The River of Woe [New Arrivals at the River Acheron]
Media: Oil on Wood Panel
Detail shots below artwork
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Mouse over detail thumbnails below and CLICK any one to begin slideshow |
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The hawk of Artemis exemplifies death as it dives to pluck a random victim from a bank of frogs.
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Detail of Artemis' hawk
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Close up of hawk's head and shoulder feathers
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Close-up detail of hawk's talons
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Figures tipping and falling over one another. Once fallen they can never arise for they are perpetually weighed down by their grief.
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Detail of back of falling male shade
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Random hand reaches out in hopeless desperation
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The ancient Greek author Aristophanes depicts a bank of frogs on the Acheron who would sing in chorus, chiding the condemned passers-by.
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A potential victim to Artemis' hawk, this frog appears oblivious to the oncoming random threat, symbolic of the unpredictably of death's timing.
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Detail of frog sitting on bank next to other frogs.
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A dragonfly that sees everything with its 360° vision here represents an afterlife transparency where no sins hide from judgment.
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Dominating female figure is held onto by another falling, forcing them both to collapse into the swampy bank
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Woman falling holds on to the more upright woman
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A detail of the hands clasp about the waist of upright woman
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Close-up of face of fallen woman
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A remorseful man and woman filled with sorry as they grasp their fate
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Close-up of remorseful woman's face and hands
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The frogs surround the new arrivals
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Image is provide to illustrate size and scale
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Underpainting of charcoal and acrylic wash created at the outset of painting
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