Affinities

Anonymous American Painter
Nature's Bounty
ca. 1854
oil on canvas
Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia

Anonymous American Painter
Still Life with Celebration Cake
19th century
oil on canvas
Savannah College of Art & Design Museum, Georgia

Jan Asselijn
Herder watering Cows
ca. 1648-52
oil on canvas
Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden

Jan Asselijn
Landscape with a Ford
ca. 1636-52
oil on canvas
Národní Galerie, Prague

André-Édouard Marty
La Dernière Séance
(robe de soir de Paul Poiret)
1924
pochoir and letterpress
(fashion plate)
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

André-Édouard Marty
Le Mannequin d'Or
(robe de Paul Poiret)
1924
pochoir and letterpress
(fashion plate)
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

Masolino (Tommaso di Cristoforo Fini)
The Annunciation - Archangel Gabriel
ca. 1430
tempera on panel
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Masolino (Tommaso di Cristoforo Fini)
The Annunciation - Virgin Annunciate
ca. 1430
tempera on panel
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Tadashi Nakayama
Afternoon with a Cat
1971
watercolor and ink on paper
Asian Art Museum, San Francisco

Tadashi Nakayama
Girl and Poppies
1971
watercolor and ink on paper
Asian Art Museum, San Francisco

François-Joseph Navez
Incredulity of St Thomas
1823
oil on canvas
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

François-Joseph Navez
Shepherd Family in the Roman Campagna
1823
oil on canvas
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

Georgia O'Keeffe
Pink Shell with Seaweed
ca. 1938
pastel on board
San Diego Museum of Art

Georgia O'Keeffe
The Apple
ca. 1920-22
oil on canvas
Phoenix Art Museum, Arizona

Michael Pacher
St Augustine healing the Sick
ca. 1480
oil on panel
(altarpiece fragment)
Alte Pinakothek, Munich

Michael Pacher
St Lawrence before the Emperor
ca. 1465
tempera on panel
(altarpiece fragment)
Belvedere Museum, Vienna

Parable of the Gift

My friend gave me

a fuchsia plant, expecting

much of me, in cold April 

judgment not to leave it

overnight in nature, deep

pink in its plastic

basket – I have

killed my gift, exposed

flowers in a mass of leaves,

mistaking it

for part of nature with 

its many stems: what 

do I do with you now,

former living thing

that last night still

resembled my friend, abundant 

leaves like her fluffy hair

although the leaves had

a reddish cast: I see her

climbing the stone steps in spring dusk

holding the quivering

present in her hands, with

Eric and Daphne following 

close behind, each 

bearing a towel of lettuce leaves:

so much, so much to celebrate

tonight, as though she were saying

here is the world, that should be

enough to make you happy.

– Louise Glück (1996)