Monday, November 9, 2026

Far Ago

Hans Thoma
Satyr Head
ca. 1890
drawing
(design for majolica fountain)
Städel Museum, Frankfurt

Hans Thoma
Portrait of arts patron Sofie Küchler
1895
drawing
Städel Museum, Frankfurt

Hans Thoma
Tulips
ca. 1905
drawing
(print study for alphabet book)
Städel Museum, Frankfurt

Hans Thoma
Self Portrait VI with Flower
1919
drypoint
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa

Thomas Lawrence
Study Head - Young Woman
ca. 1810-20
oil on canvas
North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh

Thomas Lawrence
Portrait of William Eden, Baron Auckland
1792
oil on canvas
Christ Church Picture Gallery, Oxford

Thomas Lawrence
Portrait of sculptor Antonio Canova
ca. 1816-20
oil on canvas
North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh

Thomas Lawrence
Portrait of Abraham Redwood
1791
oil on canvas
Redwood Library and Athenaeum, Newport, Rhode Island

Sebald Beham
Allegory of Victorious Christianity
before 1550
engraving
Wichita Art Museum, Kansas

Sebald Beham
Coat of Arms of Hector Pömer
ca. 1525
woodcut
Graphische Sammlung, ETH Zürich

Sebald Beham
Penitence of St John Chrysostom
(the saint is located in the distance at left on all fours)
before 1550
engraving
Wichita Art Museum, Kansas

Sebald Beham
St John the Evangelist
ca. 1541
engraving
Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Braunschweig

Marsden Hartley
Abstraction
ca. 1914
oil on board
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

Marsden Hartley
Melons
ca. 1927
oil on canvas
Indianapolis Museum of Art

Marsden Hartley
On the Beach
ca. 1940-41
oil on panel
Portland Museum of Art, Maine

Marsden Hartley
The Lost Felice
ca. 1939-40
oil on canvas
Los Angeles County Museum of Art

from Part Two of The Age of Anxiety 

     Rosetta said nothing but, placing a nickel in the Wallomatic, selected a sad little tune The Case is Closed (Tchaikovsky-Fink) and sang to it softly:

     Deep in my dark the dream shines
     Yes, of you, you dear always;
     My cause to cry, cold but my
     Story still, still my music.
     
     Mild rose the moon, moving through our
     Naked nights: tonight it rains;
     Black umbrellas blossom out;
     Gone the gold, my golden ball.

     Heavy these hands. I believed
     That pleased pause, your pause was me
     To love alone till life's end:
     I thought this; this was not true. 

     You touched, you took. Tears fall. O
     Fair my far, when far ago
     Like waterwheels wishes spun
     Radiant robes: but the robes tore.

– W.H. Auden (1944-46)