The so-called portrait of Madonna Laura, the muse of Petrarch, after a painting said to be by Simon Memmi; open letter state. 1819
Print made by Raphael Morghen
The British Museum
"Among the many subjects which interested me, I dwelt especially upon antiquity, for our own age has always repelled me, so that, had it not been for the love of those dear to me, I should have preferred to have been born in any other period than our own. In order to forget my own time, I have constantly striven to place myself in spirit in other ages, and consequently I delighted in history; not that the conflicting statements did not offend me, but when in doubt I accepted what appeared to me most probable, or yielded to the authority of the writer."
"The life we lead is a sleep; whatever we do, dreams. Only death breaks the sleep and wakes us from dreaming. I wish i could have woken before this."
— Petrarch, in a letter to his friend Louis Heyligen, May 1349 — in which he laments death of his friends to the plague. (via fullerenes)
