The Spring Murals~ La Chasse A La Licorne

 

Work has begun on the sketches for the first mural. I have been  researching the fresques of antiquity, medieval tapestries and early renaissance painting and some of my favourite twentieth century painters who continually inspire my output.

Sketch ~La Chasse A La Licorne dans La Foret de la Tremblay

 The >Chasse A La Licorne< Tapestries, housed until 1922 here in the Verteuil Chateau, will be the inspiration for one of the three Spring Murals. The Tapestries were created between 1485~ 1505. In 1922 the La Rochefoucauld family sold them to the American oil magnate Rockefeller for an alleged 10 million dollars. Their incorporation in to one of my murals will go part way to bringing them back home to Verteuil~sur~Charente. This time La Chasse A La Licorne will be painted for the whole population of the village to enjoy rather than to be hidden away unseen by the many until sold by a few.

I am drawn to the image of the painter as something magical painting the joys and pains of the whole of humanity as in Frida Kahlo's self portrait as a wounded stag. A magical creature hunted for its gifts, the unicorn was believed to heal illness and purify water poisoned by serpents to make it once again drinkable.