Significant Expressions

Anonymous Flemish Painter
St Elizabeth with young St John the Baptist
ca. 1490
oil on panel
(after Hugo van der Goes)
Museo de Bellas Artes de Valencia

Anonymous Spanish Painter
Virgin and Child
ca. 1540-50
oil on panel
(after Raphael)
Museo de Bellas Artes de Valencia

Anonymous German Painter
Adam and Eve
16th century
oil on panel
(formerly attributed to Lucas Cranach)
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston

Anonymous Colombian Painter
Ecce Homo
17th century
oil on canvas
Denver Art Museum

Anonymous Peruvian Painter
Archangel with Arquebus
ca. 1680-1700
oil on canvas
New Orleans Museum of Art

Anonymous Flemish Painter
Christ and the Apostles
ca. 1650
oil on canvas
(after Anthony van Dyck)
Rubenshuis, Antwerp

Anonymous English Painter
Artists at St Martin's Lane Academy, London
ca. 1742-44
oil on canvas
Savannah College of Art & Design Museum, Georgia

Anonymous Spanish Painter
St Benedict of Palermo
1747
oil on canvas
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh

Anonymous Mexican Painter
Winged Virgin of the Apocalypse surrounded by Saints
ca. 1770
oil on copper (nun's badge)
Denver Art Museum

Anonymous Peruvian Painter
Virgin of the Seven Sorrows
ca. 1780
oil on metal, with silver frame
Denver Art Museum

Anonymous English Painter
Woman reclining in a Landscape
ca. 1840
gouache on ivory
(cabinet miniature)
Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto

Anonymous American Painter 
St Michael Archangel
ca. 1840
gouache on panel
Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia

Anonymous Indian Painter
Shiva slaying Elephant Demon
ca. 1850
gouache on paper
Asian Art Museum, San Francisco

Anonymous Japanese Painter
Hideyoshi at Daitokuji Temple in Tokyo
ca. 1850-1900
pigment and ink on paper
Asian Art Museum, San Francisco

Anonymous Mexican Painter
St Joseph and the Christ Child
with St Peter and St Paul
1856
oil on tin
Denver Art Museum

Anonymous Siamese Painter
Enthroned Buddha
ca. 1913
pigment on paper, with giltwood housing
Asian Art Museum, San Francisco

Penelope's Stubbornness

A bird comes to the window. It's a mistake 

to think of them

as birds, they are so often

messengers. That is why, once they

plummet to the sill, they sit

so perfectly still, to mock

patience, lifting their heads to sing

poor lady, poor lady, their three-note

warning, later flying

like a dark cloud from the sill to the olive grove.

But who would send such a weightless being

to judge my life? My thoughts are deep

and my memory long; why would I envy such freedom

when I have humanity? Those

with the smallest hearts have

the greatest freedom.

– Louise Glück (1996)