Saturday, October 18, 2025

Less Than Forthright

Roberto Gil de Montes
Masked Men
2003
pastel on paper
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York


Gauri Gill
Untitled (31)
2015
pigment print
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney

Hans Gjesme
Portrait of Neighbors
ca. 1925
oil on canvas
Sogn og Fjordane Kunstmuseum, Norway

Rudi Frey
Wojciech Jaruzelski (Polish Head of State)
1981
C-print
(commissioned by Time magazine)
National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC

Arvid Fougstedt
Self Portrait
1934
gouache on paper
Prins Eugens Waldemarsudde, Stockholm

Clara Fasano
Head of Young Man
ca. 1966
marble
Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia

Franciabigio (Francesco di Cristofano)
Portrait Study of a Man
before 1525
drawing
Musée du Louvre

Henri Goovaerts
Portrait of Lily Goovaerts
ca. 1900
oil on canvas
Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht

Ridolfo Ghirlandaio
Portrait of a Man
ca. 1510
oil and tempera on panel
Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts

Hans Gasser
Self Portrait
ca. 1840
drawing
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

Lucian Freud
Man with a Thistle (Self Portrait)
1946
oil on canvas
Tate Modern, London

Émile Friant
Madame Seymour
1889
oil on panel
Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts

Anselm Feuerbach
Self Portrait in Renaissance Attire
1847
oil on canvas
Kunstmuseum, Basel

Lucas Franchoys the Younger
Portrait of a Man
ca. 1640-50
oil on canvas
Städel Museum, Frankfurt

Edgar Fernhout
Portrait of Rachel Fernhout
1935
oil on canvas
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam

Leonard Freed
School Children in Uniform at the Funeral of Konrad Adenauer
1967
gelatin silver print
Art Institute of Chicago

Robert Frank
Formal Reception
1954
gelatin silver print
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

from Silvae

What horrid Crime did gentle Sleep displease?
That he refuses me the common Ease
Of Bird and Beast. Nay, every bending Tree
Seems but to nod with Sleep to waking me.
Fierce Rivers softly glide, Seas faintly roar,
And roll themselves asleep upon the Shore,
Seven times the Moon has measur'd out the Night,
Seven times my eyes outwatch'd her borrow'd Light.
The shining Stars, as in their Orbs they move,
As oft have seen me waking from above.
Still my Complaints reviv'd Aurora hears,
And mov'd with Pity, baths me in her Tears.
How will my Strength to bear my Grief suffice?
Like Argus I have not a thousand Eyes,
That may alternately their Watching take,
His Body never was all o're awake.
If any amorous youth kind Sleep denies
To lodge, at present, in his wanton Eyes
Clasping with longing Arms the yielding Dame,
And quits his Rest to ease a restless Flame;
Let the ill-treated God take wing in me,
Who have so long beg'd for his Company.
I will not ask him a whole Night to stay;
A happier man must for that Blessing pray.
Let him but call upon me in his way. 

– Statius (AD 45-96), translated by John Potenger (ca. 1700)