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| Nicolas Régnier St John the Baptist in the Wilderness before 1620 oil on canvas private collection |
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| Nicolas Régnier St John the Baptist in the Wilderness (detail) before 1620 oil on canvas private collection |
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| Simon Vouet Penitent Magdalen ca. 1630 oil on canvas Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio |
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| Simon Vouet Life of the Virgin ca. 1640 vault frescoes Basilica di San Lorenzo in Lucina, Rome |
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| Simon Vouet Life of the Virgin - The Birth of the Virgin ca. 1640 vault fresco Basilica di San Lorenzo in Lucina, Rome |
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| Simon Vouet Life of the Virgin - God the Father Presiding ca. 1640 vault fresco Basilica di San Lorenzo in Lucina, Rome |
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| Simon Vouet (figures) and Pierre Patel (landscape) Sacrifice of Isaac ca. 1642 oil on canvas Milwaukee Art Museum, Wisconsin |
Why Geriatrics Are Not Sacrificed
It is a young man's heart the knife of stone
Puts in the Aztec's hand; heart he will raise,
Still beating, toward the god who, like the priest,
Is blood-besmeared already, as a god
Both Death and Fear. His priesthood's fear is, flint
Upon an old man's heart is stone on stone;
Might strike a spark that would ignite the world
If there were breath enough to stir the lint,
So much a fossil fuel envy is.
Young hearts an altar never lacks. Its lure's
The name of Chosen: ease and sex and glut,
Our tempting pyramid. If at the top
A dagger waits, hearts calcify below
One beat, one granule at a time toward age,
Until a sacrifice seems self-reflexive:
Hardened sternum and the stony twist,
Intransigence upon intransigence.
– Turner Cassity (2002)
– Turner Cassity (2002)
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| Jacques Stella Birth of the Virgin 1644 oil on canvas Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille |
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| Jacques Stella Marriage of the Virgin ca. 1640 oil on canvas Musée des Augustins de Toulouse |
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| Philippe de Champaigne Christ on the Mount of Olives ca. 1646-50 oil on canvas Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rennes |
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| Philippe de Champaigne Moses with the Ten Commandments ca. 1648 oil on canvas Milwaukee Art Museum, Wisconsin |
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| Philippe de Champaigne St Jerome ca. 1648 oil on canvas Cincinnati Art Museum, Ohio |
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| Nicolas Mignard Virgin and Child ca. 1650 oil on canvas Musée des Beaux-Arts de Marseille |
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| Pierre-Paul Puget Virgin and Sleeping Child ca. 1670 oil on canvas Musée des Beaux-Arts de Marseille |
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| Pierre-Paul Puget Sacrifice of Noah 1654 oil on canvas Musée des Beaux-Arts de Marseille |