Two Roman Legionaries Discovering The God-King Albion Turned Into Stone by Mark Sheeky

G140D Two Roman Legionaries Discovering The God-King Albion Turned Into Stone
Oil on panel
Apr to Sep 2008, Size 555x705 mm

Detail from Two Roman Legionaries Discovering The God-King Albion Turned Into Stone by Mark Sheeky Detail from Two Roman Legionaries Discovering The God-King Albion Turned Into Stone by Mark Sheeky

About this painting
This was inspired by the film Brief Encounter, a film from 1949 that showed a Britain which no longer exists, a country and time so alien to the Britain of 2008 that it is difficult to believe that a place like that ever existed.

The idea appeared in an instant flash, and the powerful train at the start of that film still evokes the image of the cliffs here, and the rain soaked giant. I wanted to represent the end of that old Britain, so I chose the end of another era as the setting, the Roman invasion of this ancient land and added some onlooking troops.

Two foreigners, Roman legionaries, walk towards the edge of Britain in the grey rain. Through mud, to the grassy limit of the country, the top of the great white cliffs. As they reach the edge they discover a giant stone man standing in the sea, the once king Albion, now dead and grey and cracked. A statue preserved like a memory. A reminder of an ancient time now gone forever.

Two Roman Legionaries Discovering The God-King Albion Turned Into Stone (Original)
Collection of The Grosvenor Museum, Chester.

Two Roman Legionaries Discovering The God-King Albion Turned Into Stone (Signed Limited Edition Reproduction, Of 100)
Price: £175.00
Email contact@marksheeky.com if you would like a print.