 |
| Hugo Birger Palm House, Göteborg 1883 oil on canvas Göteborgs Konstmuseum, Sweden |
 |
| John Hertzberg At the Well ca. 1905 bromide print Moderna Museet, Stockholm |
 |
| Carl Fredrik Hill Hollow Road, Fontainebleau 1876 oil on canvas Göteborgs Konstmuseum, Sweden |
 |
| Severin Nilson Linnaeus Monument, Stockholm ca. 1890 collodion silver print Moderna Museet, Stockholm |
-1999-gelatin-silver-print-Sogn-og-Fjordane-Kunstmuseum-Norway.jpg) |
| Jens Hauge Untitled (Landscape) 1999 gelatin silver print Sogn og Fjordane Kunstmuseum, Norway |
-1800-drawing-Museum-Folkwang-Essen.jpg) |
| Caspar David Friedrich Rock Arch in the Uttewalder Grund drawing 1800 Museum Folkwang, Essen |
 |
| Anders Kjær Olympia 1996 oil on canvas Stortingets Kunstsamling, Oslo |
-The-Cloud-1958-engraving-Statens-Museum-for-Kunst-Copenhagen.jpg) |
| Svend Wiig Hansen The Cloud 1958 engraving Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen |
 |
| Camille Pissarro Rue Saint-Lazare, Paris 1897 oil on canvas Ordrupgaard Art Museum, Copenhagen |
 |
| Jens Juel The Inner Alster in Hamburg 1764 oil on panel Hamburger Kunsthalle |
 |
| Francesco Guardi Balloon Ascent 1784 oil on canvas Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin |
 |
| Paul Bril Livestock Market in the Campo Vaccino, Rome ca. 1600 oil on copper Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux |
 |
| Isaak Levitan Path in the Garden at Ostankino 1880 oil on canvas State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow |
 |
| Joos de Momper the Younger Mountain Landscape with a Bridge and Four Horsemen ca. 1600 oil on canvas Musée du Louvre |
 |
| Adelsteen Normann Fjord Landscape ca. 1885 oil on canvas Nordnorsk Kunstmuseum, Tromsø |
 |
| Carel Willink Lions encountering a Ruin 1950 oil on canvas Dordrechts Museum |
Salutation
On this day, four years from my daughter's birth,
with our antennas spread alert for good wishes,
in flies a pheasant with a message worth
attention, it seems, if only because she crashes
blind against the house breaking her neck
and doing clumsy winged somersaults to the ground.
Statistics of our awe resist this wreck
of feathers which we stand awkwardly around,
for both the grown-ups and the children at the party
refuse to read this twitching omen, feeling
it's much too primitive for us and vaguely dirty
though one child to get a closer look, is kneeling.
We do not ask the neighbors, who take the bird
home for dinner, if they'll observe details
which are unusual or even if they've heard
of the interest Homer had in the lay of entrails.
My son selects two feathers for his wall
and pins them among his banners like crossed arrows.
Besides the pheasant, we've seen a cardinal
this spring and a few robins among the starlings and sparrows.
– Ernest Sandeen, from Children and Older Strangers (1962)