 |
| Valerio Belli Adoration of the Magi ca. 1535-45 bronze relief National Gallery of Art, Washington DC |
 |
| Valerio Belli Baptism of Christ ca. 1535-45 bronze relief National Gallery of Art, Washington DC |
 |
| Valerio Belli Betrayal of Christ ca. 1535-45 bronze relief National Gallery of Art, Washington DC |
 |
| Valerio Belli Christ among the Doctors ca. 1535-45 bronze relief National Gallery of Art, Washington DC |
 |
| Guy Pène Du Bois Group of the Artist's Friends 1938 watercolor on paper New Britain Museum of American Art, Connecticut |
 |
| Guy Pène Du Bois Shops before 1922 oil on panel Los Angeles County Museum of Art |
 |
| Guy Pène Du Bois Yvonne in Green Dress 1938 oil on canvas New Britain Museum of American Art, Connecticut |
 |
| Guy Pène Du Bois 3rd Avenue Elevated 1945 oil on canvas New Britain Museum of American Art, Connecticut |
 |
| Palma il Giovane Figures in a Landscape ca. 1600 drawing National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa |
 |
| Palma il Giovane The Nativity before 1628 etching Graphische Sammlung, ETH Zürich |
 |
| Palma il Giovane Portrait Sketch of a Lady ca. 1610-11 drawing Yale University Art Gallery |
 |
| Palma il Giovane Studies for The Flagellation ca. 1610 drawing Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen |
 |
| Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun Portrait of a Young Woman 1775 oil on canvas Musée des Beaux-Arts de Caen |
 |
| Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun Portrait of Madame d'Aguesseau de Fresnes 1789 oil on panel National Gallery of Art, Washington DC |
 |
| Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun Portrait of Ivan Ivanovich Shuvalov ca. 1795-97 oil on canvas North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh |
 |
| Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun Portrait of Theresia, Countess Kinsky 1793 oil on canvas Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena, California |
from Part One of The Age of Anxiety
And when in conclusion the instrument said:
Buy a bond. Blood saves lives.
Donate now. Name this station.
they could no longer keep these thoughts to themselves, but turning towards each other on their high wooden stools, became acquainted.
Rosetta spoke first:
Numbers and nightmares have news value.
Then Malin:
A crime has occurred, accusing all.
Then Quant:
The world needs a wash and a week's rest.
To which Emble said:
Better this than barbarian misrule.
History tells more often than not
Of wickedness with will, wisdom but
An interjection without a verb,
And the godless growing like green cedars
On righteous ruins. The reticent earth,
Exposed by the spade, speaks its warning
With successive layers of sacked temples
And dead civilians. They dwelt at ease
In their sown centers, sunny their minds,
Fine their features; their flesh was carried
On beautiful bones; they bore themselves
Lightly through life; they loved their children
And entertained with all their senses
A world of detail. Wave and pebble,
Boar and butterfly, birch and carp, they
Painted as persons, portraits that seem
Neighbors with names; one knows from them what
A leaf must feel. By lakes at twilight
They sang of swans and separations,
Mild, unmilitant, as the moon rose
And reeds rustled; ritual appointed
Tastes and textures; their touch preferred the
Spectrum of scents to Spartan morals,
Art to action. But, unexpected, as
Bells babbled in a blossoming month,
Near-sighted scholars on canal paths
Defined their terms, and fans made public
The hopes of young hearts, out of the north, from
Black tundras, from basalt and lichen,
Peripheral people, rancid ones
Stocky on horses, stomachs in need of
Game and grazing, by grass corridors
Coursed down on their concatenation
Of smiling cities. Swords and arrows
Accosted their calm; their climate knew
Fire and fear; they fell, they bled, not an
Eye was left open; all disappeared:
Utter oblivion they had after that.
– W.H. Auden (1944-46)