17 December

Born in 1775, François Marius Granet, French painter.

Above: Effet de lumière dans les ruines, circa 1820

Also, born in 1616, English pamphleteer and author Roger L’Estrange, who said:

Nothing is so fierce but love will soften; nothing so sharp-sighted in other matters but it will throw a mist before its eyes.

and

To be longing for this thing today and for that thing tomorrow; to change likings for loathings, and to stand wishing and hankering at a venture--how is it possible for any man to be at rest in this fluctuant, wandering humor and opinion?

Previously on December 17, Granet & Jorge Mario Bergoglio.