Arundel Tomb, Chichester Cathedral. Surrealism drawing. Drawing

There is a tomb in Chichester Cathedral called the Arundel Tomb. It shows a powerful and influential couple from 700 years ago, but their faces have faded with time and their achievements forgotten. Then one notices that the Knight has removed his glove and is tenderly holding his wife's hand. All that now represents this couple is their love. I made the sketch thinking about this, along with Thich Nhat Hanh quote “We are here to awaken from our illusion of separateness.” Perhaps love is all that connects us and is all that will remain after us? Inspired by artists like Raoul Dufy, Georges Braques, Vlaminck and other Fauve artists. Also inspired by a poem by Phillip Larkin: An Arundel Tomb Side by side, their faces blurred, The earl and countess lie in stone, Their proper habits vaguely shown As jointed armour, stiffened pleat, And that faint hint of the absurd— The little dogs under their feet. Such plainness of the pre-baroque Hardly involves the eye, until It meets his left-hand gauntlet, still Clasped empty in the other; and One sees, with a sharp tender shock, His hand withdrawn, holding her hand. They would not think to lie so long. Such faithfulness in effigy Was just a detail friends would see: A sculptor’s sweet commissioned grace Thrown off in helping to prolong The Latin names around the base. They would not guess how early in Their supine stationary voyage The air would change to soundless damage, Turn the old tenantry away; How soon succeeding eyes begin To look, not read. Rigidly they Persisted, linked, through lengths and breadths Of time. Snow fell, undated. Light Each summer thronged the glass. A bright Litter of birdcalls strewed the same Bone-riddled ground. And up the paths The endless altered people came, Washing at their identity. Now, helpless in the hollow of An unarmorial age, a trough Of smoke in slow suspended skeins Above their scrap of history, Only an attitude remains: Time has transfigured them into Untruth. The stone fidelity They hardly meant has come to be Their final blazon, and to prove Our almost-instinct almost true: What will survive of us is love.

Drawing:Charcoal on Paper

Original:One-of-a-kind Artwork

Size:12 W x 16 H x 0.2 D in

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