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| Frank Wollaston Moody The Study of Anatomy 1868 oil on canvas Victoria & Albert Museum, London (commissioned to decorate a gallery at the V&A) |
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| Bartolomeo Passarotti Sheet of Studies ca. 1570 drawing National Gallery of Art, Washington DC |
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| Bartolomeo Passarotti Sheet of Studies ca. 1570 drawing National Gallery of Art, Washington DC |
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| Anonymous Artist Sheet of Studies 17th century drawing Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh |
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| Francesco Fontebasso Figure of Apollo and Studies of the Artist's Hand ca. 1730-32 drawing National Gallery of Art, Washington DC |
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| Willem Panneels Study of Leg (écorché) ca. 1628-30 drawing Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen |
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| Willem Panneels Study of Striding Figure (écorché) ca. 1628-30 drawing Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen |
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| Willem Panneels Study of Torso (écorché) ca. 1628-30 drawing Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen |
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| Cesare da Sesto Male and Female Figures, from the front ca. 1508-1512 drawing Morgan Library, New York |
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| Cesare da Sesto Female and Male Figures, from the back ca. 1508-1512 drawing Morgan Library, New York |
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| Sir James Thornhill after Raphael Figure Study (from tapestry cartoon at Hampton Court, preparatory to painting copies) ca. 1730 drawing Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
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| John Singer Sargent Sheet of Studies ca. 1910 drawing National Gallery of Art, Washington DC |
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| John Singer Sargent Figure Studies for Judgment ca. 1905-1915 drawing National Gallery of Art, Washington DC |
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| John Singer Sargent Sheet of Studies ca. 1919-20 drawing National Gallery of Art, Washington DC |
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| John Singer Sargent Figure Studies for Triumph of Religion ca. 1891 drawing National Gallery of Art, Washington DC |
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| Henry Moore The Artist's Hand V (at age 81) 1979 lithograph Tate Gallery |
Clouds
How should the dreamer, on those slow
Solidities, fix his wandering adagio,
Seizing, bone-frail, blown
Through the diaphanous air of their patrols,
Shadows of fanfares, grails of melting snow?
How can he hope to hold that white
Opacity as it endures, advances,
At a dream's length? Its strength
Confounds him with detail, his glance falls
From ridge to ridge down the soft canyon walls,
And, fleece as it may seem, its tones
And touch are not the fleece of dream,
But light and body, spaced accumulation
The mind can take its purchase on:
Cloudshapes are destinies, and they,
Charging the atmosphere of a common day,
Make it the place of confrontation where
The dreamer wakes to the categorical call
And clear cerulean trumpet of the air.
Seizing, bone-frail, blown
Through the diaphanous air of their patrols,
Shadows of fanfares, grails of melting snow?
How can he hope to hold that white
Opacity as it endures, advances,
At a dream's length? Its strength
Confounds him with detail, his glance falls
From ridge to ridge down the soft canyon walls,
And, fleece as it may seem, its tones
And touch are not the fleece of dream,
But light and body, spaced accumulation
The mind can take its purchase on:
Cloudshapes are destinies, and they,
Charging the atmosphere of a common day,
Make it the place of confrontation where
The dreamer wakes to the categorical call
And clear cerulean trumpet of the air.
– Charles Tomlinson (1967)