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| Bernardino Mei Allegory of Justice 1656 oil on canvas Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
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| Felice Ficherelli St Lawrence before 1660 oil on canvas Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
Love Lifts to God
From thy fair face I learn, O my loved lord,
that which no mortal tongue can rightly say;
the soul, imprisoned in her house of clay,
holpen by thee to God hath often soared:
and though the vulgar, vain, malignant horde
attribute what their grosser wills obey,
yet shall this fervent homage that I pay,
this love, this faith, pure joys for us afford.
Lo, all the lovely things we find on earth,
resemble for the soul that rightly sees,
that source of bliss divine which gave us birth:
nor have we first-fruits or remembrances
of heaven elsewhere. Thus, loving loyally,
I rise to God and make death sweet by thee.
– sonnet by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564), as translated by John Addington Symonds (1840-1893)
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| Scarsellino St Catherine among the Philosophers before 1620 oil on canvas Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
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| Ottavio Viviani Architectural Fantasy in a Landscape before 1641 oil on canvas Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
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| Alberto Carlieri Classical Ruins with Columns before 1720 oil on canvas Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
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| Alberto Carlieri Classical Ruins with Columns before 1720 oil on canvas Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
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| Bernardo Cavallino Judith with the Head of Holofernes ca. 1650-55 oil on canvas Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
Light and Darkness
He who ordained, when first the world began,
time, that was not before creation's hour,
divided it, and gave the sun's high power
to rule the one, the moon the other span:
thence fate and changeful chance and fortune's ban
did in one moment down on mortals shower:
to me they portioned darkness for a dower;
dark hath my lot been since I was a man.
Myself am ever mine own counterfeit;
and as deep night grows still more dim and dun,
so still of more misdoing must I rue:
meanwhile this solace to my soul is sweet,
that my black night doth make more clear the sun
which at your birth was given to wait on you.
– sonnet by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564), as translated by John Addington Symonds (1840-1893)
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| attributed to Giuseppe Caletti Caterina Cornaro, Queen of Cyprus receiving a letter from the Council before 1660 oil on canvas Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
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| Giacinto Brandi Christ entombed by Joseph of Arimathea before 1691 oil on canvas Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
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| Francesco Albani Landscape with Venus and Cupids before 1660 oil on copper Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
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| Guercino Landscape by Moonlight 1616 oil on canvas Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
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| attributed to Giovanni Francesco Romanelli Allegory of Poetry before 1662 oil on canvas Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
Heaven-Born Beauty
As one who will reseek her home of light,
thy form immortal to this prison-house
descended, like an angel piteous,
to heal all hearts and make the whole world bright.
'Tis this that thralls my soul in love's delight,
not thy clear face of beauty glorious;
for he who harbours virtue, still will choose
to love what neither years nor death can blight.
So fares it ever with things high and rare
wrought in the sweat of nature; heaven above
showers on their birth the blessings of her prime:
nor hath God deigned to show Himself elsewhere
more clearly than in human forms sublime;
which, since they image Him, alone I love.
– sonnet by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564), as translated by John Addington Symonds (1840-1893)
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| Giovanni Francesco Romanelli Bacchus before 1662 oil on canvas Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
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| Giovanni Francesco Romanelli Mars before 1662 oil on canvas Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |