Pasiphaë (2020) Painting by Wilf Tilley

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Seller Wilf Tilley

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  • Original Artwork (One Of A Kind) Painting, Ink / Oil on Linen Canvas
  • Dimensions Height 16.5in, Width 10.6in
  • Framing This artwork is not framed
  • Categories Expressionism Nude
Cursed by Poseidon, Pasiphaë, queen of Crete, lusted after a white bull. And in the literalist version of the myth, the queen asks Daedulus to construct a hollow, wooden cow inside which she could copulate with the bull. Ovid, in the Ars Amatoria, describes it thus: Pasiphae fieri gaudebat adultera tauri;/ Invidia formosas oderat illa boves. There[...]
Cursed by Poseidon, Pasiphaë, queen of Crete, lusted after a white bull. And in the literalist version of the myth, the queen asks Daedulus to construct a hollow, wooden cow inside which she could copulate with the bull. Ovid, in the Ars Amatoria, describes it thus: Pasiphae fieri gaudebat adultera tauri;/ Invidia formosas oderat illa boves. There is a brisk, English version of these lines in a recent translation (2014) by Julia Dyson Hedjuk: “Pasiphaë was happy to become the bull’s slut;/ She envied and hated the beauties among the cows”. The starting point for my painting is a marvelous print by John Buckland Wright (1897-1954) in which he shows Pasiphaë undressing before entering Daedulus’ device, while in the background the bull readies itself to satisfy her. I have also added a sketchy voyeur – perhaps you or me – in the background. However, the offspring of this unusual union was Minos’ bull, or the Minotaur. (Ink and oil painting on linen canvas: 41 x 28 cm.)

Related themes

Greek MythologyPasiphaëMinotaurDaedalusWilf Tilley

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Wilf Tilley (Prof. Michael W. Miller) was born in the North of England and began his career as an actor, age 16, with the National Youth Theatre at The Old Vic in a production of[...]

Wilf Tilley (Prof. Michael W. Miller) was born in the North of England and began his career as an actor, age 16, with the National Youth Theatre at The Old Vic in a production of Antony and Cleopatra in which Helen Mirren played Cleopatra and he carried a spear. “Wilf Tilley” (a combination of parental names) was part-adopted for a first solo exhibition at the AIR Gallery, London, when he was 27. Following an MA degree at the Royal College of Art, London, an interest in the neuro-anatomical drawings of Leonardo da Vinci led, via the Open University, to research on neuronal modelling in the Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics in the University of Oxford. He was a Fellow of St. Catherine's College, Oxford, and after a two-year Fellowship in the International Center for Medical Research, Kobe, was a founder member, then senior adviser at the RIKEN Brain Science Institute, where he designed a brain science exploratorium (BrainBox). Wilf has held eight solo exhibitions, participated in group exhibitions internationally, and held a first retrospective in Japan (The Neuro-mytheologian And Other Works), in 2003. A novel (The Ladyboy Murders) was shortlisted for the Impress Prize for New Writers in 2015. In November/December 2017, he held a second retrospective at the Frederick Harris Gallery, Tokyo. And a recent portrait (Manami-san) is part of the New Light Art Prize Exhibition in the UK, touring five galleries nationally (2023-2024).

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Digital Arts | Several sizes
Available
from $53.63
Digital Arts | Several sizes
Available
from $53.63

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