According to family tradition, the "blue,
uncertain stumbling buzz" of this common
housefly briefly distracted a certain dying
person, interrupting the flow of the great
ritual drama of the ars moriendi and,
perhaps, preventing her from finding
salvation. Recovered from a window sill
in a bedchamber in a private house in
Amherst, Massachusetts.
Provenance: St. Armand Bequest
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