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| Paolo Piazza The Annunciation 1602 oil on alabaster Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna |
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| Sébastien Bourdon Christ receiving the Children ca. 1655 oil on canvas Art Institute of Chicago |
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| Ludovico Carracci Vision of St Francis of Assisi ca. 1602 oil on copper Art Institute of Chicago |
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| Guercino Return of the Prodigal Son 1619 oil on canvas Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna |
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| Luca Giordano Abduction of the Sabine Women ca. 1675-80 oil on canvas Art Institute of Chicago |
Interdiction
Aπαγορευω.
It is said that we can no longer use the old words.
Either, they carry in their script the imprint of our inhumanity: the memory of the naked bodies burned as the classical strains played;
Or, contain their own blueprint of destruction: the way a seed harbors in its cells its final, latent corruption.
We have become afraid of them, the old words, as if we could escape punishment if, for once and for all, they were forbidden utterance in the public squares.
As if we could walk out to where the river joins the deep, where the tides plow and reap the untouchable air. There beyond boundaries, voices.
Yet even where silence and the river Styx merge, there are gestures which must be transcribed.
And I have listened to your voice at sundown, breaking with grief, undone by the bludgeoning tool of the eternal sorrows.
The way that Priam grieved, in the old words, the broken body of his son.
And heads are still brought openly to the market place as if in triumph.
The old words have blood on them.
But here, under the blackened sun, there are things, in the trammeled, the ruined, the old words, which must still be said.
– Ellen Hinsey (2002)
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| Lorenzo Garbieri Christ crowned with Thorns before 1654 oil on canvas Minneapolis Institute of Art |
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| Anonymous Artist working in Italy Adam accepting the Apple from Eve 17th century oil on paper Minneapolis Institute of Art |
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| Anonymous Artist working in Italy Adam and Eve expelled from the Garden of Eden 17th century oil on paper Minneapolis Institute of Art |
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| Giuseppe Maria Crespi Wedding at Cana ca. 1686 oil on canvas Art Institute of Chicago |
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| Anonymous Italian Artist after Titian Allegory of Venus and Cupid ca. 1600 oil on canvas Art Institute of Chicago |
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| Pedro de Orrente St John the Evangelist on Patmos ca. 1620 oil on canvas Museo del Prado, Madrid |
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| Raffaello Vanni St Catherine receiving the Stigmata 1655 oil on canvas Chiesa di Santa Caterina d'Alessandria, Pisa |
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| Raffaello Vanni St Catherine receiving the Stigmata (detail) 1655 oil on canvas Chiesa di Santa Caterina d'Alessandria, Pisa |
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| Anton Mozart Israelites crossing the Red Sea before 1625 oil on alabaster Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna |