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| Moretto da Brescia St Justina with Unicorn ca. 1530 oil on panel Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna |
The Unicorn
This is the animal that never was.
Not knowing that, they loved it anyway:
its bearing, its stride, its high, clear whinny,
right down to the still light of its gaze.
It never was. And yet such was their love
the beast arose, where they had cleared a space;
and in the stable of its nothingness
it shook its white mane out and stamped its hoof.
– from Orpheus: a version of Rilke's Die Sonnette an Orpheus by Don Patterson (Faber and Faber, 2006)
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| Michelangelo Anselmi Virgin in Glory flanked by St John the Baptist and St Stephen 1530s oil on panel Louvre |
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| Titian Presentation of the Virgin (detail) 1534-38 oil on canvas Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice |
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| Pier Francesco Foschi Portrait of a Lady ca. 1530-35 oil on panel Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid |
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| Lorenzo Lotto Portrait of a man in a black silk coat 1535 oil on canvas New Orleans Museum of Art |
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| Lorenzo Lotto Portrait of a man with a felt hat 1541 oil on paper National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa |
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| Rosso Fiorentino Pietà ca. 1537-40 oil on panel transferred to canvas Louvre |
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| Francesco Primaticcio Ulysses and Penelope ca. 1545 oil on canvas Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio |
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| Francesco Primaticcio Holy Family 1541 43 oil on slate Hermitage, St Petersburg |
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| Paris Bordone Portrait of a Young Woman ca. 1543-50 oil on canvas Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid |
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| Agnolo Bronzino Adoration of the Shepherds 1539-40 oil on panel Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest |
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| Agnolo Bronzino Venus and Cupid with Envy 1548-50 oil on panel Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest |
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| Agnolo Bronzino Portrait of a young man ca. 1540 oil on panel Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| Agnolo Bronzino Portrait of Cosimo I de'Medici in Armor ca. 1545 oil on panel Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid |