Mythstories Artist in Residence Dez Quarréll is continuing work of his digital triptych telling the ancient Welsh story “The Dream of Rhonabwy” from the Mabinogion. He’s just completed the top third of the left hand panel, we asked him for his comments…
“Moving on from perspective and size ‘The Dream of Rhonabwy’ presents other challenges. Not least the anomalies of a story set simultaneously in two time periods separated by 500 years + of ‘Dark Ages’.
What clothes should the characters be wearing? The story is recounted as a memory of what Rhonabwy saw. Would he see and describe things from his 12th Century viewpoint relating to what was familiar to him? Because of those ‘Dark Ages’ he’d have little, if any, knowledge of history and the immediate post-Roman period of King Arthur, unless it was passed on through those intervening years by orally transmitted stories. We don’t know that but we do know how Storytellers relate their stories to their listeners’ lives and lived experiences. So stories can change in their detail considerably over the years.
Is the story just a dream? I don’t think so, I think Rhonabwy travelled back through time, summoned by King Arthur. So I’ve chosen 6th Century styles of clothing for the characters in Arthur’s retinue. And the tents aren’t elaborate jousting tournament tents, but in the Roman Army style probably left behind after the Romans left Britain.
The story, however is saturated with significant symbology so I have kept to the colours described in the text although the appropriate dyes wouldn’t have been available in the 6th Century. The colours, like the smoke represent that magical other-world Rhonabwy has been drawn into.
If you were to paint this story what style of dress would you chose? The choice is wide… mid 6th Century to coincide with King Arthur’s lifetime; mid 12th Century Welsh costumes to match Rhonabwy’s lived experience; late 14th Century / early 15th Century to coincide with the written version of the tale which was penned in Medieval Welsh in ‘The Red Book of Hergest’; or modern day dress to make the painting relevant to you audience today. Maybe none of the above or a mixture of some or all of those and more?
