Alarmed

William De Morgan
Tile with Sunflower Design
ca. 1882-88
glazed earthenware
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa

William De Morgan
Tile with Pineapple Design
1898
glazed stoneware
Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto

William De Morgan
Tile with Mongolian Design
ca. 1888-97
glazed earthenware
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa

William De Morgan
Tile with Eider Duck Design
ca. 1872-81
glazed earthenware
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa

Ottavio Leoni
Portrait of a Man
ca. 1605
drawing
Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Ottavio Leoni
Portrait of a Young Woman
ca. 1620
drawing
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

Ottavio Leoni
Portrait of Cornelio II Bentivoglio
1624
drawing
Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Ottavio Leoni
Portrait of Taddeo Barberini
1627
drawing
Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

James Ensor
Ostend Harbor
ca. 1900-1904
oil on canvas
Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp

James Ensor
Bourgeois Salon
1881
oil on canvas
Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp

James Ensor
Skeletons in the Studio
1900
oil on canvas
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa

James Ensor
Still Life in the Studio
1889
oil on canvas
Neue Pinakothek, Munich

Giorgio Vasari
Abduction of Hippodamia by the Centaur Eurytion
before 1574
drawing
Städel Museum, Frankfurt

Giorgio Vasari
Admiral Coligny supported after attempted Assassination
ca. 1570
drawing (study for painting)
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

Giorgio Vasari
Christ on the Mount of Olives
ca. 1547-50
drawing (study for painting)
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

Giorgio Vasari
Wedding Feast of Esther and Ahasuerus
ca. 1548-49
drawing
Städel Museum, Frankfurt

from Part Two of The Age of Anxiety

                              The Seven Ages

          A sick toss'd vessel, dashing on each thing;
          Nay, his own shelf:
          My God, I mean myself.
                                                      George Herbert, Miserie

Malin begins:
     Behold the infant, helpless in cradle and   
     Righteous still, yet already there is
     Dread in his dreams at the deed of which
     He knows nothing but knows he can do,
     The gulf before him with guilt beyond,
     Whatever that is, whatever why
     Forbids his bound; till that ban tempts him;   
     He jumps and is judged: he joins mankind,
     The fallen families, freedom lost,
     Love become Law. Now he looks at grown-ups
     With conscious care, and calculates on
     The effect of a frown or filial smile,
     Accuses with a cough, claims pity
     With scratched knees, skillfully avenges
     Pains and punishments on puny insects,
     Grows into a grin, and gladly shares his
     Small secret with the supplicating
     Instant present. His emptiness finds
     Its joy in a gang and is joined to others
     By crimes in common. Clumsy and alarmed,
     As the blind bat obeys the warnings
     Of its own echoes, his inner life
     Is a zig-zag, a bizarre dance of
     Feelings through facts, a foiled one learning 
     Shyness and shame, a shadowed flier. 

– W.H. Auden (1944-46)