Cupid and Psyche Jacques-Louis David (French; 1748–1825) 1813 Gray wash and pen and black ink with white paint and traces of black chalk The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio
The Punishment of the Arrogant Niobe by Diana and Apollo Pierre Charles Jombert (French; 1748–1825) ca. 1772 Oil paint on canvas, mounted on board The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
The Muse Erato Writing Verses Inspired by Love Charles Meynier (French; 1768–1832) ca. 1797 Pen and black ink, brush and gray wash, heightened with white gouache over black chalk underdrawing; squared in black chalk The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
“Ah,” says the darkness, reading her silence. “You do not know.” Again, the green eyes shift, darken. “You ask for time without limit. You want freedom without rule. You want to be untethered. You want to live exactly as you please.”
“What is a person, if not the marks they leave behind? She has learned to step between the thorny weeds, but there are some cuts that cannot be avoided––a memory, a photograph, a name.”
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