th century
drawing
Morgan Library, New York

The four translations were all made from the same few lines of ancient Greek, attributed to Sappho. They appear together in The Oxford Book of Classical Verse in Translation, edited by Adrian Poole and Jeremy Maule (Oxford University Press, 1995)

I am grateful for the careful reproductions from the Morgan Library