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Felice Ficherelli
Judith with the Head of Holofernes
ca. 1665
oil on canvas
Art Institute of Chicago |
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Jan de Bisschop after Anthony van Dyke
Portrait of Jean Leclerc
before 1671
drawing
Art Institute of Chicago |
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Gerrit van Honthorst
Boy blowing on a Firebrand
ca. 1621-22
oil on canvas
Art Institute of Chicago |
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Paulus Moreelse
Portrait of a Young Lady
ca. 1620
oil on panel
Art Institute of Chicago |
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Giovanni Mannozzi (Giovanni da San Giovanni)
Profile Portrait of a Young Woman
ca. 1620-30
drawing
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
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Bernardo Strozzi
St Gerardo Sagredo, Bishop of Csanád
1633
oil on canvas
Art Institute of Chicago |
On a Short History of Chance
It is said that Aristotle did not believe that nature needed chance to begin. And Augustine, freed from such deliberations, was sure God was at the heart of the patent, as well as the obscure, occurrence. To look once into the Divine Face was to have the great map of destiny spread out: complete with the body's tidal currents, the slow lamentation of flowers, the cyclical reign of the seasons, and the soul's knowledge.
But in time, the sure, steady mind clarified: it was the mechanical wheel of the universe that would prevail – its gyroscope of history advancing perfectly as it swallowed time. Thus, freed from sacrifice, the works of labor, not conscience, would fulfill the great collective destiny; all species carefully noted in the great encyclopedias of being, entered by a steady but passionless hand.
Yet listening at each daybreak – the unknown still came dropping outside of the bright, clear realms. Invariably returning, as it manifested in sudden apparition or by silent stealth: as still in wonder the senses are caught up when the sea delivers – but once – a wave of pure ivory – or etched in salt is a cathedral of the world.
Or how a face, long lost, appears on a street swimming up out of a crowd, as if from a foreign element. What, if not chance, holds all of these fast in its grip? The moment – great abyss of now: bearing the fruit of all moments before, ripe with disorganized creation.
– Ellen Hinsey (
The White Fire of Time, Wesleyan University Press, 2002)
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Antonio Triva
Electress Henriette Adelaide von Savoyen
1626
oil on canvas
Alte Pinakothek, Munich |
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Gerard ter Borch
Bust of Emperor Vitellius
ca. 1631-33
drawing
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
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Gerard ter Borch
Woman peeling an Apple
ca. 1660
oil on canvas
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna |
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Mattia Preti
Martin de Redin, Grand Master of the Knights of Malta
ca. 1660
oil on canvas
Art Institute of Chicago |
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Ottavio Leoni
Portrait of a Youth
1621
drawing
(black, red and white chalk)
Minneapolis Institute of Art |
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Bartholomeus van der Helst
Portrait of a Burgomaster
ca. 1665-70
oil on canvas
Minneapolis Institute of Art |
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Pasquale Ottino
Mary Magdalen
before 1630
oil on slate
Minneapolis Institute of Art |
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Baldassare Franceschini
Study of the Head of a Lion
before 1690
drawing
Art Institute of Chicago |
