Friday, December 19, 2025

Raking Light (from the Left)

Léopold Burthe
Sappho with Lyre
1849
oil on canvas
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Carcassonne

Marcantonio Raimondi after Raphael
Man carrying the Base of a Column
ca. 1510-20
engraving
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

Rembrandt van Rijn
Self Portrait with Shadowed Eyes
ca. 1631
oil on canvas
Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel

Hans Thoma
The Artist's Cousin
ca. 1860
oil on canvas
Hamburger Kunsthalle

Jacob Jordaens
St John the Baptist
1620
oil on panel
Groninger Museum, Netherlands

attributed to Filippo Vitale
St John the Baptist
ca. 1640-50
oil on canvas
John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art,
Sarasota, Florida

Jan de Bray
St John the Baptist in the Wilderness
ca. 1675
etching
Graphische Sammlung, ETH Zürich

Michele Desubleo (Michele Fiammingo)
St John the Baptist
ca. 1650
oil on canvas
Auckland Art Gallery, New Zealand

Parmigianino (Francesco Mazzola)
Study of Antique Head of Julius Caesar
ca. 1530-35
drawing
Rhode Island School of Design, Providence

Pål-Nils Nilsson
Stig
1955
gelatin silver print
Moderna Museet, Stockholm

Auguste-Alphonse Gaudar de La Verdine
Classical Figure, Half-Length
1800
oil on canvas
Musée Bertrand, Châteauroux

Jakob Matthias Schmutzer
Académie as Jupiter with Thunderbolt
1770
drawing
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

Carlo Dolci
St Paul of Thebes (Paul the Hermit)
ca. 1645
oil on canvas
National Museum, Warsaw

Domenico Maggiotto (Domenico Fedeli)
La Pollaiuola
ca. 1750-60
oil on canvas
Galleria Sabauda, Turin

Pierre-Narcisse Guérin
Portrait of a Young Woman
1794
oil on canvas
Musée du Louvre

Giovanni Maria Mataloni
International Exposition of Industry and Labor, Torino
1911
lithograph (poster)
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

 Chorus of Theban Maidens [uttering sharp cries of terror]:

I hear the rattle of chariots around the city!
O Lady Hera!
The sockets of their heavy-laden axles are squealing!
Beloved Artemis!
The air is going mad with the brandishing of spears!
What is happening to our city? What will become of it?
What is the ending that god has yet to bring?

[They again utter sharp cries of terror.]

Now comes the bombardment of stones on the battlements!
Beloved Apollo!
Clashing of bronze-rimmed shields at the gates!
Child of Zeus, from whom 
comes the clean conclusion to battle that decides a war,
and you, blest queen Onca,* dwelling before the city,
protect your seven-gated home. 

O gods, you almighty defenders, 
O gods and goddesses with decisive power
to guard the walls of this land,
do not betray this city in the toils of battle
to an enemy of alien speech!
Do not fail to hear, to hear the prayers
of maidens with uplifted hands!

– Aeschylus, from Seven Against Thebes (467 BC), translated by Alan H. Sommerstein (2008)

*The sanctuary of this local goddess was just outside one of the city gates