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| Christian Dior Dress 1955 embroidered silk organza Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto |
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| Christian Dior Evening Gown 1947 silk satin, embroidered and beaded Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto |
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| Christian Dior Evening Gown 1949 rayon tulle, embroidered with paillettes and sequins Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto |
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| Christian Dior Evening Gown (back view) 1949 rayon tulle, embroidered with paillettes and sequins Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto |
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| William Henry Fox Talbot Lace ca. 1844-45 salted paper print Art Institute of Chicago |
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| William Henry Fox Talbot Queen's College, Oxford 1843 salted paper print National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa |
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| William Henry Fox Talbot Shadow of a Flower ca. 1839 salted paper print National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa |
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| William Henry Fox Talbot The Chess Players ca. 1843-47 salted paper print Art Institute of Chicago |
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| Godfrey Kneller Portrait of a Painter before 1723 drawing Städel Museum, Frankfurt |
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| Godfrey Kneller Portrait of a Young Man 1722 oil on canvas Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Kingston, Ontario |
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| Godfrey Kneller Portrait of Sir Charles Barrington, 5th Baronet ca. 1710 oil on canvas Princeton University Art Museum |
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| Godfrey Kneller Scholar in his Study ca. 1668 oil on canvas (painted in Leiden while studying with Ferdinand Bol) Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Kingston, Ontario |
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| Hans Holbein the Younger Portrait of astronomer Nicholas Kratzer 1528 oil on panel Musée du Louvre |
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| Hans Holbein the Younger Portrait of Sir Henry Guildford 1527 oil on panel Royal Collection, Great Britain |
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| Hans Holbein the Younger Portrait of Margaret Bacon, Lady Butts ca. 1541-43 oil on panel Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston |
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| Hans Holbein the Younger Portrait of Sir William Butts ca. 1541-43 oil on panel Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston |
from The Sea and the Mirror
(a commentary on Shakespeare's The Tempest)
Preface
(The Stage Manager to the Critics)
(The Stage Manager to the Critics)
The aged catch their breath,
For the nonchalant couple go
Waltzing across the tightrope
As if there were no death
Or hope of falling down;
The wounded cry as the clown
Doubles his meaning, and O
For the nonchalant couple go
Waltzing across the tightrope
As if there were no death
Or hope of falling down;
The wounded cry as the clown
Doubles his meaning, and O
How the dear little children laugh
When the drums roll and the lovely
Lady is sawn in half.
O what authority gives
Existence its surprise?
Science is happy to answer
That the ghosts who haunt our lives
Are handy with mirrors and wire,
That song and sugar and fire,
Courage and come-hither eyes
Have a genius for taking pains.
But how does one think up a habit?
Our wonder, our terror remains.
Art opens the fishiest eye
To the Flesh and the Devil who heat
The Chamber of Temptation
Where heroes roar and die.
When the drums roll and the lovely
Lady is sawn in half.
O what authority gives
Existence its surprise?
Science is happy to answer
That the ghosts who haunt our lives
Are handy with mirrors and wire,
That song and sugar and fire,
Courage and come-hither eyes
Have a genius for taking pains.
But how does one think up a habit?
Our wonder, our terror remains.
Art opens the fishiest eye
To the Flesh and the Devil who heat
The Chamber of Temptation
Where heroes roar and die.
We are wet with sympathy now;
Thanks for the evening; but how
Shall we satisfy when we meet,
Between Shall-I and I-Will,
The lion's mouth whose hunger
No metaphors can fill?
Shall we satisfy when we meet,
Between Shall-I and I-Will,
The lion's mouth whose hunger
No metaphors can fill?
Well, who in his own backyard
Has not opened his heart to the smiling
Secret he cannot quote?
Has not opened his heart to the smiling
Secret he cannot quote?
Which goes to show that the Bard
Was sober when he wrote
Was sober when he wrote
That this world of fact we love
Is unsubstantial stuff:
All the rest is silence
On the other side of the wall;
And the silence ripeness,
And the ripeness all.
All the rest is silence
On the other side of the wall;
And the silence ripeness,
And the ripeness all.
– W.H. Auden (1942-44)