Love. Jp. A. Calosse

speaks: —

      O, speak again, bright angel! for thou art

      As glorious to this night, being o’er my head,

      As is a winged messenger of heaven

      Unto the white-upturned wondering eyes

      Of mortals that fall back to gaze on him

      When he bestrides the lazy-pacing clouds

      And sails upon the bosom of the air.

      Aurora and Cephalus

      Pierre-Narcisse Guérin, 1811–1814.

      Oil on canvas, 257 × 178 cm.

      The Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow.

      Juliet.

      O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?

      Deny thy father and refuse thy name;

      Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,

      And I’ll no longer be a Capulet.

      Romeo. [Aside.]

      Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?

      Venus Induces Helen to Fall in Love with Paris

      Angelica Kauffmann, 1790.

      Oil on canvas, 102 × 127.5 cm.

      The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg.

      Juliet.

      ‘Tis but thy name that is my enemy;

      Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.

      What’s Montague? It is nor hand, nor foot,

      Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part

      Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!

      What’s in a name? that which we call a rose

      By any other name would smell as sweet;

      So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call’d,

      Retain that dear perfection which he owes

      Without that title: – Romeo, doth thy name;

      And for that name, which is no part of thee,

      Take all myself.

      Perseus and Andromeda

      Peter Paul Rubens, c. 1620.

      Oil on canvas, 99.5 × 139 cm.

      The Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg.

      Romeo.

      I take thee at thy word:

      Call me but love, and I’ll be new baptiz’d;

      Henceforth I never will be Romeo.

William Shakespeare (1564–1616)Romeo and Juliet (Act II, Scene 2)

      The Rock of Doom, from the Perseus Series

      Edward Burne-Jones, c. 1884–1885.

      Gouache on paper, 154 × 128.6 cm.

      Southampton City Art Gallery, Southampton.

      The Unseen Power

      We are the flute, our music is all Thine;

      We are the mountains echoing only Thee;

      And movest to defeat or victory;

      Lions emblazoned high on flags unfurled —

      They wind invisible sweeps us through the world.

Mawlawi Rumi (1207–1273)

      Eros Flying Is Struck by Psyche’s Beauty

      Maurice Denis, 1907–1908.

      Oil on canvas, 394 × 269.5 cm.

      The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg.

      He touched me, so I live to know

      He touched me, so I live to know

      That such a day, permitted so,

      I groped upon his breast.

      It was a boundless place to me,

      And silenced, as the awful sea

      Puts minor streams to rest.

      Pan and Psyche

      Edward Burne-Jones, c. 1872–1874.

      Oil on canvas, 61 × 54.6 cm.

      Private collection.

      And now, I’m different from before,

      As if I breathed superior air,

      Or brushed a royal gown;

      My feet, too, that had wandered so,

      My gypsy face transfigured now

      To tenderer renown.

Emily Dickinson (1830–1886)Poems

      Eros Finding Psyche

      Edward Burne-Jones, 1865.

      Watercolor, gouache and pastel on paper stuck on canvas, 70.3 × 48.3 cm.

      Manchester City Art Galleries, Manchester.

      Ode to Cassandra

      Darling, come with me and behold

      Whether the rose I saw unfold

      For the new sun her crimson gown,

      Has not this evening to lament

      The loss of all her red raiment,

      And colour lovely as your own.

      Eros Delivering Psyche

      Edward Burne-Jones, 1867.

      Gouache, 80 × 91.4 cm.

      Hammersmith and Fulham Archives and Local History Centre, London.

      Ah! Darling, see how soon, alas!

      She loosed her treasures on the grass

      Letting them fall on every side!

      Nature is well named step-mother

      When such a flower unloved by her

      Lasts but from morn till even-tide!

      Psyche Revived by Cupid’s Kiss

      Antonio Canova, 1787–1793.

      Marble, 155 × 168 × 101 cm.

      Musée du Louvre, Paris.

      Therefore, if you believe me, Dear,

      The while your life may still appear

      Clad in the greenest for its dress,

      Gather, O gather all