Aspirants

Andy Warhol
Gilbert and George
1975
screenprints on canvases
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh

Monogrammist FVB (Netherlandish printmaker)
St George and the Dragon
ca. 1480-90
engraving
British Museum

Marten de Vos the Elder
St Paul bitten by a Viper on the island of Malta
ca. 1568-70
oil on canvas
Musée du Louvre

Anonymous Italian Sculptor
Funerary Plaque with Arms of the Doria
ca. 1485
marble relief
Musée du Louvre

Andy Warhol
Jackie Curtis
1974
Polaroid
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Monogrammist AG (German printmaker)
St George and the Dragon
ca. 1450-1500
engraving
British Museum

Anonymous French Sculptor
Serpent
ca. 1585-1600
glazed earthenware
Musée du Louvre

Anonymous Italian Sculptor
Escutcheon with Chigi coat-of-arms
ca. 1600-1650
marble
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri

Andy Warhol
Leontyne Price
1972
Polaroid
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Monogrammist M (Netherlandish printmaker)
St George and the Dragon
ca. 1500-1525
hand-colored engraving
British Museum

workshop of Paul de Vos
Animals preparing to enter Noah's Ark
ca. 1650
oil on canvas
Musée du Louvre

Anonymous Italian Sculptor
Equestrian Portrait of Roberto Malatesta
ca. 1482-84
marble relief
(appropriated by Scipione Borghese from the Vatican
and then by Napoleon from Villa Borghese in Rome)
Musée du Louvre

Andy Warhol
Man Ray
1974
screenprints on canvases
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh

Monogrammist HL (German printmaker)
St George and the Dragon
before 1533
engraving
British Museum

workshop of Paul de Vos
Earthly Paradise
ca. 1650
oil on canvas
Musée du Louvre

Anonymous Italian Sculptor
Dragon supporting Coat-of-Arms
ca. 1700
marble relief with pietra dura
Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts

Andy Warhol
Camouflage
1986
screenprints on canvases
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh

Epitaph on Charles I

Great, good and just, could I but rate

My grief to thy too-rigid fate!

I'd weep the world in such a strain

As it would once deluge again:

But since thy loud-tongued blood demands supplies

More from Briareus' hands than Argus' eyes,

I'll tune thy elegies to trumpet sounds,

And write thy epitaph in blood and wounds.

– James Graham, Marquis of Montrose (1612-1650)

Fauna (Artistic)

Battista Franco (il Semolei)
Elephants and Panther
before 1561
etching and engraving
Philadelphia Museum of Art

Bartolomeo Passarotti
Study of an Eagle
ca. 1575-80
drawing
Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide

Hans Hoffmann
Hedgehog
before 1584
watercolor and gouache on paper
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Chelsea Porcelain Manufactory
Rabbit Tureen
ca. 1755-56
porcelain
Gardiner Museum, Toronto

Johann Rudolf Holzhalb
Americanischer Aur-Ochs
1768
etching and engraving
Graphische Sammlung, ETH Zürich

Gambier Bolton
Two-Horned Rhinosaurus
1870
carbon print
Los Angeles County Museum of Art

William De Morgan
Charger
ca. 1898
glazed earthenware
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

Balthus (Balthasar Klossowski)
Moroccan Horseman and his Horse
1949
oil on canvas
Hirshhorn Museum, Washington DC

Jon Serl
Reptile
1965
oil on board
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC

Victor Joseph Gatto
Biblical Landscape with Adam and Eve
before 1965
oil on board
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC

Kees Timmer
Caged Mandrill
1968
oil on panel
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam

Atelier Populaire (Paris)
Vermine Fasciste
1968
screenprint (poster)
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Janet Kidd
Cockatoo
ca. 1980
oil on canvas
Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredericton, New Brunswick

Richard Bosman
Polar Bear
1981
screenprint
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

Neil Winokur
Plaster Tortoise
1984
C-print
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

Braldt Bralds
Dinosaurs
1985
oil on panel
(commissioned by Time magazine)
National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC

Mark Dion
Serpent Hypnosis
2015
etching and screenprint
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC

from Divine Epigrams

        On St. Peter cutting off Malchus his eare.

Well Peter dost thou wield thy active sword,

    Well for thy selfe (I meane) not for thy Lord.

To strike at ears, is to take heed there bee

    No witnesse Peter of thy perjury. 

– Richard Crashaw, Steps to the Temple (1648)

Venetian

Vetreria Salviati (Venice)
Urn with Ring Handles and Leaf Stem
ca. 1885
glass
Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia

Vetreria Salviati (Venice)
Dolphin Candelabrum
ca. 1890
glass
Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia

Vetreria Salviati (Venice)
Pair of Green Dolphin Candlesticks
ca. 1890
glass
Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia

Vetreria Salviati (Venice)
Pair of Cranberry Dolphin Vases
ca. 1890
glass
Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia

Artisti Barovier (Venice)
Granzioli Dragon Compote
ca. 1895-1915
glass
Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia

Vetreria Salviati (Venice)
Amphora with Swan Handles
ca. 1890
glass
Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia

Vetreria Salviati (Venice)
Pink Compote
ca. 1890
glass
Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia

Vetreria Salviati (Venice)
Dolphin Vase
ca. 1890
glass
Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia

Artisti Barovier (Venice)
Pair of Dolphin Candlesticks
ca. 1895-1915
glass
Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia

Vetreria Salviati (Venice)
Leaf-Shaped Dragon Compote
ca. 1890
glass
Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia

Vetreria Salviati (Venice)
Blue Dolphin Vase
ca. 1890
glass
Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia

Vetreria Salviati (Venice)
Cornucopia Candlestick
caa. 1890
glass
Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia

Vetreria Salviati (Venice)
Blue Cobalt Chalice with Floral Knob
ca. 1890
glass
Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia

Vittorio Zecchin (Venice)
Amphora
ca. 1920-25
glass
Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia

Vittorio Zecchin (Venice)
Veronese Vase
ca. 1920-25
glass
Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia

Artisti Barovier (Venice)
Dragon Vase
ca. 1895-1915
glass
Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia

from Radium

When summer ended, my sister was going to school.

No more staying at home with the dogs,

waiting to catch up.

No one wanted to stay home. Real life

was the world: you discovered radium,

you danced the swan queen. Nothing

explained my mother. Nothing explained

putting aside radium because you realized finally

it was more interesting to make beds,

to have children like my sister and me.

– Louise Glück (2001)