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| Giuseppe Mazzuola Death of Adonis ca. 1680-1710 marble Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Anonymous Italian sculptor working in Rome St Teresa in ecstasy ca. 1675-1725 marble Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Angelo Marinelli Kneeling Angel ca. 1675-1700 marble Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
A Foreshortened Journey
I found the stairs somewhat more difficult than I had expected and so I sat down, so to speak, in the middle of the journey. Because there was a large window opposite the railing, I was able to entertain myself with the little dramas and comedies of the street outside, though no one I knew passed by, no one, certainly, who could have assisted me. Nor were the stairs themselves in use, as far as I could see. You must get up, my lad, I told myself. Since this seemed suddenly impossible, I did the next best thing: I prepared to sleep, my head and arms on the stair above, my body crouched below. Sometime after this, a little girl appeared at the top of the staircase, holding the hand of an elderly woman. Grandmother, cried the little girl, there is a dead man on the staircase! We must let him sleep, said the grandmother. We must walk quietly by. He is at that point in life at which neither returning to the beginning nor advancing to the end seems bearable; therefore, he has decided to stop, here, in the midst of things, though this makes him an obstacle to others, such as ourselves. But we must not give up hope; in my own life, she continued, there was such a time, though that was long ago. And here, she let her granddaughter walk in front of her so they could pass me without disturbing me.
I would have liked to hear the whole of her story, since she seemed, as she passed by, a vigorous woman, ready to take pleasure in life, and at the same time forthright, without illusions. But soon their voices faded into whispers, or they were far away. Will we see him when we return, the child murmured. He will be long gone by then, said her grandmother, he will have finished climbing up or down, as the case may be. Then I will say goodbye now, said the little girl. And she knelt below me, chanting a prayer I recognized as the Hebrew prayer for the dead. Sir, she whispered, my grandmother tells me you are not dead, but I thought perhaps this would soothe you in your terrors, and I will not be here to sing it at the right time.
When you hear this again, she said, perhaps the words will be less intimidating, if you remember how you first heard them, in the voice of a little girl.
– Louise Glück, from Faithful and Virtuous Night (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2014)
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| Pietro Tenerani Portrait of Grand Duchess Maria Nikolayevna 1845 marble Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Berthel Thorvaldsen Cupid with Lyre ca. 1800-1825 marble Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Lorenzo Lotti Dead Boy supported by a Dolphin before 1541 marble Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |