Allegory

Giovanni Bellini
Sacred Allegory
ca. 1490-1500
oil on panel
Gallerie degli Uffizi, Florence

Luca Signorelli
Allegory of Fertility and Abundance
ca. 1500-1502
oil on panel (grisaille)
Gallerie degli Uffizi, Florence

Lorenzo Leonbruno
Allegory
ca. 1508-10
oil on panel
Gallerie degli Uffizi, Florence

Karel van Mander the Elder
Allegory of the Holy League
1574-77
fresco
Sala di Fetonte, Palazzo Spada, Terni

attributed to Marcello Venusti
Allegory of Time with Putti representing the Seasons
before 1579
oil on canvas
Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, County Durham

Lodewijk Toeput (Ludovico Pozzoserrato)
Allegory of the month of January
before 1605
oil on panel
Rhode Island School of Design, Providence

Adam Willaerts
Allegory of the Dutch Victory of 1607 over the Spanish at Gibraltar
ca. 1615-20
oil on panel
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Simon de Vos
Allegory with Village Procession and Bacchus
ca. 1640
oil on copper
National Museum, Wrocław, Poland

Jan Brueghel the Younger
Allegory of Earth and Water
ca. 1650-60
oil on panel
Gallerie degli Uffizi, Florence

Jan Vorsterman
Allegory on the Path of True Love
1661
etching
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Jan van Wyckersloot
Allegory of Transience
ca. 1665
oil on panel
Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Kingston, Ontario

Girolamo Scaglia
Allegory on the Transience of Life and Earthly Power
ca. 1670
oil on canvas
Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Lucca

Joseph Werner the Younger
Diana of Ephesus as Allegory of Nature
ca. 1680
ink and wash on paper
Art Institute of Chicago

Nicolaes Verkolje
Allegory on the Prosperity of Holland
ca. 1700-1702
oil on panel
private collection

Étienne Jeaurat after Nicolas Vleughels
Allegory of Summer
1716
hand-colored engraving
private collection

Pierre-Joseph Verhaghen
Minerva as Allegory of Art
ca. 1773
oil on canvas
Museum Leuven, Belgium

Mathieu Ignace van Brée
Pictura and Genius as Allegory of Painting
before 1839
drawing
private collection

from The History of the Flood

So Noah sent forth a Raven. The raven said 'Kark!

I will not go back to the Ark.'

The raven was footloose,

He fed on the bodies of the rich –

Rich with vitamins and goo.

They had become bloated,

And everywhere they floated. 

The raven's heart was black,

He did not come back.

It was not a nice thing to do:

Which is why the raven is a token of wrath,

And creaks like a rusty gate

When he crosses your path; and Fate

Will grant you no luck that day:

The raven is fey:

You were meant to have a scare.

Fortunately in England

The raven is rather rare.

Then Noah sent forth a dove,

She did not want to rove.

She longed for her love –

The other turtle dove –

(For her no other dove!)

She brought back a twig from an olive-tree.

There is no more beautiful tree

Anywhere on the earth,

Even when it comes to birth

From six weeks under the sea.

– John Heath-Stubbs (1959)