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| John Everett Millais Portrait of Mrs James Wyatt Jr and her daughter Sarah ca. 1850 oil on panel Tate Britain |
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| John Hoppner Portrait of the Countess of Darnley and her daughter Lady Elizabeth Bligh 1790s oil on canvas Museum of Fine Arts, Houston |
"Mother knows that her child can show up in half an hour at the earliest, if circumstances are favorable; yet she already waits for Erika yearningly. Mother doesn't know that a lesson has been canceled; yet she awaits her punctual daughter, who always arrives home. Erika's will shall be the lamb that nestles down with the lion of maternal will. This gesture of humility will prevent the maternal will from shredding the soft, unformed filial will and munching on its bloody limbs. Suddenly, the door to the building is yanked open. Darkness shoots out. The staircase, that heavenly ladder to the evening news and subsequent programs, stretches upward. A mild, gentle glow wafts down from the second floor after Erika switches on the stair light. The apartment door is not opened; today no footsteps are recognized, because the daughter is not expected for another half hour. Mother is still absorbed in the final preparations, which will have their crowning glory in a meatloaf."
– from The Piano Teacher by Elfriede Jelinek, first published in German in 1983, English translation by Joachim Neugroschel published in 1988
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| François Gérard Portrait of Louise-Antoinette Scholastique Guéhéneuc, Madame la Maréchale Lannes, Duchesse de Montebello with her children 1814 canvas Museum of Fine Arts, Houston |
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| James Tissot Study for family of the Marquis de Miramon 1865 oil on paper Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut |
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| James Tissot Portrait of the Marquis and Marchioness of Miramon and their children 1865 oil on canvas Musée d'Orsay, Paris |
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| Agnolo Bronzino Portrait of Eleonora of Toledo and her son Giovanni de' Medici 1544-45 oil on panel Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence |
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| Allan Ramsay Portrait of Queen Charlotte with her two eldest sons ca. 1764-69 oil on canvas Royal Collection, Windsor |
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| Andrea Soldi Portrait of Sir Robert and Lady Smyth with their son Hervey ca. 1738-39 oil on canvas Yale Center for British Art |
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| Léon Cogniet Portrait of Maria Brignole-Sale, Duchess of Galliera with her son Filippo 1856 oil on canvas Musei di Strada Nuova, Genoa |
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| Philipp Otto-Runge Portrait of Pauline Runge with two-year-old son 1807 oil on canvas Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin |
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| Édouard Vuillard Child wearing a red scarf 1891 oil on cardboard National Gallery of Art, Washington DC |
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| Gabriël Metsu The sick child ca. 1660-65 oil on canvas Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| Mary Cassatt Mother and Child ca. 1884-94 oil on canvas Cincinnati Art Museum |
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| Benjamin West Portrait of Mrs Benjamin West II and her son Benjamin West III 1805 oil on canvas Dulwich Picture Gallery, London |