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| Judith Leyster Boy playing the flute ca. 1630-35 oil on canvas Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
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| Judith Leyster Self-portrait ca. 1630 oil on canvas National Gallery of Art, Washington DC |
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| Valentin de Boulogne Portrait of Rafaello Menicucci ca. 1630-32 oil on canvas Indianapolis Museum of Art |
Don't be too eager to ask
What the gods have in mind for us,
What will become of you,
What will become of me,
What you can read in the cards,
Or spell out on the Ouija board.
It's better not to know.
Either Jupiter says
This coming winter is not
After all going to be
The last winter you have,
Or else Jupiter says
This winter that's coming soon,
Eating away the cliffs
Along the Tyrrhenian Sea,
Is going to be the final
Winter of all. Be mindful.
Take good care of your household.
The time we have is short.
– from To Leuconoë, published in The Odes of Horace, a translation by David Ferry (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1997)
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| Anthony van Dyck Portrait of Flemish painter Marten Ryckaert ca. 1631 oil on panel Prado, Madrid |
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| Gerrit Dou Self-portrait ca. 1631 oil on panel Brooklyn Museum |
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| Luca Ferrari and Tiberio Tinelli Portrait of a lady 1630s oil on canvas Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna |
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| Peter Paul Rubens Portrait of Helena Fourment in a fur robe ca. 1636-38 oil on canvas Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna |
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| Frans Hals Portrait of an elderly lady 1633 oil on canvas National Gallery of Art, Washington DC |
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| Rembrandt Scholar seated with books 1634 oil on canvas Národní Galerie, Prague |
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| Paulus Moreelse Portrait of a man 1630 oil on panel Hallwyl Museum, Stockholm |
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| Thomas de Keyser Portrait of a lady 1632 oil on panel Gemäldegalerie, Berlin |
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| Hendrick Pot Portrait of Charles I ca. 1632 drawing, colored chalks Royal Collection, Windsor |
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| Gianlorenzo Bernini Portrait of a man ca. 1630 drawing, colored chalks Royal Collection, Windsor |
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| Anonymous Neapolitan painter The Locksmith ca. 1630 oil on canvas Dulwich Picture Gallery, London |
TO MERCURY
O fluent Mercury, grandchild of Atlas, you
Who gave the means of order to the ways
Of early men by giving speech to them
And laying down the rules of the wrestling-floor,
Where grace is learned in the intricacy of play,
It is your praise I sing, O messenger
Of Jupiter and of the other gods,
Clever deviser of the curvèd lyre,
Hider-away of anything you please
It pleases you to hide. The day you were born
You stole Apollo's cattle away from him;
Apollo had to laugh when he found out
That while he stormed and threatened you'd stolen away
His quiver and arrows too. You stole away
Priam of Troy from Troy, bearing possessions,
Guiding him past the light of Thessalian watchfires,
Past the enemy camp of the arrogant Greeks.
You guide the pious dead to their place of bliss;
With your golden wand you shepherd the ghostly flock.
You please both gods above and those below.
– from The Odes of Horace, a translation by David Ferry (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1997)