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| Pietro Ricchi (Il Lucchesino) Allegory of Lust ca. 1660 oil on canvas Castello del Buonconsiglio, Trento |
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| Pietro della Vecchia Venus and Cupid with Bacchus (referring to the proverb Without Ceres and Bacchus, Venus freezes, signifying that sensuality cannot coexist with hunger and thirst) before 1678 oil on canvas Pinacoteca Egidio Martini, Ca' Rezzonico, Venice |
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| Guido Reni Sacred and Profane Love before 1642 oil on canvas Palazzo Spinola, Genoa |
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| Pietro Liberi Fidelity and Peace (detail) ca. 1665-70 oil on canvas Fondazione Cavallini Sgarbi, Ferrara |
Since there's no help, come let us kiss and part –
Nay, I have done: you get no more of me;
And I am glad, yea glad with all my heart,
That thus so cleanly I myself can free.
Shake hands for ever, cancel all our vows,
And when we meet at any time again,
Be it not seen in either of our brows
that we one jot of former love retain.
Now at the last gasp of love's latest breath,
When his pulse failing, passion speechless lies,
When faith is kneeling by his bed of death,
And innocence is closing up his eyes,
Now if thou wouldst, when all have given him over,
From death to life thou mightst him yet recover.
– Michael Drayton (1619)
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| Guercino Susanna and the Elders 1650 oil on canvas Galleria Nazionale di Parma |
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| Giovanni Antonio Burrini Susanna and the Elders 1686 oil on canvas Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna |
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| Giovanni Lanfranco Young Man in Bed with a Cat ca. 1620-22 oil on canvas private collection |
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| Guido Cagnacci Allegory of Human Life (Tempus Fugit) ca. 1650 oil on canvas private collection |
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| Francesco Maffei Mythological Scene ca. 1650 oil on canvas Gallerie dell' Accademia, Venice |
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| Bartolomeo Guidobono Bacchus ca. 1700 oil on canvas Palazzo Reale, Genoa |
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| Bernardino Mei Ghismunda clutching Guiscardo's Heart (scene from Boccaccio's Decameron) ca. 1650-60 oil on canvas Pinacoteca Nazionale di Siena |
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| Giovanni Francesco Guerrieri Death of Cleopatra before 1656 oil on canvas Galleria Nazionale delle Marche, Urbino |
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| Felice Ficherelli Death of Cleopatra ca. 1650-60 oil on canvas National Gallery of Slovenia |
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| Luca Giordano Diana and Endymion ca. 1675-80 oil on canvas Museo di Castelvecchio, Verona |
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| Antonio Carracci Juno and Jupiter ca. 1612 oil on canvas Galleria Borghese, Rome |