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| Anonymous German Artist Three Blacksmiths crafting Armour at an Anvil 16th century drawing Morgan Library, New York |
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| Bartolomeo Cesi Holy Family with St John the Baptist, adored by an unidentified figure ca. 1590-1600 drawing Getty Museum, Los Angeles |
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| Johann von Aachen Salomé with the Head of John the Baptist ca. 1605-1610 drawing Art Institute of Chicago |
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| Claude Lorrain Study of Tree Trunks ca. 1640 drawing Teylers Museum, Haarlem |
Prologue to Daphnis and Chloe
"When I was hunting in Lesbos, I saw the most beautiful sight I have ever seen, in a grove that was sacred to the Nymphs: a painting that told a story of love. The grove itself was beautiful – thickly wooded, flowery, well watered; a single spring nourished everything, flowers and trees alike. But the picture was lovelier still, combining great artistic skill with an exciting, romantic subject. Many people were attracted by its fame and came, even from abroad, to pray to the Nymphs and to look at the picture."
"The picture: women giving birth, others dressing the babies, babies exposed, animals suckling them, shepherds adopting them, young people pledging love, a pirates' raid, an enemy attack – and more, much more, all of it romantic. I gazed in admiration and was seized by a yearning to depict the picture in words."
"I searched out an interpreter of the picture and produced the four volumes of this book, as an offering to Love, the Nymphs, and Pan, and something for mankind to possess and enjoy. It will cure the sick, comfort the distressed, stir the memory of those who have loved, and educate those who haven't. For certainly no one has ever avoided Love, and no one will as long as beauty exists, and eyes can see. As for me – may the god Love let me write about others' passions but keep my own self-control."
– written in Greek by Longus (2nd century AD), translated by Christopher Gill (1989)
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| Eustache Le Sueur Study for St Gervasius ca. 1652 drawing Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| Michel Dorigny Study for the Muse Urania before 1665 drawing Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| Karl Dankwart Christ crowned with Thorns before 1704 drawing Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| Jacques de Lajoue and François Le Moyne Fireworks Display celebrating the Convalescence of Louis XV 1726 drawing Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| Francesco Guardi Architectural Capriccio - Garden Entrance to a Palace before 1793 drawing Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| Felice Giani Design for Ceiling Decoration ca. 1800-1823 drawing Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |
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| Pietro Antonio Novelli Seated Slave before 1804 drawing Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| Anton von Maron Judith with the Head of Holofernes before 1808 drawing Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| Augustin Pajou Lion Statue (formerly in the Villa Medici, Rome - now in the Loggia dei Lanzi, Florence) before 1809 drawing Princeton University Art Museum |
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| Vincenzo Camuccini Adam and Eve mourning the dead Abel before 1844 drawing Groeningemuseum, Brussels |
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| Alfred-Émile-Léopold Stevens Sheet of Studies for a General of the French Revolution ca. 1890 drawing Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts |
