Summary
This print is one of many etchings executed by Leon Kossoff in response to, and literally in the presence of, oil paintings by old masters; in this case The Family of Darius before Alexander, 1565-70, by Paulo Veronese (c.1528-1588), owned by the National Gallery, London. Tate owns three prints by Kossoff after this Veronese painting (Tate P11715-17). The artist’s ability to explore a number of separate responses while making drawings and prints from a single subject is illustrated in these etchings. This print was never published as an edition; Tate owns the second trial proof.
Veronese’s colourful painting illustrates the story of the mistake made by the family of Darius, the defeated Persian Emperor, in identifying Alexander after the Battle of Issus. Alexander and his friend Hephaestion visited Darius's tent. The mother of Darius, misled by Hephaestion's splendour and bearing, offered him the obeisance due to the victorious monarch; Alexander forgave her for this error. Kossoff’s response to this painting is delicately etched in brown ink on white paper. Movement is suggested through the way curves and currents rhyme within the human throng, their echoes running through fabrics and textures, and in the discreet pattern of modulated tone… (read more)
Other works of art you may be interested in
