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| Giulio Romano Figures of Victory flanking Barbarian Prisoners ca. 1532 drawing (study for fresco) Musée du Louvre |
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| Giulio Romano Figures of Fame in Clouds ca. 1538-39 drawing (study for fresco) Musée du Louvre |
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| Battista Dossi Allegorical Figures of Temperance and Prudence before 1548 drawing Musée du Louvre |
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| Nicolò dell'Abate Design for Figure of Victory ca. 1550-60 drawing Musée du Louvre |
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| Luca Cambiaso Personification of Strength ca. 1560-65 drawing Museo del Prado, Madrid |
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| Giovanni Paolo Lomazzo Allegory of Justice suppressing Injustice ca. 1572 drawing Musée du Louvre |
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| Carlo Caliari Figure of Victory before 1596 drawing Musée du Louvre |
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| Leonardo Corona Figure of Fame before 1605 drawing Musée du Louvre |
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| Pietro Testa Allegory of Justice ca. 1632-37 drawing Musée du Louvre |
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| Charles Le Brun Figure of Fame ca. 1665 drawing, with colored chalks (study for tapestry) Musée du Louvre |
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| Charles-Joseph Natoire Personification of France ca. 1730 drawing (study for painting) Musée du Louvre |
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| Nicola Bertuzzi (Niccolò Bertucci or l'Anconitano) Study for Allegories of Hope and Fortitude before 1777 drawing National Library of Brazil, Rio de Janeiro |
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| Andrea Appiani Personification of Strength 1808 drawing (study for fresco) Musée du Louvre |
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| Andrea Appiani Personification of Truth 1808 drawing (study for fresco) Musée du Louvre |
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| François Gérard Study for Allegorical Figure of Grieving Fatherland ca. 1830 drawing (study for ceiling mural, Panthéon, Paris) Musée du Louvre |
Ars Poetica?
I have always aspired to a more spacious form
that would be free from the claims of poetry or prose
and would let us understand each other without exposing
the author or reader to sublime agonies.
In the very essence of poetry there is something indecent:
a thing is brought forth which we didn't know we had in us,
so we blink our eyes, as if a tiger had sprung out
and stood in the light, lashing his tail.
That's why poetry is rightly said to be dictated by a daimonion,
though it's an exaggeration to maintain that he must be an angel.
It's hard to guess where that pride of poets comes from,
when so often they're put to shame by the disclosure of their frailty.
What reasonable man would like to be a city of demons,
who behave as if they were at home, speak in many tongues,
and who, not satisfied with stealing his lips or hand,
work at changing his destiny for their convenience?
It's true that what is morbid is highly valued today,
and so you may think that I am only joking
or that I've devised just one more means
of praising Art with the help of irony.
There was a time when only wise books were read,
helping us to bear our pain and misery.
This, after all, is not quite the same
as leafing through a thousand works fresh from psychiatric clinics.
And yet the world is different from what it seems to be
and we are other than how we see ourselves in our ravings.
People therefore preserve silent integrity,
thus earning the respect of their relatives and neighbors.
The purpose of poetry is to remind us
how difficult it is to remain just one person,
for our house is open, there are no keys in the doors,
and invisible guests come in and out at will.
What I'm saying here is not, I agree, poetry,
as poems should be written rarely and reluctantly,
under unbearable duress and only with the hope
that good spirits, not evil ones, choose us for their instrument.
– Czeslaw Milosz, translated by the author and Lillian Vallee (1968)