Anonymous British Artist Eye of H.H. Jackson ca. 1841 watercolor on ivory Cincinnati Art Museum, Ohio |
Albrecht Dürer Study for Hands of the Young Christ 1506 drawing Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg |
Félix Auvray Hand Study ca. 1820 drawing Musée des Beaux-Arts de Valenciennes |
Roger Mayne Torso 1951 gelatin silver print Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
Joe Brainard Torso with Bandana 1975 gouache on paper, with collage Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
Luc Tuymans The Nose 1993 oil on canvas Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht |
Carl Friedrich Lessing Study of Knee 1825 drawing Cincinnati Art Museum, Ohio |
Lambert Lombard Drapery Study ca. 1550 drawing Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
Ancient Etruscan Culture Votive Penis and Scrotum 3rd century BC terracotta Harvard Art Museums |
John Singer Sargent Study for Adam (study for mural, The Fifteen Mysteries of the Rosary) ca. 1903-1916 drawing National Gallery of Art, Washington DC |
William Blake Richmond Anatomical Studies (study for painting, Prometheus Unbound) ca. 1881 drawing Ashmolean Museum, Oxford |
Pontormo (Jacopo Carrucci) Hand raised to Ear ca. 1530 drawing Morgan Library, New York |
Willem van Mieris Portrait of Samuel van Acker (detail) 1683 oil on panel Leiden Collection, New York |
Michiel van Musscher Portrait of Pieter Ranst Valckenier (detail) 1687 oil on canvas Leiden Collection, New York |
Johannes Vermeer Mistress and Maid (detail) ca. 1666-67 oil on canvas Frick Collection, New York |
François Perrier Half-Length Study of Plague Victim ca. 1630 drawing Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna |
from The Island of Statues
I would have gone also; but far away
The faery thing flew with her o'er the gray
Slow waters, and the boat and maiden sink
Away from me where mists of evening drink
To ease their world-old thirst along the brink
Of sword-blue waves of calm; while o'er head blink
To ease their world-old thirst along the brink
Of sword-blue waves of calm; while o'er head blink
The mobs of stars in gold and green and blue,
Piercing the quivering waters through and through,
The ageless sentinels who hold their watch
Piercing the quivering waters through and through,
The ageless sentinels who hold their watch
O'er grief. The world drinks sorrow from the beams
And penetration of their eyes.
And penetration of their eyes.
– W.B. Yeats (1885)