“Human or animal, the mystical brow is as that great golden seal affixed by the German Emperors to their decrees. It signifies—‘God: done this day by my hand.’”
Herman Melville, Moby-Dick; or, The Whale
Jan Brueghel the Elder, Still Life of Flowers in a Stoneware Vase (detail), c. 1607
Portrait of Giovanna Tornabuoni (detail) - Domenico Ghirlandaio 1488
Pieter Bruegel the Elder, The Tower of Babel (detail), 1563
“Religion is a constant point of reference for the Camorra, not merely a propitiatory gesture or cultural relic but a spiritual force that determines the most intimate decisions […]. In the drug-warehouse laboratories in Scampia, bricks of hashish are often cut thirty-three at a time—like Christ’s age. Then they halt work for thirty-three minutes, make the sign of the cross, and start up again. A way to propitiate Christ and receive earnings and tranquility. The same happens with packets of cocaine; often before they are distributed to the pushers, the neighborhood capo blesses them with holy water from Lourdes in the hopes that they don’t kill anyone, especially because he would have to answer personally for the poor quality of the stuff.”
Roberto Saviano, Gomorrah: A Personal Journey into the Violent International Empire of Naples' Organized Crime System
Cenni di Francesco di Ser Cenni, Annunciatory Angel, 1395—1400
“The essence of being: the concealing silence.”
„Das Wesen des Seins: die verbergende Schweigsamkeit.“
Martin Heidegger, Ponderings II–VI: Black Notebooks 1931–1938
Eugène Cicéri, Design for a Stage Set at the Opéra, Paris, 1825—1890