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Lesbia and her sparrow
John Edward Poynter’s painting (“Lesbia and her sparrow”, 1907) and my patterns. The poet Catulle (1st before J.-C) nicknamed his lover Claudia “Lesbia” in reference to the isle of Lesbos (Greece) where she grew up. The famous poetess Sappho lived there. Her poems were about love between women ; that’s why the term “lesbian” was…