Albertina's Feast

Unbelievable that a few lines
of red and white chalk,
black ink and water
could endure six hundred years
when buildings have crumbled
in less.
Just glass between the paper,
the climate controlled air…
and me.
Nothing to distract from the
perfect curve of a cheek,
the tilt of a head
or the rakish angle of a hat.
Raphael and Rubens
hang next to each other
in a visual banquet
courtesy of Albertina.

‘Albertina’ is the name of the exhibition of Old Master Drawings on loan from the Albertina Gallery in Vienna, to the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Australia.