MINOAN / Translated from French / Another picture taken at Corpus “Der Minoischen und Mykenischen Siegel” (CMS). Like most of my paintings in this series, the theme is borrowed from Minoan seals or seal impressions, it is borrowed from a ring that dates from 1500 to 1200 BC, is the same period as the M147 painting depicting two lions attacking a wild goat. For more information about the lions in ancient times, refer to the legend of the previous table. When the use of seals and rings in Crete, it probably comes from Babylon or Egypt, for their convenience in identifying or securing documents, and were also used as amulets. But the use of utility seals evolved into an art of cutting stone. The seal, representing basically a sign, led to what can be considered a form of writing. Among the goods found in Minoan tombs, often include seals, which shows the idea of personal identification attached to such seals. Regarding the original ring, it is in France in the archives of the Museum Alfred Danicourt at Peronne in Picardy (Inventory No.: F178). After its discovery, the ring was bought by the Comte de Gobineau and bought in 1882 by the great collector Alfred Danicourt. It is gold and has an oval shape with a ring of 24mm (0,94 inch) diameter, a width of 32mm30 (1,27 inch) kitten and a height of kitten 21mm80 (0,86 inch). Its weight is 16 g 60 (0,585 once). It was created at Mycenae in Greece and discovery in Salonika. The original subject is positive in the round, two young men standing back to back, each fighting against a lion leaping. The fighter raises his left arm above his head, while the veteran right keep it at chest height, in the background at the ground line, two trees or shrubs, beneath their feet windings vegetation. The Philhelm’s version of the same subject that is both a sexual couple in the same position, two birds, a cactus on the left and symmetrical convolutions that replace old ones that were nevertheless more natural! Do not forget the monogram of the artist seems to be that woman as an object which it lends apotropaic virtues. In ancient times, the representation of a ritual in pictures was a guarantee of future success! Indeed, the image is not a mere representation, is in turn a force, a lens of appearances that defy both the curse that the gods themselves! Seeking to make sense of all these works, it’s also admitting their character retained and therefore the incomplete nature of our interpretations, to finally keep an irreducible mystery. It was worth painting a canvas Cretan-Mycenaean again, what do you think?
A big thank you to David Sousa, director of the Museum of Peronne, without which I could give you all the valuable technical answers on this beautiful ring.