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| attributed to Annibale Carracci Seated Figure (half-length, viewed from the back) 1590s drawing Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| Annibale Carracci Landscape with Man sleeping beneath a Tree 1595 drawing Art Institute of Chicago |
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| Ludovico Carracci Alexander Farnese directing the Siege of Antwerp ca. 1580-90 drawing Minneapolis Institute of Art |
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| Ludovico Carracci Judith and Holofernes ca. 1583-85 drawing Minneapolis Institute of Art |
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| Ludovico Carracci Christ and the Woman of Canaan 1595-96 oil on canvas Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan |
from The Task
Thus heav'n-ward all things tend. For all were once
Perfect, and all must be at length restor'd.
So God has greatly purpos'd; who would else
In his dishonour'd works himself endure
Dishonour, and be wrong'd without redress.
Haste then, and wheel away a shatter'd world,
Ye slow-revolving seasons! we would see,
(A sight to which our eyes are strangers yet)
A world that does not dread and hate his laws,
And suffer for its crime; would learn how fair
The creature is that God pronounces good,
How pleasant in itself what please him.
Here ev'ry drop of honey hides a sting,
Worms wind themselves into our sweetest flow'rs,
And ev'n the joy that haply some poor heart
Derives from heav'n, pure as the fountain
Is sully'd in the stream; taking a taint
From touch of human lips, at best impure.
Oh for a world in principle as chaste
As this is gross and selfish! over which
Custom and prejudice shall bear no sway,
That govern all things here, should'ring aside
The meek and modest truth, and forcing her
To seek a refuge from the tongue of strife
In nooks obscure, far from the ways of men:
Where violence shall never lift the sword,
Nor cunning justify the proud man's wrong,
Leaving the poor no remedy but tears:
Where he that fills an office, shall esteem
Th' occasion it presents of doing good
More than the perquisite: Where law shall speak
Seldom, and never but as wisdom prompts
And equity; not jealous more to guard
A worthless form, than to decide aright:
Where fashion shall not sanctify abuse,
Nor smooth good-breeding (supplemental grace)
With lean performance ape the work of love.
– William Cowper (1785)
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| Cesare da Sesto Adoration of the Kings (detail) ca. 1516-19 oil on panel Museo di Capodimonte, Naples |
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| Cima da Conegliano St Sebastian ca. 1500-1502 oil on canvas Musée des Beaux-Arts de Strasbourg |
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| Dirk Coornhert Capture of King Francis I of France at the Battle of Pavia (Victories of Emperor Charles V) ca. 1570-80 cherry-wood relief Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna |
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| Dirk Coornhert Conquest of the Americas (Victories of Emperor Charles V) ca. 1570-80 cherry-wood relief Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna |
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| workshop of Dosso and Battista Dossi Appearance of the Virgin and Child with St Francis and St Bernardino to the Confraternita di Santa Maria della Neve ca. 1530-40 oil on canvas Palazzo dei Musei, Modena |
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| Albrecht Dürer Martyrdom of the Ten Thousand Christians 1508 oil on panel Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna |
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| Albrecht Dürer Three Putti with Shield and Helmet ca. 1505 engraving Art Institute of Chicago |
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| Albrecht Dürer Witch riding backward on a Goat ca. 1500-1502 engraving Art Institute of Chicago |
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| Matthias Gerung The Dream of Paris 1536 oil on panel Art Institute of Chicago |