what is left to love, thus leaving thee?Alas! that cruel land beyond the sea!
Why thus dividing many a faithful heart,
Never again to meet, when thus they part?
Apollo and Daphne
Gian Lorenzo Bernini, 1622–1625.
Marble, height: 243 cm.
Galleria Borghese, Rome.
I see not, when thy presence bright I leave,
How wealth, or joy, or peace can be my lot;
Ne’er yet my spirit found such cause to grieve
As now in leaving thee: and if thy thought
Of me in absence should be sorrow-fraught,
Oft will my heart repentant turn to thee,
Dwelling, in fruitless wishes, on this spot,
And all the gracious words here said to me.
Jupiter and Io
Correggio (Antonio Allegri), 1531.
Oil on canvas, 163.5 × 70 cm.
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.
O gracious God! to thee I bend my knee,
For thy sake yielding all I love and prize;
And O how mighty must that influence be,
That steals me thus from all my cherish’d joys!
Here, ready, then, myself surrendering,
Prepared to serve thee, I submit; and ne’er
To one so faithful could I service bring,
So kind a master, so beloved and dear.
The Rape of Europa
Francesco Albani, 1639.
Oil on canvas, 76.3 × 97 cm.
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence.
And strong my ties – my grief unspeakable!
Grief, all my choicest treasures to resign;
Yet stronger still the affections that impel
My heart toward Him, the God whose love is mine.
That holy love, how beautiful! how strong!
Even wisdom’s favourite sons take refuge there;
“Tis the redeeming gem that shines among
Men’s darkest thoughts – for ever bright and fair.
Europa
Titian (Tiziano Vecellio), 1559–1562.
Oil on canvas, 185 × 205 cm.
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston.
She Walks in Beauty
She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that’s best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellowed to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.
Flora and Zephyr
Jacopo Amigoni, 1748.
Oil on canvas, 213.4 × 147.3 cm.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impaired the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o’er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express
How pure, how dear their dwelling place.
The Wedding of Bacchus and Ariane
Jan Brueghel the Elder and Hendrick Van Balen, after 1608.
Oil on copper, 36.5 × 51.5 cm.
Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden.
And on that cheek, and o’er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!
Leda and the Swan
Correggio (Antonio Allegri), c. 1531–1532.
Oil on canvas.
Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Berlin.
Katharine
We see you as we see a face
That trembles in a forest place
Upon the mirror of a pool
Forever quiet, clear, and cool;
And in the wayward glass appears
To hover between smiles and tears,
Elfin and human, airy and true,
And backed by the reflected blue.
Jupiter and Callisto
Peter Paul Rubens, 1613.
Oil on canvas, 202 × 305 cm.
Gemäldegalerie, Kassel.
Believe me…
Believe me, if all those endearing young charms,
Which I gaze on so fondly today,
Were to change by tomorrow, and fleet in my arms,
Like fairy-gifts fading away,
Thou wouldst still be adored, as this moment thou art,
Let thy loveliness fade as it will,
And
