Efforts

Ruth Orkin
Waiting for a Train, Penn Station, NY
ca. 1958
gelatin silver print
Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredericton, New Brunswick

Tommi Parzinger
Design for Textile
ca. 1950
gouache on paper
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Étienne Picart
Portrait of Madame de Montespan
1668
engraving
Kupferstichkabinett, Kunstsammlungen der Veste Coburg

Ed Pien
Pond #8
1993
oil on canvas
Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Kingston, Ontario

Hobson Pittman
Still Life no. 1
ca. 1930
linocut
Reynolda House Museum of American Art,
Winston-Salem, North Carolina

Alex Prager
Kimberly
2008
C-print
North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh

George Agnew Reid
Portrait of Mary Hiester Reid
1898
oil on canvas
Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto

Robert Riggs
Corner #1
ca. 1932-33
lithograph
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh

Michael Riley
Daryl
1989
gelatin silver print
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

Alexander Rodchenko
Pioneer Girl
1930
gelatin silver print
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

Florence Rodway
Portrait of a Woman
ca. 1907-1910
charcoal on paper
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

Roman Empire
Fortuna
AD 50
marble
Allard Pierson Museum, Amsterdam

George Romney
Contemplation
ca. 1772
oil on canvas
Denver Art Museum

Salvator Rosa
Landscape with Figures
ca. 1660
oil on canvas
Princeton University Art Museum

Lewis Morris Rutherfurd
The Moon
1865
albumen silver print
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa

Marten Ryckaert
Landscape
ca. 1610
oil on panel
Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp

François Sallé
Anatomy Class at the École des Beaux-Arts
1888
oil on canvas
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney

from Malpiglio, or, On the Court

(The young Giovanlorenzo Malpiglio wants to become a courtier; his father, Vincenzo, wishes Giovanlorenzo were less attracted to the court and more attentive to his studies; the Neapolitan Stranger, who functions as Tasso's spokesman, presents a cautiously balanced view.)

Neapolitan Stranger:  Then physical training, a good mind, and moral virtue, Signor Giovanlorenzo, are what make a courtier pleasing to his prince.

Giovanlorenzo Malpiglio:  So they are.

N.S.:  But are the virtues all esteemed equally in courts, or one more than another?

G.M.:  I suppose that courage and liberality are the most esteemed, because they are the most useful to everyone.

N.S.:  And perhaps the virtues which are most esteemed are also the ones which most impress the lord of the court.  It is reasonable for him to prefer those which are valued most highly.

G.M.:  It seems reasonable enough to me.

N.S.:  Well now, do we want the courtier to exercise only his body?  Or only that part of his soul which is subject to the passions?  Or his intellect too?

G.M.:  His intellect too.

N.S.:  Then he ought to learn mathematics and moral philosophy as well as natural science and theology, and he ought to be well acquainted with the historians, the poets, the orators, and with the noble arts, such as sculpture, painting, and architecture.  He ought to know enough about all these subjects so that no one can accuse him of ignorance.  Such knowledge will win high honor from his prince, and goodwill will follow honor.

G.M.:  In my opinion nothing is truer.  Love for what is not esteemed never seems to result from judgment but always from passion.

N.S.:  But is excellence in all these arts and virtues worthy of any envy?

G.M.:  Of a great deal, in fact.

N.S.:  Then those very things that win goodwill from princes cause envy in courtiers, and since it is impossible to attain both of the goals you mentioned earlier, we must either cease to care about being envied by the court or refrain from seeking the grace of princes with so much eagerness.

G.M.:  This is a great difficulty, for without both the prince's grace and the goodwill of other courtiers I do not see how the courtier can ever be happy.

N.S.:  If there is any way to achieve two such disparate goals, then, it will not be through great virtue or knowledge or other such qualities which call attention to themselves but through some other art.

G.M.  This is exactly what I have been waiting to hear about.

– Torquato Tasso (1585), translated by Dain A. Trafton (1973)