Elena Anguissola Self Portrait as Blessed Osanna Andreasi ca. 1556 oil on panel Galleria Borghese,Rome |
Rembrandt Self Portrait with Shaded Eyes 1634 oil on panel Leiden Collection, New York |
Paulus Moreelse Self Portrait ca. 1634-35 oil on panel Mauritshuis, The Hague |
Pieter van Laer Self Portrait with Scene of Sorcery ca. 1635-37 oil on canvas Leiden Collection, New York |
Jacob Adriaensz Backer Self Portrait as Shepherd with Flute 1637 oil on panel Mauritshuis, The Hague |
Govert Flinck Self Portrait 1643 oil on panel Leiden Collection, New York |
Pieter Verelst Self Portrait ca. 1645-50 oil on panel Leiden Collection, New York |
Ferdinand Bol Self Portrait behind a Parapet 1648 oil on canvas Leiden Collection, New York |
Gerrit Dou Self Portrait holding a Portrait of his Parents ca. 1649 oil on panel Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Braunschweig |
David Bailly Vanitas Still Life with Self Portrait 1651 oil on panel Museum De Lakenhal, Leiden |
attributed to Cornelis Bisschop Self Portrait ca. 1653 oil on panel Leiden Collection, New York |
Gabriël Metsu Self Portrait as a Hunter, dressing after Bathing ca. 1654-56 oil on panel Leiden Collection, New York |
Arie de Vois Self Portrait as a Hunter 1660 oil on panel Mauritshuis, The Hague |
Cornelis Bisschop Self Portrait 1668 oil on canvas Dordrechts Museum |
Michiel van Musscher Self Portrait in the Studio 1673 oil on panel Leiden Collection, New York |
Jan van Mieris Self Portrait ca. 1685 oil on canvas Museum De Lakenhal, Leiden |
In the Ward
Old women come here to die. Nurses
Tend them with a sort of callous zest
That keeps their youthful patience, guarantees it
In face of all they do not wish to be:
Shrunk limbs, shrunk lives, the incontinence.
A woodland scene is hanging on the wall,
To rectify some lost connection
With a universe that goes on shepherding its flock
Of fogs out there, its unkillable seasons.
Dying, these old have for an ally still
That world of repetitions for, once gone,
They are replaced incessantly. In the ward
The picture-glass gives back the outlines
Of both old and young, in a painted
Sunlight and among the twines of trees.
– Charles Tomlinson (1974)
Tend them with a sort of callous zest
That keeps their youthful patience, guarantees it
In face of all they do not wish to be:
Shrunk limbs, shrunk lives, the incontinence.
A woodland scene is hanging on the wall,
To rectify some lost connection
With a universe that goes on shepherding its flock
Of fogs out there, its unkillable seasons.
Dying, these old have for an ally still
That world of repetitions for, once gone,
They are replaced incessantly. In the ward
The picture-glass gives back the outlines
Of both old and young, in a painted
Sunlight and among the twines of trees.
– Charles Tomlinson (1974)