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| Eva Bonnier Sketch for Portrait of Brita Maria (Mussa) Banck, Housekeeper 1890 oil on panel Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
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| Eva Bonnier Portrait of Brita Maria (Mussa) Banck, Housekeeper 1890 oil on canvas Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
The Transfiguration of Beauty – A Dialogue with Love
Nay, prithee tell me, Love, when I behold
my lady, do mine eyes her beauty see
in truth, or dwells that loveliness in me
which multiplies her grace a thousandfold?
Thou needs must know; for thou with her of old
comest to stir my soul's tranquility;
yet would I not seek one sight less, or be
by loss of that loved flame more simply cold. –
The beauty thou decernest, all is hers;
but grows in radiance as it soars on high
through mortal eyes unto the soul above:
'tis there transfigured; for the soul confers
on what she holds, her own divinity:
and this transfigured beauty wins thy love.
– sonnet by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564), as translated by John Addington Symonds (1840-1893)
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| Ernst Josephson Portrait of artist Hugo Birger as a Mercenary 1879 oil on panel Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
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| Julia Beck Portrait of a woman 1881 oil on canvas Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
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| Akseli Gallen-Kallela Portrait of the artist's mother 1896 tempera on canvas Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
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| Ava de Lagercrantz Self-portrait 1889 oil on canvas Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
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| Emma Ekwall Portrait of Maria Ricci ca. 1850-60 oil on canvas Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
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| Gustaf Sandberg Portrait of Per Daniel Amadeus Atterbom 1831 oil on panel Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
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| Wilhelm Marstrand Portrait of the artist’s wife Margrethe and their son Poul ca. 1850-60 oil on canvas Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
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| Jørgen Roed Portrait of Miss Ida Wilhelmine Trock 1835 oil on canvas Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
A Prayer to Nature
That thy great beauty on our earth may be
shrined in a lady softer and more kind,
I call on nature to collect and bind
all those delights the slow years steal from thee,
and save them to restore the radiancy
of thy bright face in some fair form designed
by heaven; and may Love ever bear in mind
to mould her heart of grace and courtesy.
I call on nature too to keep my sighs,
my scattered tears to take and recombine,
and give to him who loves that fair again:
more happy he perchance shall move those eyes
to mercy by the griefs wherewith I pine,
nor lose the kindness that from me is ta'en!
– sonnet by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564), as translated by John Addington Symonds (1840-1893)
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| Anders Zorn Portrait of Jean Burnay 1884 watercolor Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
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| Anders Zorn Self-portrait 1882 watercolor Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
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| Bertha Wegmann Woman in Black 1872 oil on canvas Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
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| Bertha Wegmann Portrait of artist Hildegard Thorell 1880 oil on canvas Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |