Schweigen, 1786-99 (oil on canvas)

"Silence", illustrationL 'Il Penseroso V, 78-80' by John Milton; Eine Mutter mit ihren zwei Kindern; the Poet and a mother with her two children in front of a fire; over the fireplace stands Menelaos, king of Sparta, with the lifeless body of Patrocles, after he has fallen in the Trojan War; Il Penseroso (The Serious Man) vision of poetic melancholy, a companion piece to L'Allegro a vision of poetic mirth. "Some still removed place [will fit]; Where glowing embers through the room; Teach light to counterfeit a gloom". To point up the poet’s melancholy, the artist has placed on the mantelpiece a sculpture group Menelaus supporting the dead Patroclus referring undoubtedly to the poet’s great friendship with Charles Deodati, who died while Milton was in Italy.