 |
| Antonio Vivarini Madonna and Child ca. 1435-45 tempera on panel Museum of Fine Arts, Houston |
 |
| Sandro Botticelli Madonna and Child with St John the Baptist and St John the Evangelist (Bardi Altarpiece) ca. 1484-85 oil on panel Gemäldegalerie, Berlin |
 |
| Albrecht Dürer Adoration of the Trinity (Landauer Altarpiece) 1511 oil on panel Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna |
 |
| Raphael Madonna in the Meadow ca. 1505-06 oil on panel Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna |
 |
| Giampietrino Virgin and Child ca. 1510-15 oil on panel Museo Poldi Pezzoli, Milan |
The tulips are too red in the first place, they hurt me.
Even through the gift paper I could hear them breathe
Lightly, through their white swaddlings, like an awful baby.
Their redness talks to my wound, it corresponds.
They are subtle : they seem to float, though they weigh me down,
Upsetting me with their sudden tongues and their color,
A dozen red lead sinkers round my neck.
* * *
The walls, also seem to be warming themselves.
The tulips should be behind bars like dangerous animals;
They are opening like the mouth of some great African cat,
And I am aware of my heart: it opens and closes
Its bowl of red blooms out of sheer love of me.
– from Tulips by Sylvia Plath (1960)
 |
| Altobello Melone Christ carrying the Cross ca. 1515 oil on panel National Gallery, London |
 |
| Giuliano Bugiardini Madonna and Child ca. 1530 oil on panel Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide |
 |
| Paris Bordone Christ as Light of the World before 1571 oil on canvas National Gallery, London |
 |
| Maerten de Vos Incredulity of Thomas 1574 oil on canvas Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp |
 |
| Battistello Caracciolo Christ on the Mount of Olives ca. 1615-17 oil on canvas Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna |
First, night opened out.
Bodies took root from rotting salt
and seawater into evidence of red life.
Relentless waves pumped tidal air
into a single heartbeat.
In the pulp of shadow and space,
water sucked our people from sleep.
That's how it all began. At least
that's all we can remember to tell.
It began with water and heartbeat.
In minutes we tunneled through
corn woman's navel into tinges
of moist red men and women.
Yawning, we collected our chins,
knees, breasts, and sure-footed determination.
A few thousand years before
Moses parted the Red Sea, and the
God with three heads was born in the Middle East,
the Choctaw people danced
our homeland infra red.
– from Evidence of Red by Leanne Howe (2005)
 |
| Jusepe de Ribera Ecce Homo ca. 1620 oil on canvas Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Madrid |
 |
| Gerrit van Honthorst Adoration of the Shepherds 1622 oil on canvas Pomerania State Museum, Germany |
 |
| Abraham Bloemaert Adoration of the Magi 1624 oil on canvas Centraal Museum, Utrecht |
 |
| Bernardo Strozzi The Tribute Money 1630s canvas Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest |
 |
| Mateo Cerezo Ecce Homo ca. 1660-66 oil on canvas Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest |
S: Exactly it is red that I like and there is a link between geology and character
I: What is this link
S: I have often wondered
I: Identity memory eternity your constant themes
S: And how can regret be red and might it be
I: Which brings us to Helen
S: There is no Helen
I: I believe our time is up
S: Thank you for this and for everything
I: It is I who thank you
S: So glad you didn't ask about the little red dog
I: Next time
S: That's three
– concluding lines of Anne Carson's 'novel in verse' Autobiography of Red (New York: Knopf, 1998)