Cabinet of Curiosities Painting

The round photograph on the bottom shelf was taken by Julia Margaret Cameron (1815-1879), a Victorian photographer associated with the Pre-Raphaelites. The subject is Ellen Terry (1847-1928), a popular nineteenth century British actress. Some might recognize her from John Singer Sargent’s portrait of her as Lady Macbeth. Others might know she was briefly married to the much older Victorian painter George F. Watts (1817-1904), who depicted her smelling scentless camellia blossoms in his painting Choosing. Next to that photo is not a camellia blossom but a lily, which is a symbol of purity typically found in depictions of the Madonna. (Incidentally, Watts divorced her because she wouldn’t stop cheating on him.) On the other side of her photo is a spider in its web. The spider is simultaneously delicate and deadly, trapping its victims in its beautiful web. In the center of the picture, next to Napoleon’s death mask, is Jeb the cat. Opposite Napoleon’s death mask is a ceramic sculpture of a triumphant Napoleon based on Jacques Louis David’s painting of the same subject. Behind him is a pyramid, which I associate with his conquest of Egypt. I was struck by the juxtaposition of triumph and inglorious death in exile. Also on that shelf is a Balinese mask of the panther-like Barong, the king of spirits and leader of the forces of good. He is the answer to Jeb the cat, who is the alpha cat in my home. On the shelf above this is a distorted skull inspired by the strange shape at the bottom of Hans Holbein’s masterpiece The Ambassadors. When seen from the left and slightly below, it becomes a normal human skull, a reminder that death is always present. Behind the skull is a plastic figure of Rodan, the flying monster from the old Godzilla movies. I think he balances the flying butterfly, which is another reference to Reading Rainbow. The theme show kept popping into my head while I painted it. The bees were a response to the butterfly. Their presence also suggests to me that there is a hive inside that bookcase. There could be hundreds of bees in there. There is no message behind any of that. I am merely struck by the contrasting elements and how they communicate with one another. I also saw Jeb sitting on a bookshelf and thought I should make a painting of that.

Painting:Acrylic on Plastic

Original:One-of-a-kind Artwork

Size:24 W x 36 H x 0 D in

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