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| Jacopo da Sellaio Penitent St Jerome before 1493 oil on panel Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
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| attributed to Cesare da Sesto Penitent St Jerome before 1523 oil on panel Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
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| attributed to Joachim Patinir Rest on the Flight into Egypt before 1524 oil on panel Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
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| Lucas Cranach the Elder The Ill-matched Couple 1532 oil on panel Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
Love's Flame Doth Feed on Age
If some mild heat of love in youth confessed
burns a fresh heart with swift consuming fire,
what will the force be of a flame more dire
shut up within an old man's cindery breast?
If the mere lapse of lengthening years hath pressed
so sorely that life, strength, and vigour tire,
how shall he fare who must ere long expire,
when to old age is added love's unrest?
Weak as myself, he will be whirled away
like dust by winds kind in their cruelty,
robbing the loathly worm of its last prey.
A little flame consumed and fed on me
in my green age: now that the wood is dry,
what hope against this fire more fierce have I?
– sonnet by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564), as translated by John Addington Symonds (1840-1893)
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| Jan Baegert St George and the Dragon, with St Catherine before 1535 oil on panel Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
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| Ambrosius Benson Wedding at Cana before 1550 oil on panel Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
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| Jan Matsys The Rent-Receiver's Office ca. 1554 oil on panel Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
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| Jan Matsys The Ill-matched Pair 1566 oil on panel Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
Beauty's Intolerable Splendour
If but the fire that lightens in thine eyes
were equal with their beauty, all the snow
and frost of all the world would melt and glow
like brands that blaze beneath fierce tropic skies.
But heaven in mercy to our miseries
dulls and divides the fiery beams that flow
from thy great loveliness, that we may go
through this stern mortal life in tranquil wise.
Thus beauty burns not with consuming rage;
for so much only of the heavenly light
inflames our love as finds a fervent heart.
This is my case, lady, in sad old age:
if seeing thee, I do not die outright,
'tis that I feel thy beauty but in part.
– sonnet by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564), as translated by John Addington Symonds (1840-1893)
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| Joachim Beuckelaer Market Scene with Ecce Homo 1565 oil on panel Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
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| Joachim Beuckelaer Market Scene with Ecce Homo, The Flagellation, and The Carrying of the Cross 1561 oil on panel Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
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| Andrea Schiavone Christ before Pilate before 1563 oil on canvas Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
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| attributed to Cornelis van Cleve Holy Family with the Infant St John before 1567 oil on panel Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
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| Leandro Bassano Feast of Anthony and Cleopatra ca. 1590 oil on canvas Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
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| Jacopo Bassano Adoration of the Shepherds before 1592 oil on canvas Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |