 |
| Nicolò dell'Abate Amphitrite ca. 1560-70 drawing Musée du Louvre |
 |
| Nicolò dell'Abate Flora ca. 1560-70 drawing Musée du Louvre |
 |
| Charles Le Brun Flora ca. 1665 drawing, with colored chalks (study for tapestry) Musée du Louvre |
 |
| Anonymous Netherlandish Artist Diana 16th century watercolor on vellum Musée du Louvre |
 |
| Louis Boullogne the Younger Diana ca. 1707 drawing (study for painting) Musée du Louvre |
 |
| Théodore Géricault Diane Chasseresse (antique statue, now at the Louvre) ca. 1810-15 drawing Musée du Louvre |
 |
| attributed to Pietro Liberi Venus disarming Cupid ca. 1660 oil on canvas Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, County Durham |
 |
| Michele Tosini Venus Victrix ca. 1560-70 oil on panel National Museum, Cracow, Poland |
 |
| Eustache Le Sueur Seated Nymph ca. 1654-55 drawing (study for ceiling painting) Musée du Louvre |
 |
| Jacob Jordaens Nymph Adrasteia milking the goat Amalthea ca. 1640-50 drawing (study for painting, Childhood of Jupiter) Musée du Louvre |
 |
| Charles Le Brun Urania, Muse of Astronomy ca. 1674-79 drawing (study for vault decoration, Château de Versailles) Musée du Louvre |
 |
| Eustache Le Sueur Clio, Muse of History ca. 1652 drawing (study for painting) Musée du Louvre |
 |
| workshop of Jacques Juliot La Sibylle Phrygienne ca. 1539 painted stone (fragment of sculpture group) Musée du Louvre |
 |
| Bartolomeo Guidobono Sibyl ca. 1690 oil on canvas Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University |
 |
| Cavaliere d'Arpino (Giuseppe Cesari) Erythraean Sibyl ca. 1592 drawing (study for fresco, Basilica di Santa Prassede, Rome) Musée du Louvre |
 |
| Cavaliere d'Arpino (Giuseppe Cesari) Erythraean Sibyl ca. 1592 drawing (study for fresco, Basilica di Santa Prassede, Rome) Musée du Louvre |
 |
| Angelica Kauffmann Bacchante ca. 1786 oil on canvas Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin |
Forced Flowers
Suppose we open the opening rose,
just a little at first, then more,
thumbnail peeling the petals back
from their fisted slowness,
unfolding the inevitable shape
there isn't time to wait for.
It's not the subtle way, of course,
as anybody knows who's tricked forsythia,
bringing boughs inside to bloom
from wine carafes and coffee cans,
so much duped yellow
the whole house laughs.
And the poor, confused begonias,
quizzed under fluorescent lights for weeks,
will open up, divulging blossoms –
pink, white, and burgundy –
even in the middle of winter,
unable to guess what time it is.
It all seems harmless enough,
this bewilderment of blooms,
a knock at the door
bringing a clutch of early jonquils,
the tricked heart quickening,
wanting to be glad.
– Neal Bowers (1992)