Leda - Scrambled Eggs Painting

Lovers of Zeus Collection Meek. Timid. Submissive. Manageable. That is how a woman was expected to act for decade upon decade in our world’s history. Yes, History. Not Herstory. Not even Ourstory. History. M.G. AshenBrenner, a self-taught painter living near the shores of a rural lake in British Columbia, Canada (home of the 2010 Winter Olympics) is proud to present from her original oil painting collection – Lovers of Zeus – on Saatchi Art. Lovers of Zeus is ancient antiquity. The pieces in this collection are powerful, they impose, they dominate, as did this unrivalled King of all Greek Gods. Aphrodite, Hera, Europa, Leda, and more, the women he loved, are reborn by M.G. AshenBrenner in classical portraiture, in fluidity, in modern, opulent palettes of vibrancy, of colour, and befitting the mightiest of Hellenic gods, with natural brilliant gemstones that he himself may have adorned his lovers with. A calling from deep inside of her draws M.G. AshenBrenner to explore with her brush the female subject captured in the shadows of the day and of the night and of the dawn and of the dusk. The female. Inspired from the darker works of Rembrandt, but from today. The Lovers of Zeus collection combines the traditional painting techniques of the masters with an inner passion to interpret the nude female form. The female of Rembrandt’s day was that passive female. Meek. Manageable. Oppressed. M.G. AshenBrenner’s female is not. She is EMPOWERED. In capital letters. In control. Dominant. Sensual. Beautiful. Presenting here from this collection is Leda. Princess Leda. A woman. Zeus lusts for women. Lusts for the married Princess Leda. A scheme unfolds. Zeus’ mind, consumed by this lust, fertilizes and grows the plan for seduction. It incubates. And one night it hatches forth. Zeus, in form of swan, rapes the Princess just hours after she had laid with her lawful husband. And then, to just slightly paraphrase W.B. Yeats and his poem Leda and the Swan, “the indifferent beak of the swan let her drop”. Zeus moved on to the next woman. The next lust. The next scheme. Princess Leda was left alone. Alone? No. For not many sleeps later she knew, as all women do, she was no longer a one. Zeus’ violation and pillage of her had borne fruit. A mating of two swans normally produces a clutch of between three to eight eggs, each weighing some 12 ounces (340 grams). In Leda’s case, the differing legends are not consistent, but that is of no concern. The rape by Zeus the Swan did not result in sperm entering egg. It left her with egg. Some myths say one egg. Some say two. Some say the second egg came from the goddess Nemesis who had been subsequently seduced by Zeus the Goose. The legends may be mixed and confused, even scrambled, but one truth is clear. Leda had egg. Large egg. Swan egg. M.G. AshenBrenner’s Leda – Scrambled Eggs draws us in to the burden she bears. Clutching the egg. Her egg. The time is near. The incubation is done. The hatching? The hatching it has actually begun. The egg is cracking. The crack shows almost a molten metal. Two children will be birthed this night. Or is it hatched tonight? One mortal human by her husband. One half-immortal by her swan. Who is who? Leda - Scrambled Eggs is but one original oil painting in this Lovers of Zeus collection. Please contact the artist, M.G. AshenBrenner, directly at www.art.vpweb.ca for information on the other pieces of this collection.

Painting:Oil on Canvas

Original:One-of-a-kind Artwork

Size:30 W x 40 H x 1 D in

Delivery Time:Typically 5-7 business days for domestic shipments, 10-14 business days for international shipments.