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| Carlo Saraceni St Cecilia and Angel ca. 1610 oil on canvas Palazzo Barberini, Rome |
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| Carlo Saraceni Martyrdom of St Cecilia ca. 1610 oil on canvas Los Angeles County Museum of Art |
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| Peter Paul Rubens Venus and Adonis ca. 1610 oil on canvas Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf |
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| Peter Paul Rubens Venus and Adonis ca. 1610-11 oil on panel Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
"Fortunately the cherry blossom was unusually early this year and in Suzaku's gardens it already made a delightful show. A tremendous cleaning and polishing was set afoot at his palace in preparation for the Emperor's arrival; and meanwhile the noblemen and princes who were to accompany His Majesty thought of nothing but their new clothes. They had been ordered to wear dove-grey lined with pale green; the Emperor himself was to be dressed all in crimson. By special command Genji was also in attendance on the day of the Visit, and he too wore red; so that frequently during the day the figure of the Emperor seemed to merge into that of his Minister and it was as though the two of them formed but one crimson giant. Everyone present had taken unusual pains with his appearance, and their host, the ex-Emperor, who had grown into a far better-looking man than at one time seemed possible, evidently took much more interest in such matters than before, and was himself magnificently apparelled."
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| Bartolomeo Cavarozzi Holy Family with St Catherine ca. 1617-19 oil on canvas Prado, Madrid |
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| Bartolomeo Cavarozzi Madonna and Child with Angels ca. 1620 oil on canvas Museum of Fine Arts, Houston |
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| Guido Reni Cleopatra ca. 1628 oil on canvas Royal Collection, Great Britain |
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| Guido Reni Cleopatra ca. 1640 oil on canvas Prado, Madrid |
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| Francisco de Zurbarán St Casilda ca. 1630-35- oil on canvas Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid |
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| Francisco de Zurbarán St Elisabeth of Portugal ca. 1635 oil on canvas Prado, Madrid |
"Murasaki had a peculiar talent in such matters, and there was not a woman in all the world who chose her dyes with a subtler feeling for colour, as Genji very well knew. Dress after dress was now brought in fresh from the beating-room, and Genji would choose some robe now for its marvelous dark red, now for some curious and exciting pattern or colour-blend, and have it laid aside. 'This one in the box at the end,' he would say, handing some dress to one of the waiting-women who were standing beside the long narrow clothes-boxes; or 'Try this one in your box.' 'You seem to be making a very just division, and I am sure no one ought to feel aggrieved. But, if I may make a suggestion, would it not be better to think whether the stuffs will suit the complexions of their recipient rather than whether they look nice in the box?' 'I know just why you said that,' Genji laughed. 'You want me to launch out into a discussion of each lady's personal charms, in order that you may know in what light she appears to me. I am going to turn the tables. You shall have for your own whichever of my stuffs you like, and by your choice I shall know how you regard yourself.' 'I have not the least idea what I look like,' she answered, blushing slightly; 'after all, I am the last person in the world to consult upon the subject. One never sees oneself except in the mirror . . .'"
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| Anthony van Dyck Lamentation ca. 1634-40 oil on canvas Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao |
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| Anthony van Dyck Lamentation ca. 1635 oil on canvas Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp |
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| Nicolas Poussin Ecstasy of St Paul 1641 oil on canvas Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Florida |
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| Nicolas Poussin Assumption of the Virgin 1649-50 oil on canvas Louvre, Paris |
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| Georges de La Tour Penitent Magdalene ca. 1638-40 oil on canvas Los Angeles County Museum of Art |
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| Georges de La Tour Penitent Magdalene ca. 1640 oil on canvas Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
"After much debating the presents were distributed as follows: to Murasaki herself, a kirtle yellow without and flowered within, lightly diapered with the red plum-blossom crest – a marvel of modern dyeing. To the Akashi child, a long close-fitting dress, white without, yellow within, the whole seen through an outer facing of shimmering red gauze. To the Lady from the Village of Falling Flowers he gave a light blue robe with a pattern of sea-shells woven into it. Lovely though the dress was as an example of complicated weaving, it would have been too light in tone had it not been covered with a somewhat heavy russet floss. To Tamakatsura he sent, among other gifts, a close-fitting dress with a pattern of mountain-kerria woven upon a plain red background. Murasaki seemed scarcely to have glanced at it; but all the while, true to Genji's surmise, she was guessing the meaning of his choice. Like her father To no Chujo, Tamakatsura (she conjectured) was doubtless good-looking; but certainly lacked his liveliness and love of adventure. Murasaki had no idea that she in any way betrayed what was going on in her mind and was surprised when Genji suddenly said: 'In the end this matching of dresses and complexions breaks down entirely and one gives almost at hazard. I can never find anything that does justice to my handsome friends, or anything that it does not seem a shame to waste on the ugly ones' . . . and so saying he glanced with a smile at the present which was about to be despatched to Suyetsumu, a dress white without and green within, what is called a 'willow-weaving,' with an elegant Chinese vine-scroll worked upon it. To the Lady of Akashi he sent a white kirtle with a spray of plum-blossom on it, and birds and butterflies fluttering hither and thither, cut somewhat in the Chinese fashion, with a very handsome dark purple lining. This also caught Murasaki's observant eye and she augured from it that the rival of whom Genji spoke to her so lightly was in reality occupying a considerable place in his thoughts. To Utsusemi, now turned nun, he sent a grey cloak, and, in addition, a coat of his own which he knew she would remember – jasmine-sprinkled, faced with Courtier's crimson and lined with russet. In each box was a note in which the recipient was begged to favour him by wearing these garments during the Festival of the New Year."
– 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)
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| Guercino Allegory of painting and sculpture 1637 oil on canvas Palazzo Barberini, Rome |
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| Guercino Amnon and Tamar 1649-50 oil on canvas National Gallery of Art, Washington DC |
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| Claude de Jongh London Bridge from the west ca. 1632 oil on panel Yale Center for British Art |
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| Claude de Jongh London Bridge from the west 1650 oil on panel Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
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| Jacob Jordaens The Tribute Money (Peter finding the silver coin in the mouth of the fish) ca. 1616 oil on canvas Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen |
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| Jacob Jordaens Holy Family with various persons and animals in a boat 1652 oil on canvas Skokloster Castle, Sweden |