Anonymous Italian Artist Marcus Curtius leaping into the Chasm ca. 1510-20 maiolica plate Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Braunschweig |
Melchior Feselen Siege of Alesia by Julius Caesar, with the Battle against Vercingetorix 1533 oil on panel Alte Pinakothek, Munich |
Girolamo Mazzola Bedoli Portrait of Giberto Scardui 1554 oil on canvas Galleria Nazionale di Parma |
Eugène Delacroix Scene from Amadis de Gaule 1860 oil on canvas Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond |
Prospero Antichi Classical Warrior ca. 1590 drawing Morgan Library, New York |
Salvator Rosa Standing Figure of Soldier ca. 1656-57 etching Ashmolean Museum, Oxford |
Francesco Salviati Roman Soldier ca. 1550 drawing Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen |
Titian Portrait of a Man in Armour ca. 1530 oil on canvas Hammer Museum, Los Angeles |
Wallerand Vaillant Self Portrait with Helmet ca. 1650 oil on canvas Landesmuseum, Hannover |
Franz Anton Maulbertsch Gideon ca. 1795-96 oil on canvas (study for ceiling fresco) Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest |
Ancient Greek Culture Warrior Cutting his Hair 480-470 BC lekythos (excavated in Attica) Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio |
Ancient Greek Culture Grave Stele of Aristionos (Hoplite) 510 BC marble relief (excavated in Attica) National Archaeological Museum, Athens |
Ancient Greek Culture Grave Stele of a Hoplite 500 BC marble relief (excavated in Athens) National Archaeological Museum, Athens |
Ancient Greek Culture Four Hoplites flanked by Youth and Bearded Man 560-550 BC hydria Musée d'Art Classique de Mougins |
Ancient Greek Culture Votive Figure of a Hoplite 600-550 BC bronze statuette Worcester Art Museum, Massachusetts |
Ancient Greek Culture in South Italy Cuirass 4th-3rd century BC bronze Musée d'Art Classique de Mougins |
from The Shadowy Waters
Forgael. And yet I cannot think they're leading me
To death; for they that promised to me love
As those that can outlive the moon have known it,
Had the world's total life gathered up, it seemed,
Had the world's total life gathered up, it seemed,
Into their shining limbs – I've had great teachers.
Aengus and Edain ran up out of the wave –
You'd never doubt that it was life they promised
Had you looked on them face to face as I did,
With so red lips, and running on such feet,
Had you looked on them face to face as I did,
With so red lips, and running on such feet,
And having such wide-open, shining eyes.
Aibric. It's certain they are leading you to death.
None but the dead, or those that never lived,
Can know that ecstasy. Forgael! Forgael!
They have made you follow the man-headed birds,
And you have told me that their journey lies
Can know that ecstasy. Forgael! Forgael!
They have made you follow the man-headed birds,
And you have told me that their journey lies
Towards the country of the dead.
– W.B. Yeats (1906)