Allegorical

Jean-Joseph Taillasson
Allegory of Spring with Flora and Cupid
ca. 1791
oil on canvas
Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, County Durham

Jan Swart van Groningen
Allegorical Figure of Pride
before 1553
drawing
British Museum

James Thornhill
Allegorical Self Portrait
ca. 1715-20
oil on canvas
National Portrait Gallery, London

Cosimo Ulivelli
Allegorical Figure of Charity
ca. 1685
fresco
Oratorio di San Tommaso d’Aquino, Florence

Lucas van Valckenborch and Georg Flegel
Allegory of Winter
1595
oil on canvas
private collection

workshop of Balthasar Permoser
Allegorical Figure of Vigilance
ca. 1720-30
terracotta
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

Adriaen van de Venne
Allegory of the Twelve Years Truce
1616
oil on panel
Musée du Louvre

Elias Hainzelmann after Joseph Werner
Ex Libris - Giovanni Andrea Guidotti
with Allegorical Figure of Plenty
ca. 1675-80
engraving
British Museum

Lucas van Leyden
Allegorical Figure of Charity
1530
engraving
British Museum

Riccio (Andrea Briosco)
Allegory of Fame
(tomb element for Girolamo and Marc Antonio della Torre)
ca. 1515-20
bronze relief
Musée du Louvre

Joos van Winghe
Allegory of Touch
(amorous couple with tortoise)
ca. 1595
oil on panel
private collection

Theodor van Thulden
Allegory of the Return of Peace
1654
oil on canvas
Noordbrabants Museum 's Hertogenbosch, Netherlands

Marten van Valckenborch
Parable of the Good Shepherd
(Allegory of the month of June)
ca. 1580-90
oil on canvas
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Paul de Vos
Allegory of Marital Fidelity
ca. 1650
oil on canvas
Landesmuseum Mainz

Theodor van Thulden (figures) and Adriaen van Utrecht (still life elements)
Allegory on the Transience of Happiness
ca. 1640-45
oil on canvas
Alte Pinakothek, Munich

Thomas Wyck
Allegory of the Fine Arts, with Self Portrait
ca. 1640
oil on canvas
private collection

Hendrick Andriessen and Nicolaes van Verendael
Allegory of Mortality
1655 (tabletop objects) and 1679 (flowers)
oil on canvas
Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice

from Simplify Me When I'm Dead

Time's wrong-way telescope will show

a minute man ten years hence

and by distance simplified.

Through that lens see if I seem

substance or nothing: of the world

deserving mention or charitable oblivion,

not by momentary spleen

or love into decisions hurled,

leisurely arrive at an opinion.

Remember me when I am dead

and simplify me when I'm dead.

– Keith Douglas (1920-1944)