Belladonna:
Virgin of the rocks. My painting…as yet unfinished, inspired by T.S. Elliots, ‘The Wasteland.’
Belladonna, the beauty of the rocks borne down on by the God of thunder. : From the Poem The Wasteland by T.S. Elliot: I focused on this element, my interpretation:
Belladonna means beautiful lady and The Lady of the Rocks relates to Madonna, as painted by Leonardo da Vinci in 1483-86 (Virgin of the Rocks). She is yet another aspect of the female speaker so dominant in the waste land. Perhaps one of my most important paintings..alas not finished (20”x 16” oil on canvas) I’m showing this…as where it was. I can’t find the original or subsequent pictures….but there is enough here…I hope to show you where I was going with it. My mindset and poetic soul.
It is time to add the final pieces of the puzzle, the reason I paused at this point. Who was Belladonna? Me or the mythical Goddess of the rocks.
This painting was to be my exhibition painting in London as part of, TheTunnel, artists collective. The time was not right and it didn’t get finished in time.
Time to revisit my ‘Virgin of the Rocks.”