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| Benedetto da Rovezzano Tomb of Oddo Altoviti 1507 marble Chiesa di Santi Apostoli, Florence |
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| Benedetto da Rovezzano Tomb of Oddo Altoviti (detail) 1507 marble Chiesa di Santi Apostoli, Florence |
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| Jacopo Sansovino Sepulchral Monument to Cardinal Giovanni Michiel and Antonio Orso (detail) ca. 1505 marble Chiesa di San Marcello al Corso, Rome |
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| Bartolomeo Spani Tomb of Francesco Molza (detail) 1516 marble relief Duomo di Modena |
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| Bartolomeo Spani Tomb of Beltrando Rossi (detail) ca. 1531-36 marble Basilica di Santa Maria della Steccata, Parma |
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| Gian Francesco Ferrari d'Agrate Tomb of Sforzino Sforza 1528-35 marble Basilica di Santa Maria della Steccata, Parma |
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| Valerio Cioli Sepulchral Monument to Pietro Paolo Mignanelli 1583 marble Chiesa di Santa Maria della Pace, Rome |
On Marble
Was liquid once that, smooth or coarse,
Though cool now to the cheek, still embeds
In ignorance its igneous past,
Being made of what it was not: the cut slabs
Displaying shells locked in cold embrace,
Lightning on water, darkest onyx
Glinting in sluices of rose.
Through exposure to other
Types – Travertines pearl-green as lichen,
Spring dawns of Rosa do Monte, Parians
Translucent white – one learns to distinguish
Stones expressing such variety
That the range within one kind may seem more
Disparate than the difference between kinds.
Yet, despite extremes of shade,
Texture, density, its present state portrays
Its change of nature: the enunciation
Of time's heat and pressure congealing
Into beauty resulting simply
From streaks of impurities spread
When the earth was an accident pouring.
So this stunning Rorschach, garbled
Mass of fire and ice, unintended
Pathos of natural formations,
Bespeaks – the way certain sounds and faces,
Rather than dissolving or merging,
Remain intact, constant as imperfections,
Anachronistic as eyes.
– Phillis Levin (1987)
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| Valerio Cioli Tomb of Michelangelo Personification of Painting ca. 1564-74 marble Basilica di Santa Croce, Florence |
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| Valerio Cioli Tomb of Michelangelo Personification of Painting (detail) ca. 1564-74 marble Basilica di Santa Croce, Florence |
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| Battista di Domenico Lorenzi Tomb of Michelangelo Personification of Architecture ca. 1564-74 marble Basilica di Santa Croce, Florence |
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| Battista di Domenico Lorenzi Tomb of Michelangelo Personification of Sculpture ca. 1564-74 marble Basilica di Santa Croce, Florence |
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| Battista di Domenico Lorenzi Tomb of Michelangelo Personification of Sculpture (detail) ca. 1564-74 marble Basilica di Santa Croce, Florence |
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| Battista di Domenico Lorenzi Tomb of Michelangelo Bust of Michelangelo ca. 1564-74 marble Basilica di Santa Croce, Florence |
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| Battista di Domenico Lorenzi Tomb of Michelangelo Escutcheons of Michelangelo and of the Florentine Accademia del Disegno ca. 1564-74 marble Basilica di Santa Croce, Florence |
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| Michelangelo Tomb of Pope Julius II Moses (detail) ca. 1513-15 marble Basilica di San Pietro in Vincoli, Rome |