Many interpretations of Titian’s c. 1560 painting, commonly known as Allegory of Prudence: EX PRÆTE/RITO // PRÆSENS PRVDEN/TER AGIT // NI FVTVRA / ACTIONĒ DE/TVRPET (“from the experience of the past, the present acts prudently, lest it spoil future actions”.)

The adventure of the Fugitive Stag and its many faces … “Personifying the faceless … giving flesh to the non-existent” … when I find that director and producer!

Oh, how desperately I want to live;
Immortalize the real,
Personify the faceless,
Give flesh to the non-existent!
 
Life’s crushing dream may smother me
I may suffocate as I dream, -
And yet a light-hearted youth, perhaps
Will say of me in time to come:
 
Let us forgive his gloom – could it be
That it was really his secret drive?
“He’s but a child of goodness and light
He’s but freedom’s triumph!”
 
(Aleksandr Bolk 05.02.1914)