Finally the last panel of ‘The Dream of Rhonabwy Triptych’ is complete. Re-imagining the written text to the time period when King Arthur lived and ruled (mid 6th Century) proved a challenge for artist, Dez Quarréll.
He says: “The three knights in this panel are described as 13th Century heavily armoured chivalric Knights on heavy horses, also robed and clad in armour. This might have made sense to the scribes who committed this tale to writing but in fact there were no such heavy horses in Arthur’s time period, horses were small and would find it almost impossible to take the weight of a man let alone taking a heavily armoured man into battle. So I had to reinterpret the descriptions in the text while still following the symbology and colours. To do this I modeled the 6th Century knights and horses in the garb of Roman Cavalrymen, much more in keeping with the level of sophistication available to Arthur’s Knights in their time”.
“What truly intrigues me about the parable on the vital importance of not fighting among yourselves but uniting to meet a common enemy delivered to Rhonabwy by King Arthur is did Rhonabwy learn that lesson and convince his peers? There is very little evidence, Welsh history is sketchy but it looks like the Welsh Kings carried on the infighting and inevitably had to concede their territories to English rule. King Arthur was maybe correct when he said ‘it pitieth me that men of such stature as these should have this island in their keeping, after the men that guarded it of yore.’ One way or the other thanks to Rhonabwy the story is still there and being told, one day we may grow a little taller and a little wiser and we Welsh might reunite and rule ourselves.”
Revisit Work in Progress Part 1
Revisit Work in Progress Part 2
Revisit Work in Progress Part 3
