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| John Linnell River Landscape - Sunset ca. 1860 oil on panel Yale Center for British Art |
EVENING
The mountain summits sleep: glens, cliffs and caves,
Are silent – all the black earth's reptile brood –
The bees – the wild beasts of the mountain wood:
In depths beneath the dark red ocean's waves
Its monsters rest, whilst wrapt in bower and spray
Each bird is hushed that stretched its pinions to the day.
– written in Greek by Alcman (7th century BC), translated by Thomas Campbell (1803)
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| John Linnell Wheat ca. 1860 oil on canvas National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne |
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| John Linnell Study for 'Reaping' 1858 oil on panel Yale Center for British Art |
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| Joseph Severn The Deserted Village 1857 oil on canvas, mounted on panel Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide |
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| Thomas Gainsborough Landscape with Shepherd ca. 1786 painted on glass Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
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| Thomas Gainsborough Wooded Moonlight Landscape ca. 1781-82 painted on glass Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
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| Edwin Landseer Highland Landscape ca. 1830 oil on panel Yale Center for British Art |
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| John Sell Cotman A Summer Day ca. 1827-37 watercolor Yale Center for British Art |
Whilst in the lands of unexhausted light
O'er which the God-like sun's unwearied sight,
Ne're winks in clouds, or sleeps at night,
And endless spring of age the good enjoy,
Where neither want does pinch, nor plenty cloy,
There neither earth nor sea they plow,
Nor ought to labour ow
For food, that whil'st it nourishes does decay,
And in the lamp of life consumes away.
Thrice had these men through mortal bodies past,
Did thrice the trial undergo,
Till all their little dross were purged at last,
The furnace had no more to do.
Then in rich Saturn's peaceful state
Were they for sacred treasures plac'd,
The Muse-discovered world of Islands Fortunate.
– written in Greek by Pindar (5th century BC), translated by Abraham Cowley (1656)
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| John Sell Cotman Waterfall in Desolate Landscape before 1842 watercolor Yale Center for British Art |
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| Joseph Mallord William Turner Landscape with river and bay in background ca. 1835-40 oil on canvas Louvre, Paris |
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| Joseph Mallord William Turner Landscape with water ca. 1840 oil on canvas Tate Britain |
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| John Constable Extensive landscape with grey clouds ca. 1821 oil on paper, mounted on canvas Yale Center for British Art |
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| Joseph Wright of Derby Matlock Tor by moonlight ca. 1777-80 oil on canvas Yale Center for British Art |
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| Joseph Wright of Derby Lake by moonlight ca. 1780-82 oil on canvas Yale Center for British Art |
SILENCE IN DEATH
Whene'er the Fates resume thy breath,
No bright reversion shalt thou gain,
Unnotic'd thou shalt sink in death,
Nor even thy memory remain;
For thy rude hand ne'er pluck'd the lovely rose
Which on the mountain of Pieria blows.
To Pluto's mansions shalt thou go,
The stern inexorable king,
Among th' ignoble shades below
A vain, ignoble thing;
While honour'd Sappho's Muse-embellish'd name
Shall flourish in eternity of fame.
– written in Greek by Sappho (7th-6th centuries BC), translated by Francis Fawkes (1760)