Wearing Ribbons

Lucas Cranach the Elder
Portrait of a Young Woman
1538
oil on panel
Národní Galerie, Prague

Cornelis Sustermans
Portrait of Archduke Karl Joseph of Austria
ca. 1653-54
oil on canvas
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Jean Ranc
Portrait of Anne Melon
1702
oil on canvas
Musée Fabre, Montpellier

Anton Raphael Mengs
Portrait of Infanta Maria Ludovica,
later Holy Roman Empress
ca. 1764-65
oil on canvas
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

George Romney
Portrait of Elizabeth Leigh
ca. 1765
oil on canvas
Huntington Library and Art Museum,
San-Marino, California

Alexander Roslin
Portrait of Anne-Jacqueline-Sophie de Malartie
1781
oil on canvas
Nasjonalmuseet, Oslo

Anonymous French Artist
Portrait of a Woman
ca. 1785
oil on canvas
Musée Carnavalet, Paris

Henry Fuseli
Two Courtesans
ca. 1790-92
drawing, with added watercolor
Auckland Art Gallery, New Zealand

Jean-Laurent Mosnier
Portrait of Elizabeth Hudtwalcker
ca. 1798
oil on canvas
Hamburger Kunsthalle

Henry Howard
Marguerite (from Goethe's Faust)
ca. 1810
oil on panel
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco

Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller
Portrait of a Woman
1829
oil on panel
Alte Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Frederik Moller
Portrait of a Woman
1830
oil on canvas
Milwaukee Art Museum

Albert Edelfelt
Portrait of Annie Edelfelt
1883
oil on panel
Ateneum Art Museum, Helsinki

William Merritt Chase
Portrait of a Lady in Pink
ca. 1888-89
oil on canvas
Rhode Island School of Design, Providence

Jules Green
Avez Vous Le Sourire? (magazine)
1899
lithograph (poster)
Kunstbibliothek, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Olle Hjortzberg
Olympic Games - Stockholm 1912
printed 1911
lithograph (poster)
Kunstbibliothek, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Urania read it, while he with teares and groanes gave the true period to it.  The Letter said thus.

My onely Lord, thinke not this, or the manner strange I now send, knowing already some part of the undeserved course taken with me, only pitie her, who for your sake suffers patiently; accept these my last lines, and with them the sincerest love that ever woman gave to man.  I have not time to speake what I would, therefore let this satisfie you, that the many threatnings I have heard, are come in some kind to end: for I must presently die, and for you; which death is most welcome, since for you I must have it, and more pleasing then life without you.  Grant me then these last requests, which even by your love I conjure you not to denie me, that you love my poore memory; and as you will love that, or ever loved me, revenge not my death on my murtherer, who, how unworthy soever hee was, or is, yet hee is my Husband.  This is all, and this grant, as I will faithfully die

                                                                                                 Yours.

"Alas, faire Shepherdesse," said he, "is this a letter without much sorrow to be read? and is not this a creature of all others to be belov'd?  Never let him breath, that will not heartily, and most heartily lament such a misfortune."

– from The Countesse of Mountgomeries Urania, by the right honourable the Lady Mary Wroath, daughter to the right noble Robert, Earle of Leicester, and neece to the ever famous and renowned Sʳ Phillips Sidney knight, and to ye most excellant Lady Mary Countess of Pembroke, late deceased (London: John Marriott and John Grismand, 1621)

Tworkov

Jack Tworkov
Study for Sirens
ca. 1949-51
drawing
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

Jack Tworkov
Sirens
ca. 1950-52
oil on canvas
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis

Jack Tworkov
The Bridge
1951
oil on paper
Hirshhorn Museum, Washington DC

Jack Tworkov
Duo I
1956
oil on canvas
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

Jack Tworkov
Duo II
1956
oil on linen
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

Jack Tworkov
Height
1958-59
oil on canvas
Art Institute of Chicago

Jack Tworkov
Highland
1959
oil on canvas
Phillips Collection, Washington DC

Jack Tworkov
Red Lode
1959-60
oil on canvas
Guggenheim Museum, New York

Jack Tworkov
Thursday
1960
oil on canvas
Hirshhorn Museum, Washington DC

Jack Tworkov
Friday
1960
oil on canvas
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC

Jack Tworkov
Abstract II
1961
acrylic on paper
Dallas Museum of Art

Jack Tworkov
No. 1 Spring Weather
1962
oil on canvas
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis

Howard Wise
Jack Tworkov's Studio, Provincetown
1974
gelatin silver print
Hirshhorn Museum, Washington DC

Jack Tworkov
L SF ES #3
1979
aquatint
Art Institute of Chicago

Jack Tworkov
Q3 81 OP #10
1981
oil on paper
Art Institute of Chicago

Jack Tworkov
KTL #1
1982
lithograph
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis

Jack Tworkov
Chicago International Art Exhibition
1982
lithograph (poster)
Art Institute of Chicago

The Mad Scene

Again last night I dreamed the dream called Laundry.

