Phoenix for Henri and Achilles
Phoenix for Henri and Achilles, 2019-2021 (work in progress)
oil, alkyd resin and linseed oil on canvas
84 x 80 inches
Phoenix for Henri and Achilles, 2019-2021
oil, alkyd resin and linseed oil on canvas
84 x 80 inches
SOLD
Achilles had a charioteer, Automedon, who wrangled and drove his horses. He was also his companion, brother in arms and some conjecture, his lover. Upon the request of Achilles, Automedon gathered Xanthos and Ballus who would eventually lead him into battle and his eventual demise in the Trojan War. The horses, gifts from Poseidon, knew they would be leading Achilles to his death and their reluctance to be wrangled was exquisitely rendered in a painting by the French Academic painter, Henri Regnault, “Automedon and the Horse of Achilles”, in 1868. Regnault was a highly gifted painter who won the Prix de Rome in 1866—tragically, his career was cut short when he was killed on the battlefield in 1871 during the Franco-Prussian War.
—Lawrence Fodor
Hercules and Anteaus I - a progression
There is a drawn and painted version of a specific work of art as the foundation or anchor for each painting. I may spend days, weeks or months analyzing the composition, structure, color and space of the historic work, rendering an “under-painted” version on the canvas. I am not making academic “reproductions” of the paintings; rather, they are translations, dissections and appropriations of sorts. I am utilizing the past to fortify my present.
Source November 2016 January 2017 August 2018 March 2020
Hercules and Anteaus I, detail