Ardor

Rinaldo Mantovano
Chastisement of Love
ca. 1530
oil on canvas
Gallerie degli Uffizi, Florence

Paris Bordone
Amorous Mythological Couple
ca. 1560-70
oil on canvas
Musée du Louvre

Paris Bordone
The Lovers
before 1571
oil on canvas
Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan

Astolfo Petrazzi
Amore Vincitore
ca. 1625-30
oil on canvas
Palazzo Barberini, Rome

Giovanni da San Giovanni (Giovanni Mannozzi)
Amor overcoming Pan
ca. 1634-35
fresco on terracotta
Gallerie degli Uffizi, Florence

Eustache Le Sueur
L’Amour entouré de la Jeunesse et de la Beauté
ordonne à Mercure d’annoncer son pouvoir à l’univers
ca. 1645
oil on canvas
Musée du Louvre

Bernardino Mei
Wounded Love healed by Time and by Waters of the River Lethe
1653
oil on canvas
Collezioni della Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena

François Le Moyne
The Amorous Proposal
ca. 1725
oil on canvas
Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts

Pierre Subleyras
La Courtisane amoureuse
(illustration to La Fontaine)
ca. 1735
oil on canvas
Musée du Louvre

Jean-Joseph Vinache
Hercules vanquished by Love
1741
marble (reception piece)
Musée du Louvre

Augustin Pajou
Anacréon arrachant une plume des ailes de l'Amour
ca. 1750
terracotta
Musée du Louvre

Louis-Claude Vassé
L'Amour assis au bord de la mer
rassemblant les colombes du char de Vénus
1755
marble
Musée du Louvre

Étienne-Maurice Falconet
L'Amour menaçant
1757
marble
(commissioned by Madame de Pompadour)
Musée du Louvre

Auguste-Xavier Leprince
The Lovers
ca. 1820
drawing
Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts

Kenyon Cox
Approach of Love
ca. 1890-93
oil on canvas
Cincinnati Art Museum, Ohio

Pablo Picasso
The Lovers
1923
oil on canvas
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Jess (Jess Collins)
Love's Captives
1954
printed paper collage
Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York

from The Day of Judgment

When the fierce North-wind with his airy forces

Rears up the Baltic to a foaming fury,

And the red lightning with a storm of hail comes

                                                Rushing amain down,

How the poor sailors stand amazed and tremble,

While the hoarse thunder, like a bloody trumpet,

Roars a loud onset to the gaping waters,

                                                Quick to devour them.

Such shall the noise be, and the wild disorder

(If things eternal may be like these earthly),

Such the dire terror when the great Archangel

                                                Shakes the creation;

Tears the strong pillars of the vault of Heaven,

Breaks up old marble, the repose of princes;

See the graves open, and the bones arising,

                                                Flames all around them.

– Isaac Watts (1709)