"Company of Thieves" 48" x 64" Oil on Canvas
Synopsis:
Lowe’s inspiration for this work, the subject of Fuseli's The
Thieves Punishment (c.1772), and William Blake’s The
Punishment of the Thieves (c.1824-27), illustrate a scene from
Dante’s Inferno in which thieves damned to Hell are eternally
consumed and transformed by serpents. Lowe’s stylized free
copy combines the original works in a harmonious splice
Synopsis:
Lowe’s inspiration for this work, the subject of Fuseli's The
Thieves Punishment (c.1772), and William Blake’s The
Punishment of the Thieves (c.1824-27), illustrate a scene from
Dante’s Inferno in which thieves damned to Hell are eternally
consumed and transformed by serpents. Lowe’s stylized free
copy combines the original works in a harmonious splice
between their relative overlapping compositions. The central figurative form of all white
unblemished attire, from George Romney’s A Boy, Called William Pitt (c.1778), perhaps meant
as a costume of 'innocence' a quality never again to be adorned by these misshapen marploters.
This juxtaposition intensifies the essence of its referenced parts in a dramatic contrast of painting
styles between Romantic portrait painting and the anthropomorphic forms of Mannerist drawing.
unblemished attire, from George Romney’s A Boy, Called William Pitt (c.1778), perhaps meant
as a costume of 'innocence' a quality never again to be adorned by these misshapen marploters.
This juxtaposition intensifies the essence of its referenced parts in a dramatic contrast of painting
styles between Romantic portrait painting and the anthropomorphic forms of Mannerist drawing.
