Raffaele Monti’s, The Veiled Vestal Virgin, detail, 1847, unattributed
“In it’s profundity I saw–ingatheredand bound by love into one single volume–what, in the universe, seems separate, scattered:substances, accidents, and dispositionsas if conjoined–in such a way that whatI tell is only rudimentary.I think I saw the universal shapewhich that knot takes; for speaking this, I feela joy that is more ample.”— Dante, Paradiso Canto XXXIII 85-93
Image: Albrecht Dürer, ca. 1507
Clara Peeters, Still-Life with Pastry Crust, Chicken, a Pitcher, Olives, and Bread, c. 1622, oil on wood (via Museo Nacional del Prado)








