A Centaur by Moonlight, Morea by William Blake Richmond. Oil on panel, 5 x 13 inches. [Painting in original frame]
“This painting was done in 1883 on a trip to the Greek Peloponnese (colloquially ‘Morea’), the mythical home of the centaurs and historical home of the Spartans. William Blake Richmond, the son of George Richmond (who had been an ‘Ancient’, one of the circle of young artists around Blake), was a good traveller; now, middle-aged, he was revisiting the haunts of his youth on horseback. Richmond was well-read in the mythology and history of the region and had a powerful imagination. It was September, and he was staying alone at a monastery in the mountains in Ithomi, just north of Kalamata. He wrote in his diary ‘The moon shed its grey light over the misty mountains ...’” — the Maas Gallery website.
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Last modified 20 April 2020