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| Rogier van der Weyden Portrait of a Man ca. 1430-40 oil on panel Courtauld Gallery, London |
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| Domenico Ghirlandaio Portrait of a Girl ca. 1490 tempera on panel National Gallery, London |
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| Lazzaro Bastiani Bearded Man with a Falcon ca. 1500 oil on canvas Courtauld Gallery, London |
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| Bartolomeo Veneto Portrait of a Man ca. 1500-1510 oil on panel Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge |
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| Marx Reichlich Woman holding a Lily of the Valley and a Pansy ca. 1510-20 oil on panel Courtauld Gallery, London |
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| Bernardino Licinio Portrait of a Young Man with a Skull ca. 1510-15 oil on canvas Ashmolean Museum, Oxford |
from Devotions upon Emergent Occasions
This is Nature's nest of Boxes; The Heavens containe the Earth, the Earth, Cities, Cities, Men. And all these are Concentrique; the common center to them all, is decay, ruine; only that is Eccentrique, which was never made; only that place, or garment rather, which we can imagine, but not demonstrate, That light, which is the very emanation of the light of God, in which the Saints shall dwell, with which the Saints shall be appareld, only that bends not to this Center, to Ruine; that which was not made of Nothing, is not threatned with this annihilation. All other things are; even Angels, even our soules; they move upon the same poles, they bend to the same Center; and if they were not made immortall by preservation, their Nature could not keep them from sinking to this center, Annihilation.
– John Donne (1623)
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| Francesco Granacci Portrait of a Man in Armour ca. 1510 oil on panel National Gallery, London |
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| Rosso Fiorentino Portrait of a Young Man holding a Letter 1518 oil on panel National Gallery, London |
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| Hans Holbein Lady with a Squirrel and a Starling ca. 1526-28 oil on panel National Gallery, London |
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| Maarten van Heemskerck Portrait of a Woman ca. 1540 oil on panel National Museum Cardiff (Wales) |
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| Maarten van Heemskerck Portrait of a Man ca. 1540 oil on panel National Museum Cardiff (Wales) |
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| Cornelis de Zeeuw Portrait of a Young Man 1565 oil on panel Bristol Museum and Art Gallery |
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| Frans Pourbus the Elder Portrait of a Man 1574 oil on panel Wallace Collection, London |
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| Annibale Carracci Portrait of a Man ca. 1590 oil on canvas Courtauld Gallery, London |