In it, the sheets and towels of a life we were going to share,

The milk-stiff bibs, the shroud, each rag to be ever

Trampled or soiled, bled on or groped for blindly,

Came swooning out of an enormous willow hamper

Onto moon-marbly boards. We had just met. I watched

From outer darkness. I had dreamed myself in clothes

Of a new fiber that never stains or wrinkles, never

Wears thin. The opera house sparkled with tiers

And tiers of eyes, like mine enlarged by belladonna,

Trained inward. There I saw the cloud-clot, gust by gust, 

Form, and the lightning bite, and the roan mane unloosen.

Fingers were running in panic over the flute's nine gates.

Why did I flinch? I loved you. And in the downpour laughed

To have us wrung white, gnarled together, one

Topmost mordent of wisteria,

As the lean tree burst into grief. 

– James Merrill (1966)

Wearing Fur

Barthel Beham
Portrait of Herzog Wilhelm IV von Bayern
ca. 1534
pastel on paper
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

Parmigianino (Francesco Mazzola)
Portrait of a Dignitary
ca. 1537-40
oil on panel
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Pietro Marescalchi
Portrait of a Gentleman
ca. 1540-50
oil on canvas
Art Institute of Chicago

Hans Holbein the Younger
Portrait of a Young Merchant
1541
oil on panel
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Lavinia Fontana
Portrait of a Man in his Study
ca. 1577-78
oil on canvas
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux

Bernardo Strozzi
Portrait of Doge Francesco Erizzo
ca. 1631
oil on canvas
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Johann Ulrich Mayr
David with the Head of Goliath
ca. 1655
oil on canvas
Deutsche Barockgalerie, Augsburg

Anonymous French Artist
Portrait of Madame Peyrot de Lugagnac
ca. 1750
oil on canvas
Musée Carnavalet, Paris

Luigi Crespi
Portrait of a Woman
ca. 1760-70
oil on canvas
Harvard Art Museums

Philipp Veit
Portrait of Marie du Fay, Baroness Bernus
1838
oil on canvas
Städel Museum, Frankfurt

Isacco Gioacchino Levi
Cain contemplating his Crime
ca. 1851
oil on canvas
Galleria Nazionale di Parma

John Singer Sargent
Woman with Furs
ca. 1880-85
oil on canvas (sketch)
Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts

Ivan Kramskoy
Portrait of a Woman
(in use commercially as representation of Anna Karenina)
1883
oil on canvas
State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
Elsa, called The Viennese
1897
lithograph
Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen

Anders Zorn
Portrait of Maja von Heijne
1900
oil on canvas
Alte Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Richard Roland Holst
Marsyas (Mythological Comedy)
1910
lithograph (poster)
Kunstbibliothek, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

"Cursed may I bee," cri'd he, "if ever I take comfort, having such cause of mourning: but because you are, or seeme to be afflicted, I will not refuse to satisfie your demand, but tell you the saddest storie that ever was rehearsed by dying man to living woman, and such a one, as I feare will fasten too much sadnesse in you; yet should I denie it, I were too blame, being so well knowne to these senselesse places; as were they sensible of sorrow, they would condole, or else amased at such crueltie, stand dumbe as they doe, to find that man should be so inhumane.  Then faire Shepherdesse, heare my selfe say my name is Perissus, Nephew I am to the King of Sicilie, a place fruitfull and plentifull of all things; onely niggardly of good nature to a great man in that Country, whom I am sure you have heard me blame in my complaints.  Heire I am as yet to this King mine Uncle; and truly may I say so, for a more unfortunate Prince never lived, so as I inherit his crosses, howsoever I shall his estate.  There was in this Country (as the only blessing it enjoyed) a Lady, or rather a Goddesse for incomparable beautie, and matchles vertues, called Limena, daughter to a Duke; but, Princesse of all hearts: this starre comming to the Court to honour it with such light, it was in that my blessed destinie to see her, and be made her servant, or better to say, a slave to her perfections; thus long was I happie, but now begins the tragedie: for warres falling out betweene the people and the Gentlemen, the King was by the people (imagining he tooke the other part) brought into some danger, and so great an one, as rudenes joynd with ill nature could bring him into, being at last besieged in a strong hold of his, all of us his servants, and gentle subjects, striving for his good and safetie; in this time nothing appearing but danger, and but wise force to preserve mens lives and estates unto them, every one taking the best meanes to attaine unto their good desires."

