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| Anonymous French Artist Study of Shell ca. 1730-40 drawing Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin |
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| Anonymous French Artist Study of Shell ca. 1730-40 drawing Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin |
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| Elisabeth Christina Matthes Seashells on a Stone Shelf ca. 1780 gouache on paper Hamburger Kunsthalle |
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| Elisabeth Christina Matthes Seashells on a Stone Shelf ca. 1780 gouache on paper Hamburger Kunsthalle |
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| Samuel van Hoogstraten Trompe-l'oeil Still Life 1664 oil on canvas Dordrechts Museum |
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| Samuel van Hoogstraten Trompe-l'oeil Still Life ca. 1670 oil on canvas Staatliche Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe |
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| Jan van Huysum Vase of Flowers ca. 1725 oil on panel Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna |
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| Jan van Huysum Vase of Flowers ca. 1725 oil on panel Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna |
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| Edme Bouchardon Le Vent d'Occident ca. 1732 drawing Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin |
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| Edme Bouchardon Le Vent du Midi ca. 1732 drawing Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin |
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| Henry Fuseli Kriemhild showing Hagen the Head of Gunther (scene from the Nibelungenlied) 1805 drawing, with added watercolor Kunsthaus Zürich |
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| Henry Fuseli Kriemhild showing Hagen the Ring of the Nibelungen (scene from the Nibelungenlied) 1807 drawing, with added watercolor Kunsthaus Zürich |
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| Étienne de Lavallée Interior with Three Women ca. 1760 drawing National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa |
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| Étienne de Lavallée Interior with Two Women ca. 1760 drawing National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa |
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| Vilhelm Hammershøi Interior, Strandgade 30 1900 oil on canvas Ateneum Art Museum, Helsinki |
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| Vilhelm Hammershøi Interior, Strandgade 30 1901 oil on canvas Städel Museum, Frankfurt |
from The Whale
The next room tells the scientific story
of the Mysteceti, now mythic as a unicorn.
Wall-maps chart migrations they once made,
while on a loop, their disembodied voices cry
of the Mysteceti, now mythic as a unicorn.
Wall-maps chart migrations they once made,
while on a loop, their disembodied voices cry
within a range that can be heard. Belugas,
whales white enough to terrify Ishmael, sing
from their spouts, even with chimneys ablaze.
Whalers called them Sea Canaries, sending them
down into darkness, extracting the oil
from their spouts, even with chimneys ablaze.
Whalers called them Sea Canaries, sending them
down into darkness, extracting the oil
to light their age from the sea's deep chambers.
It is they who are in darkness now.
The whale on which their world depended
is elsewhere, free of history, and casts
It is they who are in darkness now.
The whale on which their world depended
is elsewhere, free of history, and casts
their antique lives adrift like ambergris.
– Caitríona O'Reilly, The Sea Cabinet (2006)