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| Gerard Vandergucht Portrait of William Cheselden ca. 1733 drawing Royal Academy of Arts, London |
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| George Romney Sketch for Mrs Yates as the Tragic Muse ca. 1770 drawing (study for painting) Royal Academy of Arts, London |
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| James Nevay after Michelangelo Figure from the Last Judgment 1772 drawing Royal Academy of Arts, London |
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| James Nevay after Michelangelo Figure from the Last Judgment 1772 drawing Royal Academy of Arts, London |
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| James Nevay after Michelangelo Figure from the Last Judgment 1772 drawing Royal Academy of Arts, London |
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| James Nevay after Michelangelo Figure from the Last Judgment 1772 drawing Royal Academy of Arts, London |
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| William Chambers Design for Temple of Diana, Blenheim Palace ca. 1791 drawing, with watercolor Royal Academy of Arts, London |
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| William Chambers Elevation of Urn for Temple of Diana, Blenheim Palace ca. 1791 drawing, with watercolor Royal Academy of Arts, London |
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| Thomas Lawrence Satan summoning his Legions ca. 1796-97 drawing (study for painting) Royal Academy of Arts, London |
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| Richard Westall Portrait of William Daniell ca. 1800 drawing Royal Academy of Arts, London |
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| John Flaxman Design for Royal Academy Medal with Allegorical Figures of the Arts ca. 1819 wash drawing Royal Academy of Arts, London |
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| John Frederick Lewis At Uncle Charles the Binder ca. 1820-30 drawing, with watercolor Royal Academy of Arts, London |
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| John Frederick Lewis Beech Tree, Windsor Forest ca. 1820-30 drawing, with watercolor Royal Academy of Arts, London |
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| Penry Williams Sketch of an Oak Tree in a Landscape, drawn in a Letter 1824 drawing Royal Academy of Arts, London |
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| Richard Dagley Stable Boys in a Shower with Horse Cloths for Umbrellas before 1841 drawing Royal Academy of Arts, London |
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| Solomon Alexander Hart Drapery Study of Kneeling Ecclesiastic ca. 1841-42 drawing, with watercolor Royal Academy of Arts, London |
Rejoice in the Abyss
The great pulsation passed. Glass lay around me
Resurrected from the end. I walked
Along streets of slate-jabbering houses,
Against an acrid cloud of dust, I saw
The houses kneel, revealed each in its abject
Prayer, my prayer as well: 'Oh God,
Spare me the lot that is my neighbour's.'
Then, in the upper sky, indifferent to our
Sulphurous nether hell, I saw
The dead of the bombed graveyard, a calm tide
Under the foam of stars above the town.
And on the roof-tops there stood London prophets
Saints of Covent Garden, Parliament Hill Fields,
Hampstead, Hyde Park Corner, Saint John's Wood,
Crying aloud in cockney fanatic voices:
'In the midst of Life is Death!' They kneeled
And prayed against the misery manufactured
In mines and ships and mills, against
The greed of merchants, vanity of priests.
They sang: 'We souls from the abyss
To whom the stars are fields of flowers,
Tell you: Rejoice in the abyss!
For hollow is the skull, the vacuum
In the gold ball, St Paul's gold cross.
Unless you accept the emptiness
Within the bells of foxgloves and cathedrals,
Each life must feed upon the deaths of others,
The shamelessly entreating prayer
Of every house will be that it is spared
Calamity that strikes its neighbour.'
– Stephen Spender (1942)