 |
| Andrea Mantegna Holy Family with St Elizabeth and St John the Baptist ca. 1485-88 distemper and oil on canvas Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas |
 |
| Andrea Mantegna Holy Family with St Elizabeth and St John the Baptist ca. 1495-1500 distemper and oil on canvas Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden |
 |
| Leonardo da Vinci Virgin of the Rocks ca. 1483-86 oil on panel, transferred to canvas Louvre, Paris |
 |
| Leonardo da Vinci Virgin of the Rocks ca. 1506-1508 oil on panel National Gallery, London |
"About the twentieth day of the third month her father, the Minister of the Right, held an archery meeting at which most of the young noblemen and princes were present. It was followed by a wisteria feast. The cherry blossom was for the most part over, but two trees, which the Minister seemed somehow to have persuaded to flower later than all the rest, were still an enchanting sight. He had had his house rebuilt only a short time ago when celebrating the initiation of his granddaughters, the children of Kokiden. It was now a magnificent building and not a thing in it but was of the very latest fashion. He had invited Genji when he had met him at the Palace only a few days before and was extremely annoyed when he did not appear. Feeling that the party would be a failure if Genji did not come, he sent his son Shii no Shosho to fetch him, with the poem: 'Were my flowers as those of other gardens never should I have ventured to summon you.' Genji was in attendance upon the Emperor and at once showed him the message. 'He seems very pleased with himself and his flowers,' said his Majesty with a smile; adding, 'as he has sent for you like this, I think you had better go. After all your half-sisters are being brought up at his house, and you ought not to treat him quite as a stranger.' He went to his apartments and dressed. It was very late indeed when at last he made his appearance at the party. He was dressed in a cloak of thin Chinese fabric, white outside but lined with yellow. His robe was a deep wine-red colour with a very long train. The dignity and grace with which he carried this fancifully regal attire in a company where all were dressed in plain official robes were indeed remarkable, and in the end his presence perhaps contributed more to the success of the party than did the fragrance of the Minister's boasted flowers."
 |
| Sebastiano del Piombo Christ carrying the Cross ca. 1516 oil on canvas Prado, Madrid |
 |
| Sebastiano del Piombo Christ carrying the Cross ca. 1532-35 oil on canvas Prado, Madrid |
 |
| Lorenzo Lotto St Jerome Penitent ca. 1513-14 oil on canvas Brukenthal Museum, Sibiu, Romania |
 |
| Lorenzo Lotto St Jerome Penitent 1546 oil on canvas Prado, Madrid |
 |
| Girolamo Savoldo Magdalene at the Sepulchre 1530s oil on canvas Getty Museum, Los Angeles |
 |
| Girolamo Savoldo Magdalene at the Sepulchre ca. 1535-40 oil on canvas National Gallery, London |
"It was a morning when mist lay heavy over the garden. After being many times roused Genji at last came out of Rokujo's room, looking very cross and sleepy. One of the maids lifted part of the folding-shutter, seeming to invite her mistress to watch the Prince's departure. Rokujo looked out into the garden. So many lovely flowers were growing in the borders that Genji halted for a while to enjoy them. How beautiful he looked standing there, she thought. As he was nearing the portico the maid who had opened the shutters came and walked by his side. She wore a light green skirt exquisitely matched to the season and place; it was so hung as to show to great advantage the grace and suppleness of her stride. Genji looked round at her. 'Let us sit down for a minute on the railing here in the corner,' he said. 'She seems very shy,' he thought, 'but how charmingly her hair falls about her shoulders,' and he recited the poem: 'Though I would not be thought to wander heedlessly from flower to flower, yet this morning's pale convolvulus I fain would pluck!' As he said the lines he took her hand and she answered with practised ease: 'You hasten, I observe, to admire the morning flowers while the mist still lies about them,' thus parrying a compliment by a verse which might be understood either in a personal or general sense. At this moment a very elegant page wearing the most bewitching baggy trousers came among the flowers brushing the dew as he walked, and began to pick a bunch of the convolvuli. Genji longed to paint the scene."
– quoted passages from The Tale of Genji by Lady Murasaki, completed around the year 1021 (though an early version was read aloud to the Emperor in 1008), translated into English for the first time by Arthur Waley (1925)
 |
| Agnolo Bronzino Holy Family with St Anne and St John the Baptist ca. 1540-42 oil on panel Louvre, Paris |
 |
| Agnolo Bronzino Holy Family with St Anne and St John the Baptist ca. 1545-46 oil on panel Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna |
 |
| Titian Entombment 1559 oil on canvas Prado, Madrid |
 |
| Titian Entombment 1572 oil on canvas Prado, Madrid |
 |
| Bartholomeus Spranger Vulcan and Maia ca. 1585 oil on copper Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna |
 |
| Bartholomeus Spranger Venus and Adonis ca. 1595-97 oil on canvas Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna |