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| Jan Jansz Treck Still Life with Pewter Flagon and two Ming Bowls 1651 oil on canvas National Gallery, London |
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| Pieter Claesz Vanitas Still Life 1625 oil on panel Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem |
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| Gerrit van Honthorst Wedding Banquet ca. 1613-14 oil on canvas Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence |
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| Gerrit van Honthorst Musical Banquet ca. 1619-20 oil on canvas Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence |
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| Cornelis de Man Game of Cards with Woman reflected in a Mirror ca. 1670 oil on panel National Trust, Polesden Lacey, Surrey |
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| Esaias van de Velde Banquet in a Garden 1619 oil on panel Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem |
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| Adriaen van Ostade Fishwife 1672 oil on canvas Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| Jan van Goyen A Calm ca. 1646-50 oil on panel Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest |
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| Dirck van der Lisse River Landscape with Bathing Figures before 1669 oil on panel private collection |
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| Philips Wouwerman Camp Scene with Trumpeter and Farrier's Booth ca. 1665 oil on canvas Wellington Collection, Apsley House, London |
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| Bartholomeus van Bassen Nieuwe Kerk aan het Spui, The Hague 1650 oil on panel The Hague Historic Museum |
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| Herman Verelst Young Man of the Dashwood Family ca. 1683 oil on canvas Guildhall Art Gallery, London |
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| Werner van den Valckert Young Woman with Pancakes 1624 oil on canvas private collection |
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| Werner van den Valckert The Emperor Caligula 1621 oil on canvas Schloss Caputh, Schwielowsee |
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| Pieter de Grebber The Lamentation 1640 oil on canvas Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
from The End of Science Fiction
The genre is dead. Invent something new.
Invent a man and a woman
naked in a garden,
invent a child that will save the world,
a man who carries his father
out of a burning city.
Invent a spool of thread
that leads a hero to safety,
invent an island on which he abandons
the woman who saved his life
with no loss of sleep over his betrayal.
– Lisel Mueller (1996)