Portrait of a Lady
Come, dearest of painters, master of Rhodian art, and paint for me the picture of my absent mistress in the way I tell you.
First, paint her hair soft and black — and if wax can render it — paint it scented with perfume. Above her cheek and under her dark hair paint her ivory temple. Do not cut or entirely join her eyebrows and put in that imperceptible dark shadow about her eyes. Make her eyes of real fire, clear like Athene's, and languid, like the Cytherean's.
Paint her nostrils and cheeks, mingling roses with milk; paint her mouth like Persuasion, ready for kisses. Let all the Graces flutter about the voluptuous curve of her face and around her marble-white throat.
Drape the rest of her in a shaded purple peplum, but let a very little of her flesh gleam through it to show she has a body.
It is enough — I can see her: but a little and the wax would speak!
First, paint her hair soft and black — and if wax can render it — paint it scented with perfume. Above her cheek and under her dark hair paint her ivory temple. Do not cut or entirely join her eyebrows and put in that imperceptible dark shadow about her eyes. Make her eyes of real fire, clear like Athene's, and languid, like the Cytherean's.
Paint her nostrils and cheeks, mingling roses with milk; paint her mouth like Persuasion, ready for kisses. Let all the Graces flutter about the voluptuous curve of her face and around her marble-white throat.
Drape the rest of her in a shaded purple peplum, but let a very little of her flesh gleam through it to show she has a body.
It is enough — I can see her: but a little and the wax would speak!
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