Gustave Courbet, Girl with Seagulls,Trouville, 1865
I know not where seagulls make their nest where find they peace. I am like them in perpetual flight. I skim life like they do with the water catching food. And perhaps like them too, I cherish quietness, the great quietness of the sea, but my fate is to live wavering in the gale.
(Transl. by A. Baruffi)
Non so dove i gabbiani abbiano il nido, ove trovino pace. Io son come loro in perpetuo volo. La vita la sfioro com’essi l’acqua ad acciuffare il cibo. E come forse anch’essi amo la quiete, la gran quiete marina, ma il mio destino è vivere balenando in burrasca.
