Reflections on a journey without a compass after Cranach, 2019-2020
Acrylic liner and enamel on birch wood
133 x 102 cm
Commissioned by Compton Verney Art Gallery & Park, exhibition curated by Amy Orrock Artwork created in response to a painting in the Museum's public collection: Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553)...
Commissioned by Compton Verney Art Gallery & Park, exhibition curated by Amy Orrock
Artwork created in response to a painting in the Museum's public collection:
Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553)
Lot and his Daughters, c.1530
Oil on Panel
The biblical story of Lot and his Daughters was a popular subject for artists and one that Cranach painted at least four times. After fleeing from the burning city of Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot’s daughters fear that their father is the last surviving man, and decide to make him drunk so that they can seduce him and bear his children. Recent technical analysis has revealed that Cranach painted the dark background of this work first, carefully reserving space for the foreground figures.
Shaw first encountered Cranach’s work in the National Gallery, London, as a student. He describes the encounter as ‘a formative experience’, and has continued to reference Cranach throughout his career, producing detailed works in enamel paint, manipulated with a porcupine quill. In this new response to Compton Verney’s Lot and his Daughters, Shaw casts himself as Lot, with his temptations represented by the hybrid male figures. Addressing current global crises, the citizens fleeing Sodom are shown as refugees, and Cranach’s wooded landscape is being deforested.
Artwork created in response to a painting in the Museum's public collection:
Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553)
Lot and his Daughters, c.1530
Oil on Panel
The biblical story of Lot and his Daughters was a popular subject for artists and one that Cranach painted at least four times. After fleeing from the burning city of Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot’s daughters fear that their father is the last surviving man, and decide to make him drunk so that they can seduce him and bear his children. Recent technical analysis has revealed that Cranach painted the dark background of this work first, carefully reserving space for the foreground figures.
Shaw first encountered Cranach’s work in the National Gallery, London, as a student. He describes the encounter as ‘a formative experience’, and has continued to reference Cranach throughout his career, producing detailed works in enamel paint, manipulated with a porcupine quill. In this new response to Compton Verney’s Lot and his Daughters, Shaw casts himself as Lot, with his temptations represented by the hybrid male figures. Addressing current global crises, the citizens fleeing Sodom are shown as refugees, and Cranach’s wooded landscape is being deforested.