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| Anonymous European Cameo Half-figure of a lady as Minerva 16th century carved onyx backed on slate British Museum |
And his strange property sets sighs to move
And wills man look into unformèd space
Rousing there thirst
that breaketh into flame.
None can imagine love
that knows not love;
Love doth not move, but draweth all to him;
Nor doth he turn
for a whim
to find delight
Nor to seek out, surely,
great knowledge or slight.
Look drawn from like,
delight maketh certain in seeming.
Nor can in covert cower,
beauty so near,
Not yet wild-cruel as darts,
So hath man craft from fear
in such his desire
To follow a noble spirit,
edge, that is, and point to the dart,
Though from her face indiscernible;
He, caught, falleth
plumb onto the spike of the targe.
Who well proceedeth, form not seeth,
following his own emanation.
There, beyond colour, essence set apart,
In midst of darkness light light giveth forth
Beyond all falsity, worthy of faith, alone
That in him solely is compassion born.
Safe may'st thou go, my canzon, whither thee pleaseth
Thou art so fair attired that every man and each
Shall praise thy speech
So he have sense or glow with reason's fire,
To stand with other
hast thou no desire.
– Guido Cavalcanti (ca. 1255-1300), from the canzone Donna mi prega, translated by Ezra Pound in Make It New (1935)
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| attributed to Christoph Weiditz Portrait-bust of Admiral Andrea Doria ca, 1533 carved slate medallion British Museum bequeathed by Sir Hans Sloane |
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| Anonymous Italian Cameo Laureate-head of an Emperor 16th century carved shell backed on slate British Museum bequeathed by Sir Hans Sloane |
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| Gaspare Morone Mola Hercules battling Centaur 1598 wax on slate model for medal British Museum |
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| Georg Schweigger Birth and naming of St John the Baptist 1642 carved slate relief after Albrecht Dürer's 1510 woodcut 'Death of the Virgin' British Museum |
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| Giovanni Martino Hamerani Profile-portrait of Queen Christina of Sweden ca. 1680 wax on slate model for medal British Museum |
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| Ermengildo Hamerani Venus and Hercules 1719 wax on slate model for reverse of medal commemorating marriage of James Stuart (the Old Pretender) and Clementina Sobieski British Museum |
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| Anonymous European cameo Two bearded heads facing one another before 1753 carved slate British Museum bequeathed by Sir Hans Sloane |
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| Josiah Wedgwood Frieze of Cupids in chariots ca. 1775-95 wax on slate model for unrealized plaque British Museum |
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| John Henning Mould for miniature reproduction of the Parthenon frieze 1819 carved slate British Museum |
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| William Wyon St George and the Dragon ca. 1815-51 wax on slate medallion with glass cover British Museum |
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| William Wyon Lion pacing to left below date-bearing palm ca. 1815-1851 wax on slate model for reverse of Indian gold Mohur coin British Museum |
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| William Wyon Winged Victory crowning bust of Lord Nelson on a monument ca. 1830-40 wax on slate model for medal British Museum |
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| William Wyon Queen Victoria holding orb and resting sceptre on lion ca. 1837-51 wax on slate model for reverse of five-pound piece British Museum |