fig 1., 2 & 3
2022
30 x 90cm (triptych)
Toned cyanotype, gold leaf, encaustic medium on Arches 300gsm
A visual study of the reconstructive process of sculptor Eoghan Daltun on Canova’s Belvedere Torso sculpture at the Crawford Art Gallery, with reference to biblical literature and the use of the fig leaf in 19th century Vatican-directed censorship.
fig 1. (observation)
Said to be the fruit that tempted Eve and even cursed by Jesus himself, the fig has had a rough time from the Church.
Perhaps it’s its nature, simultaneously fruit and flower, male and female, inverted, fertilised only by the rarest of wasps who make the ultimate blood sacrifice for their offspring, has something to do with its vilification.
fig 2. (revelation)
In the prudish 1850s, around the same time as abortion was being vilified by institutions of power, Pope Pius IX took it upon himself to castrate thousands of statues, covering their nakedness with a fig leaf.
Many of these works have been mutilated beyond repair.
Some are undergoing careful reconstruction.
fig 3. (resoration)
One such patient is the Belvedere Torso, one of the collection of the Canova Vasts, a set of casts made by Canova of the Vatican collection of sculptures - now used by centuries of study by Cork artists at the Crawford Art Gallery.
Sulptor Eoghan Daltun has lovingly resorted the Belvedere Torso.
Fig 1. - 3. is a play on words, referencing the categorisation of our realm in a style popular since Victorian times. They also follow Daltun’s journey from observation to revelation to restoration.
