2022
Acrylic and Oil on Canvas
33 x 46 cm
13 x 18 Inches
When Nicholas Martyn died in 1595, Athelhampton was left to his four surviving daughters: Elizabeth, Jane, Frances and Anne. The sisters inherited a quarter share of Athelhampton and these paintings are dedicated to each one of them.
Depicting the red and white stripe of the Martyn Coat of Arms, these paintings are influenced by shapes and patterns found in the Henry VII door and the ceiling of the Library. This quartet evokes the thought that the paintings could have hung in the bedrooms of the four sisters all those years ago. Anne’s bedroom, for example, is vividly imagined in Giles Keating’s novel The Riddle of the Apes - despite the fact that Abstraction was not invented until the twentieth century.