– from The Countesse of Mountgomeries Urania, by the right honourable the Lady Mary Wroath, daughter to the right noble Robert, Earle of Leicester, and neece to the ever famous and renowned Sʳ Phillips Sidney knight, and to ye most excellant Lady Mary Countess of Pembroke, late deceased (London: John Marriott and John Grismand, 1621)

Pairings

Hans Holbein the Elder
Portrait of the artist's sons Ambrosius and Hans
1511
drawing
Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Francis Cotes
Double Portrait
1757
pastel on blue paper, mounted on canvas
Speed Art Museum, Louisville, Kentucky

Anonymous Artist working in India
Caricatures of Europeans
ca. 1760-1800
gouache on paper
Los Angeles County Museum of Art

John Flaxman (designer) for Josiah Wedgwood & Sons
Chess Pieces
(pawn as warrior and pawn as jester)
ca. 1785
jasperware
British Museum

Carl Leopold Hollitzer
Study of Catalan Military Uniform of 1806
ca. 1910
watercolor on paper
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

Frances Jocelyn
Pair of Portraits
ca. 1860
albumen silver prints mounted within watercolor surrounds
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

Jean-Baptiste Armand Guillaumin
Still Life
ca. 1880
oil on board
Princeton University Art Museum

Ilse Bing
Detailing on a Dress by Elsa Schiaparelli
1934
gelatin silver print
Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia

Alexander Girard (designer)
Carolus Magnus Dinner Plates
ca. 1956
porcelain
Denver Art Museum

Lester Johnson
Two Self Portraits
1965
oil on canvas
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC

Ben Shahn
Unexpected Meeting
1968
lithograph
Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami

José Luis Cuevas
Borgia
1968
lithograph
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC

Allen Frame
Dan Mahoney and Bob Gover, NYC
1981
C-print
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

Barbara Tisserat
Produce
1984
lithograph
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC

Manuel Neri
Ventana al Pacifico
ca. 1988
plaster relief
(maquette for courthouse sculpture installation)
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC

Robert Mapplethorpe
Double Jack-in-the-Pulpit
1988
gelatin silver print
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

David Mecalco
Pedro & Juan give Thanks to the Virgin for their Happiness
ca. 1990
ex-voto painted on metal
Fowler Museum at UCLA

 

Jeff Gibson
Batavia
1997
screenprint
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney

Elad Lassry
Men (055, 065)
2012
gelatin silver print
Gugenheim Museum, New York

The Cure

The doctor recommended cortisone,

Diathermy, vitamins, and rest. 

It worked. These months in Athens, no one's guessed

My little drama; I appear my own

Master again. However, once you've cracked

That so-called mirror of the soul,

It is not readily, if at all, made whole.

("Between the motion and the act

Falls the Shadow" – T.S. Eliot.)

Part of me has remained cold and withdrawn.

The day I went up to the Parthenon

Its humane splendor made me think, So what?

One May noon in the Royal Park, among

The flora of l'Agneau Mystique –

Cypress, mimosa, laurel, palm – a Greek

Came up to name them for me in his tongue.

I thanked him; he thanked me, sat down. Peacocks

Trailed by, hard gray feet mashing overripe

But bitter oranges. I knew the type:

Superb, male, raucous, unclean. Orthodox

Ikon of appetite feathered to the eyes

With the electric blue of days that will

Not come again. My friend with time to kill

Asked me the price of cars in Paradise.

By which he meant my country, for in his

The stranger is a god in masquerade.

Failing to act that part, I am afraid

I was not human either – ah, who is?

He is, or was; had brothers and a wife;

Chauffeured a truck; last Friday broke his neck

Against a tree. We have no way to check

These headlong emigrations out of life.

Try, I suppose, we must, as even Valéry said,

And said more grandly than I ever shall –

Turning shut lids to the August sun, and all

Such neon figments (amber, green, and red)

Of incommunicable energy

As in my blindness wake, and at a blink

Vanish, and were the clearest hint, I think,

Of what I have been, am, and care to be.

– James Merrill (1966)