Louis-Alexandre Bottée Damnation of Cain 1878 bronze medallion National Gallery of Art, Washington DC |
Marie-Alexandre-Lucien Coudray Orpheus (obverse of prize medal) ca. 1893 silver National Gallery of Art, Washington DC |
Marie-Alexandre-Lucien Coudray Claude Debussy, 1ᵉ prix (reverse of prize medal) ca. 1893 silver National Gallery of Art, Washington DC |
Filarete (Antonio di Pietro Averlino) King Juba I of Numidia led in Triumph by Julius Caesar ca. 1433-35 bronze plaquette National Gallery of Art, Washington DC |
Moderno (Galeazzo Mondella) Mars surrounded by Trophies ca. 1490-1510 bronze medallion National Gallery of Art, Washington DC |
Antico (Pier Jacopo Alari Bonacolsi) Portrait of Giulia ca. 1500-1502 bronze medallion Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
Anonymous Italian Artist Goddess Roma holding Figure of Victory 1513 gilt-bronze medallion National Gallery of Art, Washington DC |
Giovanni Bernardi Allegorical Figure ca. 1530 bronze medallion National Gallery of Art, Washington DC |
Antonio Abondio Portrait of Caterina Riva ca. 1560 lead medallion National Gallery of Art, Washington DC |
Anonymous Italian Artist Portrait of a Lady ca. 1590 lead medallion National Gallery of Art, Washington DC |
Girolamo Santacroce Prudence holding a Double-Faced Head ca. 1524 bronze medallion National Gallery of Art, Washington DC |
Antonio Lombardo Peace establishing her Reign 1512 bronze relief National Gallery of Art, Washington DC |
Gian Antonio Signoretti Bust of Gabriele Lippi of Reggio Emilia ca. 1580 lead medallion National Gallery of Art, Washington DC |
Gian Antonio Signoretti Bust of Giulia Pratonieri of Reggio Emilia ca. 1580 lead medallion National Gallery of Art, Washington DC |
Jules-Clément Chaplain Commemorating the Russian Squadron at Toulon 1893 bronze medallion Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
Karl Goetz The Pact of Malice (German wartime propaganda) 1915 bronze medallion Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
Eighty
Lonely in his great age, Henry's old friend
leaned on his burning cane while his old friend
was hymnèd out of living.
The Abbey rang with sound. Pound white as snow
bowed to them with his thoughts – it's hard to know them though
for the old man sang no word.
Dry, ripe with pain, busy with loss, let's guess.
Gone. Gone them wine-meetings, gone green grasses
of the picnics of rising youth.
Gone all, slowly. Stately, not as the tongue
worries the loose tooth, wits as strong as young,
only the albino body failing.
Where the smother clusters pinpoint insights clear.
The tennis is over. The last words are here?
What, in the world, will they be?
White is the hue of death & victory,
all the old generosities dismissed
while the white years insist.
– John Berryman, from His Toy, His Dream, His Rest (1969)