Allegorical

James Thornhill
Allegorical Scene
1715
oil on canvas
(modello for ceiling of Queen's State Bedchamber, Hampton Court Palace)
Sir John Soane's Museum, London

Anonymous Flemish Weavers
Allegorical Scene
ca. 1500-1535
wool and silk tapestry
Musée du Louvre

Francesco Solimena
Allegorical Scene
ca. 1688-89
drawing (study for painting)
British Museum

Andrea Appiani
Allegorical Figure
ca. 1808-1809
drawing
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

Luzio Romano (also called Luzio Luzzi or Luzio da Todi)
Allegorical Figure with Cross
ca. 1544-45
drawing
British Museum

Nathan Oliveira
Allegorical Drawing
1960
ink and gouache on paper
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

Isaac Oliver
Allegorical Figure
before 1617
drawing
British Museum

Thomas Stothard
Allegorical Figure
ca. 1775
drawing
British Museum

Antonio Verrio
Design for Allegorical Composition
ca. 1673
drawing
British Museum

Vincenzo Valdrè
Design with Allegorical Vignettes
for Ceiling of St Patrick's Hall, Dublin Castle
1787
oil on panel
Royal Dublin Society Library Archives, Dublin Castle

Elihu Vedder
Allegorical Figure of Poetry
1893
oil on canvas
Yale University Art Gallery

Elihu Vedder
Allegory of Peace and Prosperity
1896
oil on canvas
Library of Congress, Washington DC

Elihu Vedder
Allegory of Corrupt Legislation
1896
oil on canvas
Library of Congress, Washington DC

Marten de Vos the Elder
Allegory of Autumn (Bacchus)
ca. 1580-90
oil on panel
Palazzo Colonna, Rome

Marten de Vos the Elder
Allegory of Spring (Venus)
ca. 1580-90
oil on panel
Palazzo Colonna, Rome

Marten de Vos the Elder
Allegory of Summer (Ceres)
ca. 1580-90
oil on panel
Palazzo Colonna, Rome

Marten de Vos the Elder
Allegory of Winter (Aeolus)
ca. 1580-90
oil on panel
Palazzo Colonna, Rome

Russians

How silly that soldier is pointing his gun at the wood:

he doesn't know it isn't any good.

You see, the cold and cruel northern wind

has frozen the whole battalion where they stand.

That's never a corporal: even now he's frozen

you could see he's only a commercial artist

whom they took and put those clothes on,

and told him he was one of the smartest.

Even now they're in ice it's easy to know

what a shock it was, a long shock

that's been coming home to them wherever they go,

with their mazy minds taking stock.

Walk among the innocuous parade

and touch them if you like, they're properly stayed:

keep out of their line of sight and they won't look.

Think of them as waxworks, or think they're struck

with a dumb immobile spell,

to wake in a thousand years with the sweet force

of spring upon them in the merry world. Well,

at least forget what happens when it thaws.

– Keith Douglas (1920-1944)